Snails Only?

[RobertP]

I lost a long tentacled plate last month due to hermits crawling over them and cutting their skin. Had no idea hermits were bad with plates. Have another green plate that is going to die soon with holes in his skin too.
Wont be replacing any hermits in my tank.

 

[Ty Hamatake]

I lost a long tentacled plate last month due to hermits crawling over them and cutting their skin. Had no idea hermits were bad with plates. Have another green plate that is going to die soon with holes in his skin too.
Wont be replacing any hermits in my tank.

And now a sad ending! You're really messing my emotions today Robert.

Lol, but really, that sucks man. Very few things make me more mad than watching my hermits crawl over my coral and steal their food...

 

[mcarroll]

What is something you can throw in a tank if you want to feed your CUC when you dont have alot of algae?

Not really...snails are generally designed for eating bacteria, diatoms, algae....soft stuff they can more or less eat whole.

Try hard to match your CUC to your algae load vs going by numbers.

Keep in mind that hermits are only able to eat snails that have already died, or are overturned.

If that were only true. Watch a hermit harass a snail until he's on his back....and then watch it again....and again....and again.

You're right that starvation is often a factor across the board though. Too much CUC in most cases.

Thought this may be pertinent information
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/got-aggressive-hermit-crabs-give-them-better-homes

Interesting, but noteworthy that wild hermits would not be starving. Starving hermits are pretty typical in most reefs (or you'd see more golf-ball sized blue-leg hermits!) so I'm fairly sure that's the reason. But I'm not in the business of well-fed hermits....when snails will do what needs doing!

for a 90 gal, how many snails should one get? or what type of cuc should one get? all snails? or maybe 15 snails and 1-2 crabs?

Tank pic? Depends on the algae load.

If you have none, I'd suggest adding a few at a time and just see how things progress for a week or two. If you notice a difference after a week or two, you probably have enough crew. If you can't notice a difference, then you need more. If the tank looks clean the next morning, you added too many!!!!!

I ordered a batch

A good way to end up with a starvation situation.....I'd try to share the order with someone...or even someones!

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

for a 90 gal, how many snails should one get? or what type of cuc should one get? all snails? or maybe 15 snails and 1-2 crabs?

The general rule of thumb is 1 snail/ crab per gallon (though this does somewhat vary depending on fish stock, rock work and algal growth.) the lighter the fish stock, the less inverts generally required. The more algae growth, the more inverts required. In most 90g tanks, about 75 small snails and hermits would work. You can count larger turbo snails as 2-3 small snails.

Keep in mind to not add all of your CUC at one time, but rather add them gradually as you would with your fish stock. I find starting off with 20% of your total CUC works well, then gradually adding the rest along with your fish.

I personally only would purchase scarlet hermits as they have great visual appeal as well as tend to be better cleaners than blues or reds IME.
You'll definetly want to get a diverse group of snails, my reccomendations being: ceriths (sifter, detritus), trochus (most green algaes, cyano & diatoms), margarita (hair/ green algae, glass), nassarius (sifter, scavenger), turbos (hair/ green algae), nerite (diatoms, brown algae, glass)

Overall, I'd do about 20 hermits and 55 snails. Other key CUC members include urchins(hard algae, micro and macro algaes), emerald crabs(scavengers, hair, bubble algae)

 

[saltnewb]

So with those monsters gone, I'm down to a turbo snail and 3 astraea snails and a feast for them. My tank is a 30g for 4 little fish and some soft corals. I'm hoping to be good with my current stock and can just my tank be for a while now.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

So with those monsters gone, I'm down to a turbo snail and 3 astraea snails and a feast for them. My tank is a 30g for 4 little fish and some soft corals. I'm hoping to be good with my current stock and can just my tank be for a while now.

I would add a few more.. some ceriths, nassarius, and trochus snails would be great.

 

[azbigjohn]

Thought this may be pertinent information
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/got-aggressive-hermit-crabs-give-them-better-homes

Now THAT's the kind of research job I would get into..

Staging Hermit crab fights?!?!? Figuring out how to measure the muscle strength of a hermit crab??!?!?!

 

[saltnewb]

Staging Hermit crab fights?!?!? Figuring out how to measure the muscle strength of a hermit crab??!?!?!

I was actually thinking the same thing as I was driving over to Saltwater Junkies. I had a contender. His shell wasn't too small either, he was just an angry little dude.

 

[Katrina71]

Thought this may be pertinent information
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/got-aggressive-hermit-crabs-give-them-better-homes

Crabs prefer shells that don't float when you boil them. Heavier. They also don't typically like spiney shells.

 

[Katrina71]

Drop extra shells in the tank and break up a tiny sinking food pellet. Your crabs do good things in your tank. Aggression will stop if they have room to grow and food.