Let's talk about hermit crabs

[Bryce M.]

So in my lovely reef I have my adorable moray but the only problem with him is that he loves crabs! So the only crabs I can have without him having him have a little treat are hermit crabs, that's where my problems come in. My Halloween hermits are my perfect little angels, no problems but my red tips and zebras are what drive me crazy. As they are getting bigger they are knocking over my rocks and it's upsetting my corals and feather dusters, especially the feather duster I have that has trouble building his tube up so he likes to be propped up or in rocks and the hermits just move and throw him. Another issue is that they have the taste of snail, they have killed all my snails, as soon as they fall on their shells they circle in and eat it, I have no nitrate or water issues that would be killing the snails so they are still alive when they eat them. I guess they are just doing their job but what should I do? Should I pass them on to someone else and get more Halloweens or just leave them?

 

[saltyhog]

I'm not a big fan of hermits. I started out with a bunch but after removing them when I caught them doing something damaging I'm down to two small scarlet leg hermits. My blue legs and Haloween hermits were all banned to the sump or rehomed. I will not add an others in the future. I have several different types of shrimp that satisfy my eye for inverts.

 

[Haggisman14]

For my next tank, I will definitely NOT be doing hermits. The move too many things around, and every time I feed my tank any reef roids, reef chili, or frozen, they grab it all away from my LPS that i'm trying to feed.

I did have an electric blue leg in an old tank I had, and he was a model citizen and I loved him!

 

[HB AL]

My blue and red leg hermits only come out at night for the last couple years as I think they learned that with predators in my reef it was not safe to come out when the lights are on. I actually hadn’t seen one in a long time, figured they all got munched by the triggers over time but around a month ago I flashed a light in the tank in the middle of the night and actually counted 15. So they have become completely nocturnal for there safety I assume since they don’t even come out when I feed the fish.

 

[cracker]

I'm not a big hermit fan either. just don't trust I do have one zebra that gets a pass as Iv,e had it so long. While we are on hermits what shaped shells do you think they prefer?

 

[Scotty Buttons]

I have scarlet hermits in my reef and they don't cause me any issues. They have never eaten any of my snails and I don't have problems with them messing with corals or knocking them over. Just make sure your getting scarlets not red legs .

 

[Bryce M.]

I have scarlet hermits in my reef and they don't cause me any issues. They have never eaten any of my snails and I don't have problems with them messing with corals or knocking them over. Just make sure your getting scarlets not red legs .

I have red legs, I think scarlet and Halloweens are what I should stick too, I do love zebras though.....

 

[Bryce M.]

I'm not a big hermit fan either. just don't trust I do have one zebra that gets a pass as Iv,e had it so long. While we are on hermits what shaped shells do you think they prefer?

Mine like the standard cerith shell but some like the swirls.

 

[Bryce M.]

I'm not a big fan of hermits. I started out with a bunch but after removing them when I caught them doing something damaging I'm down to two small scarlet leg hermits. My blue legs and Haloween hermits were all banned to the sump or rehomed. I will not add an others in the future. I have several different types of shrimp that satisfy my eye for inverts.

I'm afraid of shrimp with the fact that like the crabs my moray might see they as tasty little appetizers before dinner.