Maximus Clam eaten by hermit crabs

calanprc · Apr 26, 2022

I bought this beautiful 3.5 inch Maximus Clam at Reef-Apolooza show in Orlando. The next morning it has 5 hermit crabs on it. I thought they were eating the algae off the shell. Come to find out they were eating the clam. I found one in side the shell. I remove all the hermit crabs into my sump. I had no idea that these guys would attack my Clam. Are there other predators to watch out for. I also have an emerald crab and a firecracker shrimp. Could they be issues also? Do you think my Clam will survive?

BanjoBandito · Apr 26, 2022

ALL CRABS ARE BAD!

Bucs20fan · Apr 26, 2022

Hermits, like all other crabs are omnivores, and they will eat just about anything if they get the desire to. I have two emerald crabs that are model citizens, but that is after ive removed 5 others that started to eat my GSP and they became food the the tank next to them. The shrimp would be the least common to eat a clam, unless its is a peppermint, they are the devils. The emerald would eat the clam if it wanted to.

calanprc · Apr 26, 2022

BanjoBandito said:
ALL CRABS ARE BAD!

Are snails ok? I have a lot of asteria and trochus snails. Will they harm a clam?

Bucs20fan · Apr 26, 2022

No, neither of those will harm a clam.

calanprc · Apr 26, 2022

Bucs20fan said:
No, neither of those will harm a clam.

Thank you for your help! Go Bucks!!

steallife904 · Apr 26, 2022

did you buy from the guy selling for 40 or 60 (brown or blue, greens)?? If so I 2 lost my clam next day. I went Sunday and I got home around 8 sunday night. I acclimated for 3 hours. My tank has been running for years, perimeters all where need be and have plenty of LPS and SPS. Next morning the clam was in same spot and most of the flesh gone. Nothing bothering it that i ever saw and i kept trying to go look during day. Wish i had not bought it is all i can say....

Bucs20fan · Apr 26, 2022

+1 ^ if the clam had died already then that would explain the feast from the hermits.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Apr 26, 2022

hermits wont hurt a clam, the clam would just shut. The clam was obviously not able to shut itself, either too week or already dead.

Tamberav · Apr 26, 2022

calanprc said:
I bought this beautiful 3.5 inch Maximus Clam at Reef-Apolooza show in Orlando. The next morning it has 5 hermit crabs on it. I thought they were eating the algae off the shell. Come to find out they were eating the clam. I found one in side the shell. I remove all the hermit crabs into my sump. I had no idea that these guys would attack my Clam. Are there other predators to watch out for. I also have an emerald crab and a firecracker shrimp. Could they be issues also? Do you think my Clam will survive?

They only eat unhealthy or dying clams. They can smell the death before you will even notice. Sorry but you were sold a sick clam or it didn’t fair well in transport. A healthy clam can shut up tight if it wants to.

It’s easy to blame the hermits but it’s better to just realize how carful you need to be when buying clams.

BanjoBandito · Apr 26, 2022

calanprc said:
Are snails ok? I have a lot of asteria and trochus snails. Will they harm a clam?

Yeah snails are fine, I'm just not a fan of crabs....let me edit that a bit, I love crabs, to have pom poms and decorators in a tank is really neat, but at the end of the day, they are opportunistic feeders. They'll eat anything they can get their dirty little claws on. Hermits have been a CUC staple for so long, but they do (in my experience) almost zero clean up. I view it as a reefing myth, the benefit of crabs. I'm sure there's certain crabs out there or specific instances of crabs being "good", but I think those are few and far between.

DeniseAndy · Apr 26, 2022

The wrong snails will also eat clams. Just be warned.
It sounds like you got an unhealthy clam. Probably bad transport stress or water quality swings it could not adjust to. Sounds like nothing you could have done. Sorry for your loss.

calanprc · Apr 26, 2022

steallife904 said:
did you buy from the guy selling for 40 or 60 (brown or blue, greens)?? If so I 2 lost my clam next day. I went Sunday and I got home around 8 sunday night. I acclimated for 3 hours. My tank has been running for years, perimeters all where need be and have plenty of LPS and SPS. Next morning the clam was in same spot and most of the flesh gone. Nothing bothering it that i ever saw and i kept trying to go look during day. Wish i had not bought it is all i can say....

Yes, same guy. Ugh. I lost $150

Dburr1014 · Apr 26, 2022

I agree with others, the clam was not healthy and the hermits took advantage.
They did there job.... The clam was dying and they ate it before it broke down and spiked your ammonia.
Saying hermits are bad is a very broad, untrue statement. They clean up meaty food, they eat algae and uneaten fish food.
As Denise Andy said, snails will eat clams too. Pyramid snails and whelks are bad for clams.

