What kind of hermit should I get?

Jojo1628

Reefing newb
I'm thinking of getting a few hermit crabs...but there are so many different kinds, but I also have a few cerith and turbo snails already...what kind of hermit will work and not eat my snails?? I heard the blue hermits are notorious against snails...i just don't want to see needless deaths...
 
if you want a sure fire way to not lose snails to hermit crabs, then dont get hermit crabs. all hermits have the potential to kill a snail for the shell but you can lower that potential by adding some bigger empty shells for them to move into, and any hermits will work so just pick whats available
 
haha...thanks for headsup Ryan...I really like crabs and hermits are great cleaners...I guess once they show me the evil side, I'll get freaked...
 
I've tried several types of hermits, and some seem to be more snail safe than others, but I have always lost snails to hermits. I've even seen the different types of hermits gang up on a seemingly perfect healthy snail, kill it, then fight over the shell. I avoid hermits in my tank, and have not added any more after my initial bunch... Just kinda waiting for them to die off.

You should look into getting a variety of snails (nassarius, trochus, cerith, astraea, mexican turbo), an emerald crab or two, one brittle star or serpent star, and a pair of shrimp. That's a pretty well rounded cleaner crew for a tank your size, IMO. Just don't get a sand sifting star. Brittle or serpent only. And no green ones! They like to snack on fish.
 
Biff is right, Nassarius snails are AWESOME!!
Those guys burrow into the sand (all you see is an antenna sticking out).
When the food goes in, they hop into action.

I have 5 in my tank and they seem to be really hardy thus far.
 
if you are determined to get hermits, go with blue legged hermits. they stay pretty small and don't seem to be as aggressive toward snails as red legged ones.

-Doc
 
i dont really like crabs i have a blue legged hermit cuz im to lazy to bring it back to the store. but i used to have a like 5-6 and they would always fight. it was kinda cool watching them fight. but then i relize i paid like $35 for thing to kill each other. i rather save my money.just my 2 cents
 
I have 12 blue leg hermits and 5 large red leg hermits in my tank.

I haven't lost a single snail to a hermit crab massacre. The hermits kill each other, but not my snails.

I have a bunch of extra shells in my tank though. Some of the hermits have moved into new shells, some have been killed trying to fight over shells. But I still got all my snails.

IMHO--hermits are about worthless. Can't wait for all mine to die. They don't eat algae (LFS said they would), they DO steal bits of meaty food from my corals though. :frustrat: Pisses me off. The hermits race over to the corals and yank bits of food from the corals mouths. They crawl all over the corals and molest them continuously. This scares the corals so they end up spitting all their food out and not eating anything.

I'd like to take my hermits out and smash them with a hammer sometimes. Hate 'em!! :pooh:
 
dang, all the hates...i love those crabs, prob just stick w/ one or two for now and see how i'll feel for them...i know the snails are better cleaners...
 
someone mentioned above about an urchin....I really like the longspined urchin(they are really neat to have). I had one years ago and I traded him in for two reasons...first he started to get really big and second he would always devour the coralline algae in the tank.
 
I disagree. I've seen hermits clean the sand very well and eat algae. But hermits (and emerald crabs) are reef safe by virtue of the fact that they are small. Larger emerald and hermit crabs have been known to kill fish.
 
I would get the wite hermits from Reefscavengers.com they are one of the smallest and they eat bubble and hair algea well.Secound choice of hermis for me would be the blue legged hermits like doc said.
 
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