Do hermit crabs eat copepods etc?

[ps2cho]

i banished a year ago a very large hermit crab that was eating every snail in sight into my refugium.

Noticed the other day that the refug is SWARMING with amphipods, copepods - looks insane! I barely feed him at all he seems to eat the algae on the wall, but would they also hunt down anything else living in there?

I almost feel bad banishing him there, but it’s better he lives down in the sump and seems to be living fine!

He climbs the rock rubble and keeps the walls clean of algae that he can reach. He completely fills a huge Mexican turbo snail shell! Massive guy

 

[Dsnakes]

I don't know if they hunt them down, but my hermits pretty much eat anything and everything. I have a couple I'll be banishing as well, tired of trying to keep them away from feeding corals

 

[KingLucy1997]

While setting up a new pico tank, I noticed a steady increase in the population of very large amphipods, about a quarter inches or so being highly active running up and down the live rock and occasionally going for a 'sprint', moving rapidly away from the live rocks along the argonite sand bed while occasionally making an uncoordinated 'sprint' up the water column swimming like a tiny, more primitive versions of some kind of prawn or shrimp.

I found the amphipods fun to watch, so I was disappointed when they all vanished a few days after I introduced a single quarterish sized Red Mexican Hermit crab.
I thought the cause of this drop in amphip

I don't know if they hunt them down, but my hermits pretty much eat anything and everything. I have a couple I'll be banishing as well, tired of trying to keep them away from feeding corals

od population numbers was that the population of amphipods introduced in the live rock wasn't sufficient enough to sustain the population long term.

Alternatively, the hermit crab may have predated on the amphipods before a sustainable population of amphipods had been established, dooming the amphipods to extinction in my tank.

If I introduce sexually mature amphipods in large

 

[KingLucy1997]

While setting up a new pico tank, I noticed a steady increase in the population of very large amphipods, about a quarter inches or so being highly active running up and down the live rock and occasionally going for a 'sprint', moving rapidly away from the live rocks along the argonite sand bed while occasionally making an uncoordinated 'sprint' up the water column swimming like a tiny, more primitive versions of some kind of prawn or shrimp.

I found the amphipods fun to watch, so I was disappointed when they all vanished a few days after I introduced a single quarterish sized Red Mexican Hermit crab.
I thought the cause of this drop in amphip


od population numbers was that the population of amphipods introduced in the live rock wasn't sufficient enough to sustain the population long term.

Alternatively, the hermit crab may have predated on the amphipods before a sustainable population of amphipods had been established, dooming the amphipods to extinction in my tank.

If I introduce sexually mature amphipods in large

Numbers, could I create a sustainable population of amhipods for my hermit crab to eat?