On another note, how did you acclimate the clam? Did you inspect it for pyramid snails or other hitchhikers?

Edit for mis-spelling

homer1475 · Apr 26, 2022

Dburr1014 said:
I agree with others, the clam was not healthy and the hermits took advantage.
They did there job.... The clam was dying and they ate it before it broke down and spiked your ammonia.
Saying hermits are bad is a very broad, untrue statement. They clean up meaty for, they eat algae and uneaten fish food.
As Denise Andy said, snails will eat clams too. Pyramid snails and whelks are bad for clams.

On another note, how did you acclimate the clam? Did you inspect it for pyramid snails or other hitchhikers?

I was just going to type the exact same thing about crabs when I read the post about them being useless as CUC members.

mindme · Apr 26, 2022

calanprc said:
I bought this beautiful 3.5 inch Maximus Clam at Reef-Apolooza show in Orlando. The next morning it has 5 hermit crabs on it. I thought they were eating the algae off the shell. Come to find out they were eating the clam. I found one in side the shell. I remove all the hermit crabs into my sump. I had no idea that these guys would attack my Clam. Are there other predators to watch out for. I also have an emerald crab and a firecracker shrimp. Could they be issues also? Do you think my Clam will survive?

I've never had hermits kill anything, but they will clean up anything that dies really quick.

Tamberav · Apr 26, 2022

Hermit crabs eat algae for me. Idk why people think they are useless. They can clean up certain corals like gorgs really well. Getting up in the branches and eating old shed.

reef cleaners has a video of hermits sped up of them eating a bunch of algae.

The main problem is they like to kill each other.

mindme · Apr 26, 2022

Tamberav said:
Hermit crabs eat algae for me. Idk why people think they are useless. They can clean up certain corals like gorgs really well. Getting up in the branches and eating old shed.

reef cleaners has a video of hermits sped up of them eating a bunch of algae.

The main problem is they like to kill each other.

Never seen any kill another, but I have witnessed a few evictions.

cdw79 · Apr 26, 2022

steallife904 said:
did you buy from the guy selling for 40 or 60 (brown or blue, greens)?? If so I 2 lost my clam next day. I went Sunday and I got home around 8 sunday night. I acclimated for 3 hours. My tank has been running for years, perimeters all where need be and have plenty of LPS and SPS. Next morning the clam was in same spot and most of the flesh gone. Nothing bothering it that i ever saw and i kept trying to go look during day. Wish i had not bought it is all i can say....

Are you talking about the guy with the New York accent who had a corner booth near the entrance? I bought some coral from him (they've done great in the days since they were added) but from what I saw the clams they had there didn't look great. Saw some gaping on at least a few, most did not react to putting my hand over the light source which tends to be a bad thing. So if it was from that tank (I believe they had some the size you were describing) that might be why.

For what it's worth, I was talking with the Coral Vault guys on Sunday as well and they had bought some clams at the show too (they said from ORA, but I don't recall for sure whether that booth actually had any, so maybe they just meant they were ORA clams). Regardless, the guy at Coral Vault said he had had one die within hours of purchase. So probably not even your fault @calanprc , I was surprised to see so many clams there. They seem a little delicate to be moving back and forth all across the country like that

steallife904 · May 3, 2022

cdw79 said:
Are you talking about the guy with the New York accent who had a corner booth near the entrance? I bought some coral from him (they've done great in the days since they were added) but from what I saw the clams they had there didn't look great. Saw some gaping on at least a few, most did not react to putting my hand over the light source which tends to be a bad thing. So if it was from that tank (I believe they had some the size you were describing) that might be why.

For what it's worth, I was talking with the Coral Vault guys on Sunday as well and they had bought some clams at the show too (they said from ORA, but I don't recall for sure whether that booth actually had any, so maybe they just meant they were ORA clams). Regardless, the guy at Coral Vault said he had had one die within hours of purchase. So probably not even your fault @calanprc , I was surprised to see so many clams there. They seem a little delicate to be moving back and forth all across the country like that

i believe the guy was towards the back corner near the raffle stuff. The clams where sitting in small tank with gravel in it. I also remember trying to get them to close waving my hand over them and they did not. I asked him and he said he was just handling them. I didn't know enough and took a shot. Im almost certain they where not in good shape and that's why. I bet most who bought them lost them. Just wished i passed.
Its over a week later and all coral i got is great. Clam was dead next day....