Hermit Crabs??? Yeah or Neah??

[mama]

OK...this is the second time this week I have heard NOT to have hermit crabs in a tank that has corals, as they are not natural to their environment and can harm them. My tank is FULL of soft corals, as well as hermit crabs!! I see they are not eating or harming them, just ticking them off when they crawl all over them. What should I do, really??:hypnotyized:

[Jonthefishguy]

Hermit crabs such as red legged, blue legged, and the like are for the most part harmless to a reef. They have been known to climb over corals and possibly get stuck within coral branches or kill a snail or each other for a new home (shell). I have not seen and still see no problems with placing them in a reef aquarium.

[DrMark]

OK...this is the second time this week I have heard NOT to have hermit crabs in a tank that has corals, as they are not natural to their environment and can harm them. My tank is FULL of soft corals, as well as hermit crabs!! I see they are not eating or harming them, just ticking them off when they crawl all over them. What should I do, really??:hypnotyized:

I think you are fine with what you are doing.
Most people probably have hermits in their reef tanks.
I do.
Reefcleaners, a sponsor here, suggests no hermits in a reef tank. They sell mostly snails and a few hermits. My next tank in progress, I will try with no hermits to start.
Short answer, dont worry.
mark

[ErikH]

Hermits are an essential part of your clean up crew. Large hermits however can be troublesome. I would not ever go without them in any SW tank.

[sly fox]

i guess the argument is they eat a lot of beneficial organisms in a tank and sand bed, big ones are evil plain and simple and they will kill snails for their shells... i dont know but i assume they will leave little ones like some of the ones from reefcleaners alone... i dont have any in my 175... i am thinking of having some in my nano because theyre pretty useful for detritus and hair algae...in my 175 i have a magnificent foxface so theres no issue with hair algae ever

[Zoofan]

I have never had a problem with them. I think having them in moderation is good. Corals all over the globe have some kind of crab or snail that walks over them, I have never noticed any ill affect.

[Bill S]

As John says, they can take on snails for their shells. That's why it's a good idea to have PLENTY of shells in your tank - that way they always have a new home. Mine like the turbo shells as they get older - I love turbo snails, but they can get "stuck" when they fall down.

[mama]

You guys are awesome...Thanks!! I will leave well enough alone...

[rz1a]

they suck. they always kill each other for their shell, and if they dont like it theyll just leave it and leave the other hermit crab naked until it dies. dont mix snails and hermit crabs because youll end up with less snails or none at all.

i started with 10 of them and ended up with 2 in the end (hermit crabs)

[pagan.n.damaged]

i added two snails and 1 hermit about a week ago and except for the few occasions when they were first added I've had no issues. Although my hermit is bigger then my snails if it catches one of them he'll flip them over but so far so good. When we go to a bigger tank i probably won't have any hermits though.

[Submariner]

I've been told blue leggs only b/c they don't ever get big and therefore aggressive. It's all I have in my tank and I've never had any trouble. Although I only have a couple of SPS. A good mixture of snails is an absolute must!

[zcatzmeow]

I initially had a good mix of hermits in my tank and they were fine for awhile. They knock stuff over and seem to love fighting but for the most part they were fine. Then out of the blue, with extra shells all over the place, they started taking out my big snails. Not cool. I think I have one little blue leg left and have restocked my snails.

[alton]

I keep the Hawaian Zebras and the Scarlets with only one or two nassarius per tank. In my 158 I have had this mixture for several years without ever adding more to this tank. I am not a big believer in snails, but I know many who are, just be careful with small tanks because if you lose them it could spell trouble. My nephew recently had this problem in his 29g.

[drgnbttrfly]

blue legs are not harmless...i have seen them attack and kill two shrimp in the last year...and these guys were still pretty little!

They don't bother the zoas though...:)

[Jonthefishguy]

Every animal has a mean streak and being that they are opportunistic and scavangers there is always a possibility for them to attack other inverts for whatever reason. Shrimp, snails and hermit crabs are very essential in most aquariums as they are really the clean up crew. The cockroaches of the ocean sort of speak.

[zcatzmeow]

I've had great luck so far with my emerald crab and my strawberry crab. They are much more peaceful, don't care about snails, and are remarkably gentle around the corals.

[TexasState]

Crap! I just bought 20 scarlet, 10 blue and 2 orange hermit crabs, and now I read this.
If you lock an astrea snail on a piece of rock with short green hair algae, they can clean that rock up very well. The hermit seems to be ripping the hair algae and let the extra fly off, to be grown elsewhere.

[mattymalcolm]

I like the left handed hawaian zebras but when they get big they do knock oveer coral.

[Willow]

I've seen too many hermits attack anemones.. so I try to avoid them..
but if I had to have hermits I would go with the Hawaiian hermits..

in my seahorse tanks I don't have any hermits at all..

[johnmaloney @ Reef Cleaners]

Snails can clean everything hermits can, and in more locations. Hermits kill snails for shells. They also annoy coral. But they are kind of cool to watch, so....

Are they necessary for a clean tank? Absolutely not.
Are they a good addition to your tank? Depends on your tastes. No hermits go in my personal tanks, and I have never seen algae in my tanks, with the exception of my first tank.

[johnmaloney @ Reef Cleaners]

Your shrimp was probably dying. Stressed and almost dead animals will be scavenged by blue legs and nassarius snails. If your shrimp couldn't flee from hermit crabs, it was dying.

[seatrueblue]

I don't have hermit crabs anymore. When I bought my red grape algae from live aquaria a year or so ago. There was a devils hand coral attached to it. It was my first coral for that tank. It was doing well untill we added a hermit crab. The hermit crab kept sitting next to my DH coral and making it lean over. I would move the hermit crab far away from the coral and a few hours later the dang thing was back again.:at_wits_end: The hermit eventually killed my free coral. Never again will I have hermit crabs in any of my tanks. The only hermits I had was scarlet hermits.

[ErikH]

I think snails can be as if not more destructive. Hermits tend to knock more objects over for one simple reason, there are more of them. My turbo snails knock over more items now than my hermits do, as their shells are much more obtrusive. Also, my frags are glued down, so the hermits shells cannot knock them down, whereas a snail can easily knock them down if they get caught between a frag and a hard place. LARGE hermits are of course a no-no. I only have two snails and about 70-100 hermits in my system, with anemones, SPS, LPS, and several different specie of shrimp.

If you are not gluing frags down, anything, including flow can kill a coral. Not gluing frags down is really a waste of time because if they are not secure, they will move. I was guilty of this for a long time, now I just glue it all down and I only have to put my hands in the tank once or twice a week, and that's usually not for frags.

When hermits grow, they need larger shells. The fact that they take snail's shells is simply because they need more room to grow, and it is the fault of the owner of the aquarium for not providing these. You can find them online if you want some sweet decorative style shells, or you can simply go to Hobby Lobby and pick some up.

[copperband]

i always have hermit crabs. i use to only have one and it was a blue leg he used to kill other hermit crabs but then i added like 20 and his aggressione went away. so i always keep hermits in my tank they do a great job at keeping the tank clean!!!!!!!!