Dwarf hermits - who you liking?

[Bradley Keck]

Hey everyone! So, I am finally ready to buy a CUC! I have done a lot of researching, etc and I have decided to go with hermits only for my CUC. I have some small snails that were on the cured Pukani I purchased and just want to keep it simple and effective. My tank is a 5x2x2 150g. I have 118# of LR in it and some algae growth - nothing too out of control thus far. After reading about all the different types of dwarf hermits, I think I'm going to go with scarlet reef hermits. I'm thinking about only getting about 12. I would not say my algae is out of control in the DT and I plan to get a blenny after the CUC has been in for two weeks and some starting corals in two weeks. I do not plan to buy anything though before running by everyone on here. Any thoughts or opinions regarding my scarlet reef hermits versus other hermits? The main thing I'm after is some control of algae, diatoms, etc. without worrying about aggression or overstocking my CUC.

 

[redpine42]

Just went through this. My foxface and Tang are much better algae eaters than my blenny. Would suggest all three. The blue hermit are aggressive toward snails and other red hermit. Make sure you get shells for them to grow into. All my hermits are a lot bigger. I went for 1 CUC member per gallon. Some will die off. Go for a mixture of snails. I basically followed the advice on CUC from Melv's reef. http://www.melevsreef.com/articles/get-a-clean-up-crew-cuc-for-your-reef

 

[Bradley Keck]

Just went through this. My foxface and Tang are much better algae eaters than my blenny. Would suggest all three. The blue hermit are aggressive toward snails and other red hermit. Make sure you get shells for them to grow into. All my hermits are a lot bigger. I went for 1 CUC member per gallon. Some will die off. Go for a mixture of snails. I basically followed the advice on CUC from Melv's reef. http://www.melevsreef.com/articles/get-a-clean-up-crew-cuc-for-your-reef

Sounds good! I had not considered a fox face, but maybe I will. just read up on them, and sounds like the they are reef safe as long as you keep them fed. You have not had any problems with yours nipping at corals? Thanks for the feedback!

 

[redpine42]

Sounds good! I had not considered a fox face, but maybe I will. just read up on them, and sounds like the they are reef safe as long as you keep them fed. You have not had any problems with yours nipping at corals? Thanks for the feedback!

No problems so far. The foxface and tang are paired up. They work on the algae together. Where one goes the other follows. I will never again have a tank without a tang and foxface.

Blenny have a rep for nipping at corals. No problems there either.

 

[Uhohhotdog]

I have a 13 gallon with 3 red hermits and about 15 blue leg hermits (they sent me far more than I ordered). I have had zero issue with aggression towards any other hermits or any of my snails.

 

[redpine42]

BTW, do you have any Nassarius snails? They are pretty cool. They hide in the sand bed, then when you feed the fish, they come out to eat.

 

[alton]

If you want a little diversity to your crab collection add Hawaiian Zebras. They do not fight with Scarlets and love algae and cleaning up unwanted food

 

[Bradley Keck]

BTW, do you have any Nassarius snails? They are pretty cool. They hide in the sand bed, then when you feed the fish, they come out to eat.

I have some snails that were in my Pukani cured rock. They are small right now. Only about an 1/8in in size. I'm not sure what kind they are, but they crawl all over the rock and glass. I thought I would just see how they grow and add dwarf hermits for now. Even though they are small, I still like watching them.Cannot imagine how cool they are when/if they get bigger!

 

[Bradley Keck]

If you want a little diversity to your crab collection add Hawaiian Zebras. They do not fight with Scarlets and love algae and cleaning up unwanted food

I will look into those. that's exactly what I am looking for, but I didn't want to end up with a bunch of fighting. I have heard the blue tips can be aggressive over time but you just never know. I like to hear what others experiences have been.

 

[redpine42]

Cannot imagine how cool they are when/if they get bigger!

They'll be very cool. I already have some very big hermits and snails. Lots of algae. lol

 

[Kirschy17]

Scarlets are your best bet when it comes to aggression. Id advice getting different cuc members that can share Workspace. Id recommend some nassarius snails, an urchin, brittlestar, emerald crabs...

Also if u do decide on going scarlets only 12 might not be enough for a 150g. I strongly advice against 1/gallon and 12 would be a nice start to a colony but i think ~30 would be plenty for your size tank.

 

[Bradley Keck]

Scarlets are your best bet when it comes to aggression. Id advice getting different cuc members that can share Workspace. Id recommend some nassarius snails, an urchin, brittlestar, emerald crabs...

Also if u do decide on going scarlets only 12 might not be enough for a 150g. I strongly advice against 1/gallon and 12 would be a nice start to a colony but i think ~30 would be plenty for your size tank.

Maybe I will get more than 12. I need to post a pic of my rock and the growth on it. I think I have a hair algae growing, but it's not green at all. It's like a tan/white color. I've not been running my T5's at all, and my kessils I run a couple hours every evening 25-40% color and 40% intensity. I'll post a pic of my rock. I will add some snails and maybe a brittle star. I have some mini brittle stars that come out every now and then, but they are tiny. I'm trying to get coraline to grow and the Pukani. The import rock has pink, red, and purple on it, but so far it has not spread at all. Would an Urchin start munching on my coraline?

 

[ThunderGoose]

If you want a little diversity to your crab collection add Hawaiian Zebras. They do not fight with Scarlets and love algae and cleaning up unwanted food

I have to disagree with this one. I have one Hawaiian Zebra, I started with 4. His name is Dexter. He went on a murderous rampage and now lives in my sump.

I'd add a miniature (fighting or tiger) conch to this list (if you have a sand bed). Mine is a lot of fun to watch.

 

[Kirschy17]

I have to disagree with this one. I have one Hawaiian Zebra, I started with 4. His name is Dexter. He went on a murderous rampage and now lives in my sump.

I'd add a miniature (fighting or tiger) conch to this list (if you have a sand bed). Mine is a lot of fun to watch.

Fighting conch! How could i forget about them +1

 

[Bradley Keck]

Fighting conch! How could i forget about them +1

I have to disagree with this one. I have one Hawaiian Zebra, I started with 4. His name is Dexter. He went on a murderous rampage and now lives in my sump.

I'd add a miniature (fighting or tiger) conch to this list (if you have a sand bed). Mine is a lot of fun to watch.

Well, I'm about to leave for premium aquatics which is only 35min. from my house. I'm thinking scarlet reef hermits( I'll go with just these to be safe - I have a bunch of empty shells that my girls collected in Florida already), tiger conch, and serpent star and some snails. I'm not going to get too many though. I can always add more. Exciting! My first reef inhabitants! Thanks everyone!

 

[Uhohhotdog]

I have to disagree with this one. I have one Hawaiian Zebra, I started with 4. His name is Dexter. He went on a murderous rampage and now lives in my sump.

I'd add a miniature (fighting or tiger) conch to this list (if you have a sand bed). Mine is a lot of fun to watch.

Did you provide them with extra shells?

 

[mckinney0171]

Scarlet hermits all the way. They are great additions and don’t bother anything including each other.

 

[ThunderGoose]

Did you provide them with extra shells?

Yep. Plenty of extra shells. All sizes and shapes. Maybe I just got an aberrant one. That would be good news since we really enjoyed watching him.

 

[Bradley Keck]

Well, I played it safe. Since my tank is still so new, all I got were 12 scarlet hermits. Once my tank matures a little, I'll get a conch and some snails! thanks for your help everybody. Meet Sheldon!