Best Reef Safe Hermit Crabs?

[125gSW]

Reason why I'm asking this is because I was told couple different stories all at once.

One person said that ONLY blue leg hermit crabs are reef safe
Another said that all hermit crabs are reef safe
and lastly another person said red leg can be hit or miss

All 3 happen to work at the same LFS lol idk who to believe.

Any opinions from you guys?

 

[iemsparticus]

I have a mixture of blue legs and scarlets, and have had zero issues. Yeah always keep a wide selection of empty shells in the sand... if you don’t like that look, you might want to reconsider... ALL hermits will kill snails for their shells if there aren’t empty shells for them to grow into.

 

[Flippers4pups]

My personal experience has been blue legs have been pretty easy on my reef tanks and are my go to.

All can be opportunistic, but some can be terrors.

Good read:

https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/6/inverts

 

[125gSW]

My personal experience has been blue legs have been pretty easy on my reef tanks and are my go to.

All can be opportunistic, but some can be terrors.

Good read:

https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/6/inverts

Good read! Hmmm, maybe i'll try with couple of blue leg and throw in a bunch of empty shells and see how it goes.

Anyone been able to have hermits and snails live harmoniously ?

 

[ThunderGoose]

I'll second (third?) blue legs. I have some scarlets, too but one wasn't the tiny type and it grew and grew and is now living in my refugium. I have them in tanks with snails and I haven't had major snail losses. Make sure there are spare shells and you reduce the risks to your snails.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I have scarlets and blue legs. I cant say ive ever seen them eat or topple a coral.

Ive also never seen them do anything beneficial though lol.

They add something to watch, but eat my ceriths.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I broadcast feed in my system and my hermits get plenty to eat. Helps if they are fed well.

 

[Tautog]

I believe you need both crabs and snails. There’s plenty of different snails, and a good selection of different sized snails you need for clean up. I like the blue-legged crabs.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I have scarlets and blue legs. I cant say ive ever seen them eat or topple a coral.

Ive also never seen them do anything beneficial though lol.

They add something to watch, but eat my ceriths.

They are quite good at cleaning up uneaten food. That along with shrimps, snails and yes, bristle worms are excellent choices for clean up crews. Most are night scavengers and go to work after lights out. All live quite well in my system.

 

[VtecGuy88]

I have both blue legs and scarlets and I haven't had a problem so far. Crabs eat snails just like everything in the reef eats something. It is the cycle of life. Eventually its going to happen. You can't prevent it but you can take measures to slow down the process quite a bit.

 

[becks]

Scarlets and blue legs have been fine in my tank

 

[becks]

The tank only two snails I have are two turbo snails I’ve had for two years the size golf balls

 

[Mindi]

The problem is not reef safe but wrasse safe. If you have wrasse which sleep in the substrate then hermits will eat their fins overnight.... Took me a long time to work out that the fin "erosion" was actially "eating"...duh. No more hermits...no more problem

 

[Salty Carlo]

I have a mix of blue leg, scarlet and halloween hermits and a variety of snails and they co exist without any issues, I have plenty of empty shells for them to move into.

 

[Instigate]

The problem is not reef safe but wrasse safe. If you have wrasse which sleep in the substrate then hermits will eat their fins overnight.... Took me a long time to work out that the fin "erosion" was actially "eating"...duh. No more hermits...no more problem

I don't think a wrasse would just sit there and let a crab snack on it.

 

[FoxyFace]

IME, no crabs are reef safe. I’ve had all types do destructive things which includes tearing open LPS to grab pieces of food.

 

[Bill from OZ]

I've had red, blue and one white legged hermit crab. I like them and snails are cheap. Never had one attack a coral but I've heard stories. Good news is they are easy to catch and go well with asparagus.

 

[Lilly Moore]

What about mixing blue leg hermits with zebra ones what can coexist also i have coral

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

What about mixing blue leg hermits with zebra ones what can coexist also i have coral

I have a single zebra I found abandoned in a used tank (can’t get them in my state) and he’s my favorite. I also have scarlets, blue legs, red legs, and blue knuckles (orange/blue left handed) in my 32 biocube. The ONLY ones I have trouble with are blue legs. And only with other blue legs. They like to play Highlander. There can be only one left alive.

 

[JXNATC]

I lost a couple of zoas over the last few days... they were smaller & limited to 2-3 polyps. I caught this fella...red-handed today.