Hermit attacking Turbo

[freakin]

I have a red-legged hermit crab that has been attacking a turbo snail. I separated them once already and put them on opposite sides of my 29gal. 20 minutes later he's on top of him again.

Does he want food or the shell?

 

[khaosinc]

Most likely his shell, but either is possible. Having a selection of shells in the tank usually helps minimize this problem.

 

[mfinn]

Both. For him it will be a meal and a home.

 

[gothunder3022]

The initial clean up crew in my NC28 was 5 red legged hermits and 5 astrea snails. Within six months, the score was Hermit crabs 5, snails 0. Pretty sure they were all eaten...only one shell was taken over...and I had extra shells lying around.

 

[freakin]

Well he killed him overnight. Should I let the CUC deal with the remains or remove it? Nitrates were already 10-20ppm last time I checked. I know this is quite common in a mixed CUC but will it affect my tank negatively? The turbo was a decent size, about 1-1.5" in diameter. He's been picking at it for the last few hours.

 

[sullest]

remove him is best. Go to walmart buy a bag of medium size shell for $5 and boil it. Put it on the bottom so that the hermit have a "selection" of shells to come into. Hermit will kill for shells like how some people get kill for shoes

 

[freakin]

After nearly 10 days of the shell missing completely my hermit just showed up in his new digs. How big do hermits get? This is a pretty good sized shell

And yeah, I only have 2 snails left from the half dozen I put in the tank.