Snails and hermit crab compatibility

[Bear Claw]

I just purchased 3 Astea and 3 Nassarius snails without knowing about the hermit crabs killing them. I have about 6 blue leg hermits and one red leg. I have plenty of shells that fit the hermits all over my tank and the snail shells are much much bigger than the hermit crabs. Should I be concerned?

 

[blaxsun]

Spiny astrea? Good luck to the hermits with those! And as Nassarius are nocturnal those hermit crabs are going to half to dig their way to China to find them. I have lots (of both) - even the large halloween and algae hermits leave them alone.

 

[Uzidaisies]

Larger Astraea snails seem to do an alright job at fighting them off. It’s pretty funny to watch. The snail will start raising its shell and snapping it back down, and if a hermit is on top of it they might start twisting their shell back and forth to try to throw the crab off. The hermits killed two small Astraea snails when I first got them though. My Ceriths are also much larger than the crabs and there’s been no problems there.

 

[jgirardnrg]

hermits are opportunistic and will grab a snail if it's easy or if they want the shell for themselves. It happens from time to time and there's really nothing you can do about it. Mostly the hermits wrestle each other for the shells in my tank but I do see a few wearing nice Trochus snail shells now.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I have astrea, turbo, nassarius, and a small verity with my 8 blue legs and Mexican red leg. They only will eat the dead snails, I haven’t observed them kill any snails yet.

 

[pezcadoazul]

I recently added a large red legged hermit to my 75 gallon tank with a variety of snails, including a number of nassarius snails. This morning I saw the hermit munching on something thick and white. A few inches away was the upside down empty shell of my largest nassarius. I believe it must have climbed up the wall of the aquarium, fell to the sand bed upside down, and was pulled from its shell before it could right itself. That snail had survived several years with another hermit crab of comparable size to the culprit. I don't know how long they nassarius live. Maybe it died and was eaten.