Hermits, love em or hate em

JKDMan · Nov 13, 2020

Do you guys keep hermits?. I really like hermits, but they are murdering the crap out of my snails.I've just caught all of mine and am taking them to the lfs tomorrow to trade for snails.

Uncle99 · Nov 13, 2020

Hate
Banned them 5 years ago and have not lost a snail nor, have there been any mysterious disappearances
Great water, a couple of tangs, a few snails..........no job for them anyways...

Mike Kearns · Nov 13, 2020

Hate them. Down to 3. Can't wait for them to die.

New&no clue · Nov 13, 2020

Awww man I love my hermits, they’re a murderous gang and the sand is scattered with the carnage. But they’re fun to watch and overall seem to help clean something up.

reefiniteasy · Nov 13, 2020

Mine stack up the snail shells like they are some sort of trophy. They just murdered two of my Trochus snails. It’s the Wild West on the reef.

Vette67 · Nov 13, 2020

How can you not like this? Look at that color!

xxkenny90xx · Nov 13, 2020

I love my little killers

Leah Ryan · Nov 13, 2020

I have some shells that I scattered around the tank. I was told the hermits would use these when they needed a new shell, and this would cut down on the hermits killing my snails. The hermits completely ignored the empty shells, and kill my snails anyway. :mad:

Hermie · Nov 13, 2020

Used to love them but when I started getting snails I slowly stopped believing the crabs were useful. Now that most have died off in my tank I don't even want to replace them. Snails are so much better at eating algae.

Gordonm · Nov 14, 2020

Vette67 said:
How can you not like this? Look at that color!

Years ago this little guy got out of his shell and streaked along like saying , hey look at me!

Sharkbait19 · Nov 14, 2020

JKDMan said:
Do you guys keep hermits?. I really like hermits, but they are murdering the crap out of my snails.I've just caught all of mine and am taking them to the lfs tomorrow to trade for snails.

I love hermit crabs!! I love their goofy and silly walking and their personality! My only issue is that they keep flipping my coral frags over for a reason that’s beyond me. As far as eating snails, it depends on the type of snail I guess. I know they can be picky with ceriths if they don’t have enough shells. Do you have a good amount of shells? I know blue legs are one of the more docile species. As far as having snail troubles, I have had more of a problem with my emerald crab attacking snails than with the hermits.
Mine are so funny, especially when trying to scale the walls!