hermit crabs?

My LFS guy just advised me not to get any hermit crabs and stick strickly with snails? He said they will eventually eat my snails. Has anyone else heard this or follows this train of thought?

Thanks

 

Crabs can eat snails if the crab is very big and the snail is small... happend to me only once... the snail had fallen on its back and couldnt get up ;D and a large hermit came along and killed it... a couple of days latter it was walking around with a new house on his back.... guess wich one. :-/ but if your snails are a god size and your hermits and of normal size (mine was freakin huge) youll be ok.

Marc.

 

[quote author=Lionking link=board=Newbie;num=1104872491;start=0#0 date=01/04/05 at 13:01:30]My LFS guy just  advised me not to get any hermit crabs and stick strickly with snails?  He said they will eventually eat my snails.
Thanks[/quote]

Most hermit crabs will eat snails if they are not fed properly. THey also like to eat snails if they have have out grown thier shelkls. I like hermits thoug, i feel they are worth it for there scavaging duties.

 

Hi all, I have only had land hermit crabs before.... What should the maximum size of a hermit crab be if I want it to co-exist within a reef setting??

 

Size isnt as important as species...I have found that the larger hermit crabs like the marshal islands blue knuckle can coexist very peacfully if fed regularly with seaweed and krill. You just have to make sure that everything like LR and coral frags or colonies are secure. I have had a fairly large blue knuckle hermit in my 12 gallon reef for about a year now. If you feed them they are usually fine. But there are many preditorial species that are quite "evil" in reefs. Here's a pic of one of mine.....