Turtle grass in my hermit tank?

[Jhbard]

I'd like to make a tank for some thin striped hermit crabs and I would love to make it look good with some kind of sea grass. I know thay would destroy any kind of coral or macroalgae in the tank but maybe sea grass would do better.

 

[TX_REEF]

feather caulerpa should be able to outgrow their snacking with proper conditions, maybe give that a look?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

To my understanding, Thin-Stripe Hermits (Clibanarius vittatus) are reportedly (at least relatively) coral-safe - they may pick at seagrasses (which are notoriously difficult to keep) like they might algae.

Looks like the right species to me - ReefCleaners sells these guys and has some good comments on their keeping on their page (linked below), so I'd give that a read through - but they are hermit crabs (and a relatively large species), so there's always a chance of aggression from them. They are marine hermits, and to my knowledge don't need land, but they do live in the shallows (intertidal zone, seagrass beds, etc.) and are occasionally found on the beach at low tide. They prefer whelk and conch shells and when full grown may need shells that are four inches. Generally, as mentioned, feeding well and providing plenty of shells can help keep hermit aggression in check. Not sure how they do with fish, but these guys are mentioned as being coral safe.

Thin Striped Hermit (Medium)

Resides : Rocks and sand Consumes : Detritus, Hair Algae, Film Algae, and some species of Cyanobacteria Max Size : 3 or 75mm Origin : Caribbean Availability:...

www.reefcleaners.org

They should be fine with calcified algae species though: things like Mermaid's Brush Algae, Halimeda species, Galaxaura species, etc.