They are killing my Snails!!!!

mondo69m · Apr 17, 2020

Is it common for shrimp and hermit crabs to turn snails over and eat them? I am buying new snails every 2 to 3 weeks because I can see the Shrimp (bright red in color) and the hermit crabs flipping them over and eating them. If I have a bright red shrimp with very dull white stripes ( peppermint shrimp?). Should they be soing this?

Pablopufferfish · Apr 17, 2020

Pics would help.

Do you feed them and what do you feed them?

JoshO · Apr 17, 2020

mondo69m said:
Is it common for shrimp and hermit crabs to turn snails over and eat them? I am buying new snails every 2 to 3 weeks because I can see the Shrimp (bright red in color) and the hermit crabs flipping them over and eating them. If I have a bright red shrimp with very dull white stripes ( peppermint shrimp?). Should they be soing this?

From what I've seen and read peppermint shrimp are pretty much a pest majority of the time. And hermit crabs will do this to snails if they need a new shell to move into or are underfed

LiveWire · Apr 17, 2020

It is very common for this to happen and some reefers only keep one or the other for this reason but others still mix it up with both. If you get the red leg hermits as well as some Trochus snails and make sure to feed well it will keep things in check. You may still loose one here and there but it wont happen as often.

Feeding heavy and adding clean shells (you can buy them online) will help with that as well but remember you have to export all the extra nutrients that will be building up as a result of feeding heavier. Your shrimp may be a peppermint or a camel or even a cleaner. It would be good to snap a pic and post it up here.