Blue leg crabs

scouncil · Feb 28, 2008

Does everybody have blue leg crabs in their tanks? Any problems? I had thought that they scavanged and killed one of my clams, but maybe not? I've got a friend with clams and has about 25 that have never bothered them....

I need some clean up crew besided the snails.... I've been trying to feed a little more to help the tangs and growing a bit more algae than I'd like. Nitrates/phosphates are ok....
Susan

AlexStinson · Feb 28, 2008

If you mean blue leg hermit crabs, no ive never had any problem with them, but i do not have a clam either. They seem to only pick around the corals for detritus and so such, not the polyps or anything

sabotaged · Feb 28, 2008

ive tried blue, red and reef hermits.. and everytime i turn around the little suckers were eating my snails so the crabs went bye bye

ironman · Feb 28, 2008

I dont think they will kill a clam, if the clam is dieing they will start feeding. I would say that they would be the oppertunistic feeder to the clam already dieing condition. that said I dont own any anymore. they do reak havok on a snail population. so its a tough call

scouncil · Feb 29, 2008

I like my snails. Someone on reef central said he blows his rock off with a miniwater jet before changing the water everytime and that works as well as the hermit crabs. I don't want them if they are going to be eating my snails.... Of course I have a tendency to feed a little be more, so maybe they wouldn't go after my snails? How fast do they move and how hard are they to catch? (I know Sally's are a pain and I SURE don't want a Sally- especially if I have to RENT Bryan's Sally catcher tube.....)

AlexStinson · Feb 29, 2008

I have 5 hermits and 11 snails in my little biocube, and even with missed feedings my snails have done nothing but grow huge, with no problems whatsoever from my crabs. So imho i wouldnt worry about having hermit crabs at all.

ironman · Feb 29, 2008

hermit crabs arnt gonna help your detritus. they are scavengers. they will help eat uneatin food and then in turn contribute to your detritus. as for them leaving snails alone on the previous post, Ive yet to meet a crab that doesnt desire a larger snail shell. so unless your blue legs are larger than your snails it wont be long before you will have less snails and a few empty blue leg shells. it isnt something that happens overnight or anything. if you add 50 snails and 50 blue leg hermit you will eventually start to notice crabs running around in snail shells and less snails on the glass. till eventually you will have 25 snails and 50 happy hermits. but if you are willing to replenish your snail population its no biggy.

bkv1997 · Mar 1, 2008

Susan

I use snails and have 5-6 shrimp to eat the uneaten food in the tank. If you don't think shrimp will cleanup uneaten food try to spotfeed a few corals.

Brandon

scouncil · Mar 1, 2008

I got a pile of cleaner shrimps to help with the ick and they sure rush over to the spot feeds for sure...... I think my phospates (darn, forgot to get a phosphate test kit!!!) are running a touch high. Tested ok the other day, but that was after a water change at 5. I'm getting the funky red algae stuff in spots. I'm probably feeding too much due to the ick (feeding the tangs). The tank swap is going to result in a fairly big water change anyway, so that will decrease them. I'm feeding less.

J. Montgomery · Mar 1, 2008

I have two clams and many hermit crabs, both big and small. I've seen them clean the clam shell, but they've never bothered the clam itself.

scouncil · Mar 4, 2008

I have a ton of old snail shells that have been vacated (fallen and couldn't get up, etc). would the hermits be happy wiht provided shells? I'm not sure that I want them anyway. don't they eat various algaes that grow?

AlexStinson · Mar 4, 2008

as i understand they do feed on various nuisance algaes, and I believe that with adequate shell supply, the snail/crab loss due to shell envy would be quite minimal

scouncil · Mar 5, 2008

All my snails are tiny except for a couple of whoppers left from days gone by...

J. Montgomery · Mar 5, 2008

scouncil said:
I have a ton of old snail shells that have been vacated (fallen and couldn't get up, etc). would the hermits be happy wiht provided shells? I'm not sure that I want them anyway. don't they eat various algaes that grow?

They seem to have a preference for certain snail shells. I've never seen one in an Astrea snail, mine tend to go for the longer shells, like Cerinth.

AlexStinson · Mar 5, 2008

ive got several of mine in margarita shells, as well as small conch shells, but i just picked up extra shells from chickamauga and from 5th day, and even with my overpopulation of both snails and hermits, not one snail has been lost (granted it's just going on 3 months)

bkv1997 · Mar 5, 2008

I don't do crabs, but maybe i should.

Anyone got good reasons a hermit crap/snail combo is better than a snail/shrimp/tang combo for algea control?

bamachamp92 · Mar 5, 2008

astrea snails fall off rocks and die with hermits or without them when they do i like the hermits to clean up the mess if they eat a few along the way i can always buy more snails

ironman · Mar 5, 2008

Im sure hermits have a great role in some situations, I preffer my shrimp and snails. ive yet to see a hermit help with algae at all. I had blue legs for alot of years and the only control for algae I found was snails and tangs. I have had a hermit free tank for a couple years and strickly snails , shrimps and tangs and havent had trouble with algae or excess food. and alex, it will take alot more than 3 months in a small population for you to notice issues. Im speaking more from a large population were you are losing quantities. its not like if you have 10 snails and 10 hermits that in three months all the snails will be dead. its more if you have 50 or 100 of each. over time you will lose alot of snails. which isnt a huge deal unless you care that you paid $3 each for every empty shell! LOL! again im sure there are some people that crabs are perfect for.

Striike · Dec 4, 2009

Whew, I had to cycle 21 pages to find a thread on these guys. My tank is finally stable. I am going to pick up some Blue-legged today on my way home. I wanted to ask about extra shells. They said they have some extra shells, but only in the larger size, none that would be a step up for these guys. Does anyone have a reliable source of extra, empty shells? I read 5th day has some, but that's a 35 minute drive in the opposite direction as home. Not really wanting to make that trip. Any help would be great.

livingstone · Dec 4, 2009

Striike said:
...I wanted to ask about extra shells. They said they have some extra shells, but only in the larger size, none that would be a step up for these guys. Does anyone have a reliable source of extra, empty shells?...

LiveAquaria has a couple different sizes.