Hermit Crabs

Hermit crabs seem to be part of just about every "clean up crew" you buy these days. You get Tubo snails, maybe Margarita snails, Nassarius snails, maybe Cerinth snails, a brittle star or a serpent star of some description, and invariably, some hermit crabs.

Don't get me wrong, I happen to like Hermit crabs. I just don't like them in mass quantities. And in particular, I don't like piles and piles of blue-leg Hermits. Blue-Leg Hermits tend to be too aggressive for my taste. They will kill each other, and other snails for their shells. Even if they find that the shell is wrong for them, they will kill to find out. They spend too much time killng and not enough time eating algae, IMO.

I prefer the Red-leg Hermits, or as some say, the Scarlet-Leg Hermits. They are not nearly as aggressive as the Blue-legs, to kill other hermits for shells, though if a large snail has a nice large shell, they might be tempted. But you hardly ever see them fighting amongst themselves, or with snails, or with Blue-legs. They love to eat algae, though. Here's one of mine, posed for me up against the glass:

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He's pretty goofy looking, with his eyes out there on stalks like that, don't you think? But, there is something endearing about them, nonetheless. He's been "hole up" here for two days, and he has literally dug himself in, for some reason known only to crabs. But, I'm not complaining; it's given me a chance to take a few up-close, personal shots of one of these goofy looking residents of my tank. [smiley=freak3.gif]

[glow=red, 2, 300]Peace, to all you goofy looking people out there... [/glow] [smiley=angel.gif]

 

he is kinda cool lookin. i havent broke down and gotten any hermits so far the only crab ive gotten has been and emerald. i was wondering if you put a few empty shells in the tank would they leave the snails alone? and have you ever tried that at all

 

Hey karla,

Yes, if you put some empty shells in there, but blue-legs will try those out before killing your snails. The problem is that eventually, the blue-legs will get large enough to need a large snail shell, and that means killing a turbo/astrea. [smiley=uzi.gif]

I have about 10 blue-legs in my tank right now, all of them very small. I also have a Checkerboard Wrasse of which they live in terror. If he sees them moving he will eat them. So, they do most of their scavanging at night, and this seems to have been the solution. The numbers have not decreased. They aren't killing my snails. And everyone seems happy. [smiley=sweetheart.gif]

[glow=Purple, 4, 900]I just love to watch them scurry for cover when I turn on the light in the morning!!! [/glow] ;D

 

thnx for the info maby ill consider tryin a couple ill think about it