Will hermits kill my conches??

revenant · Aug 31, 2020

All.. I have three conches which are doing a fantastic job on my sand bed. I have an order of hermits coming which I tried to cancel but not sure if I did it in time. It’s a mix of them: 18 assorted, 10 blue leg, and two banded eye.. 30 in total. Ugh too much because my little CuC I got at the LFS is doing a great job... I hope the order is cancelled. If it’s not not sure what I’ll do but wondering if I can at least add some hermits safely... ? Im thinking the banded eye ones might kill the conches.. they’re large and move into conch shells.

xxkenny90xx · Aug 31, 2020

Definately a risk. Is this a reef tank? I don't trust any crabs in a reef tank (actually I set up a second tank just for hermit crabs)

revenant · Aug 31, 2020

xxkenny90xx said:
Definately a risk. Is this a reef tank? I don't trust any crabs in a reef tank (actually I set up a second tank just for hermit crabs)

eventually yes but just at the end of my cycle here now... yeah crabs are crabs.. hmmm.. well hopefully the order got cancelled .. thx

JMR5 · Sep 1, 2020

revenant said:
eventually yes but just at the end of my cycle here now... yeah crabs are crabs.. hmmm.. well hopefully the order got cancelled .. thx

From what I've read, it's more about wanting the shell for expansion than animosity (mostly). Having a selection of different sizes of shells might help and is a cheap solution. Also - the tiny hermits - my Melanarus had them for lunch before anyone could get crazy. lol Right now, I have a single Tiger Conch and a Halloween Hermit - similarly sized, but the hermit is having adjustment issues, while the conch is cleaning things up! So we'll see if the hermit comes out of his funk - I've already put in a few shells (make sure they're the correct opening type) just in case.

Ippyroy · Sep 1, 2020

My hermits are gonna be moving into the fuge. I have a ton of snails in it. Hopefully they can cut it down some. If they touch my conch they will all be fed to the ravens.

xxkenny90xx · Sep 1, 2020

JMR5 said:
From what I've read, it's more about wanting the shell for expansion than animosity (mostly). Having a selection of different sizes of shells might help and is a cheap solution. Also - the tiny hermits - my Melanarus had them for lunch before anyone could get crazy. lol Right now, I have a single Tiger Conch and a Halloween Hermit - similarly sized, but the hermit is having adjustment issues, while the conch is cleaning things up! So we'll see if the hermit comes out of his funk - I've already put in a few shells (make sure they're the correct opening type) just in case.

Not animosity? I don't know about all that... I have a giant hermit crab and if he's a representation of what the little ones are thinking then they are all murderous psychopaths....

JMR5 · Sep 1, 2020

xxkenny90xx said:
Not animosity? I don't know about all that... I have a giant hermit crab and if he's a representation of what the little ones are thinking then they are all murderous psychopaths....

My lone hermit is still having adjustment issues, but I'll keep an eye out for psychopathic tendencies! Lol

revenant · Sep 1, 2020

Yeah I would think it would be tough for the little ones to hurt a conch 5x+ larger than they are... the banded eye are big but I have two large shells which are empty for them to move into if this order does come.. the people at reef cleaners are feeding me static about this order.