Anybody else dislike hermits??

[Beckmola24]

I have had such a problem with my hermits lately. I caught one red handed (or should I say blue legged) trying to kill one of my conches. I was agravated. I KNOW another one of them contributed to the demise of my cleaner shrimp. I think they attacked the poor guy while he was molting. They're so demanding.... Always needing new shells. Anybody else dislike hermits? Or am I the only one. My large tank isn't going to have a single one. =)

 

[Witfull]

Crabs Are Evil!!

 

[mattseattle]

i only have 2 left in my tank. i had 3 to start off with. they are the red-legged variety. don't seem hostile as i haven't caught them attacking anything. i do feed them on a regular basis though so maybe that helps.

now my sally lightfoot crab had to go. she was growing too large and taking food from everything. i finally caught her last week and gave her away.

no more crabs will be placed in my tank though

 

[Beckmola24]

I have a pom pom that's really cute, and an emrald crab who is an awesome algae eater, but I've gotten rid of all but my red legged hermit. The reds seem less agressive and less "hyper" and active than the blues. IME they don't grow as fast as the blues either. I will stick with nassarius in the future. They are awesome scavengers and I love their little sensor things that they stick up =) Lost one today due to a hermit... grrrrr....

 

[mattseattle]

yeah i like my nassarius snails as well. i also like my queen conch.

i've only had the reds so i can't do a comparison. i've had one red that has changed shells a few times in the past 6 months. the other one hasn't at all and he still looks the same size. i used to put quite a few empty shells in my tank for the hermits but the pistol shrimp i have has taken them all and used them as a liner for his caverns.

 

[Beckmola24]

That's funny =) Do you have a goby pistol pair??

 

[mattseattle]

yeah, i bought them together about 8 months ago. interesting relationship sometimes i can't stand the pistol shrimp then other times i think it's the kewlest thing.

 

[Beckmola24]

That's so cool. What kind of Goby and what kind of Pistol? I want to eventually get a pair for my 72.

 

[mattseattle]

it's a yellow watchman goby and a tiger pistol shrimp. kewl couple

the 2 bad things about the pistol shrimp are the snapping of it's claws. sometimes that can be pretty damn loud during the night. also it likes to dig so i often have sand storms in my tank. i put quite a few shells in the tank so it could line it's caves and that has cut down on the sand storms.

 

[NeilsReef]

Since I gave my hermits the boot, my snails were able to multiply as fast as rabbits.

 

[Beckmola24]

Everyone in my tank seems a little happier today now that the hermits have moved to the little 5. =) I still feel bad for that poor nassarius. He didn't have a chance against the big hermit.

 

[mattseattle]

what type of snails do you have that multiply?

 

[Beckmola24]

Mine lay eggs all the time, but I've never seen any babies. NeilsReef, what's your secret for growing little snails =)

 

[mattseattle]

i've seen my margarita snails spawn but never have seen babys.

Beckmola, what type of snails do you have? do they lay eggs on the glass?

 

[Beckmola24]

I have Nassarius and Astreas. The eggs laid are from the nassarius though. They lay their eggs on the glass and it seems like it's always in a high current place. I'm pretty sure I know who the culprit Snail is too =) She's always by the eggs when they appear. She actually laid some yesterday, but only a few this time (maybe 10). Each time she lays fewer and fewer eggs. I've never seen any baby nassarius. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. =)

 

[Montanarocknreefer]

Not a big fan of hermit crabs....Only ones I might consider are the Red Scarlet hermits.

 

[Ray Pollett]

I like crabs, Think they are neat. The kids that are in the day cares where I do tanks love the crabs, worms and starfish more than the fish.

Ray

 

[Curtswearing]

Cerith snails often lay eggs on the glass in long wavy strings. I've had Nassarius snails and Strombus Maculatus reproduce in my tank as well.

Most marine snails are free spawners. The male and female snails shed their gametes into the seawater, and fertilization and development occur in the water column. You will rarely get the resulting offspring successfully through the planktonic stage in an aquarium so you never get babies.

Okay, back to the original topic. I'm not a fan of crabs. I think that crabs should be rented rather than sold. LFS's should rent them out after a tank finishes cycling. Crabs are excellent at cleaning live rock but become a nuisance afterwards IMO.

Ray, I do agree they are fun to watch. I just hated it when I ended up with a bunch of crabs running around in nerite snail shells when I had provided tons of replacement shells for them. There was no reason for them to kill the snails.

 

[Elmo18]

I dont mind having hermit crabs in my tank. However, I stray away from the blue-legged hermits that great really big.

My two favorites are the hawaiian black and white hermits and the red scarlet hermits.

- Elmo

 

[Beckmola24]

I had an interesting electric blue hermit which I paid 10 bucks for. (I think that's a lot for a hermit) but that's just IMO. He was an awesome algae eater and very docile. Actually didn't even move around very much. I only had him for a month. Well anyways he molted one day and while recovering, right in front of me 3 blue legged hermits attacked him and killed him. I was UPSET. They are such pretty hermits (electric blues) but the infamous blue legs struck agian. grrr.... See, I have reason to back up my dislike for hermits. =) lol