Are Nassarius Snails susceptible to attacks by Hermit Crabs?

[John J in Pickens]

I have had various Hermit Crabls in my marine tanks before, but since this is my first attempt to try my hand at a reef tank I had been told that a good cleaning crew is required, which includes a Nassarius Snail (because they stir up the sand and help keep it from getting clogged with detritus). I got two small Nassarius Snails, each about 1-1/2 inches long. I also bought 6 small Astra Snails and 2 small Hermit Crabs. I noticed after putting them in my BioCube 16 tank that within an hour, one of the Hermit Crabs had one of the Nassarius snails flipped over on its shell and appeared to be eating the snail. I pushed the Hermit Crab out of the way and took the injured Nassarius Snail out of the tank and placed it in my quarantine tank. Unfortunately, the next day, the Nassarius Snail was dead.

Has this happened to anyone else? I did not expect my invert to be attacking each other. Any advice would be appreciated. TIA

John J in SC

 

[1epauletteshark]

IME-yes, hermit crabs will go after nassarius snails and I recommend a hermit crab only or a snail only CUC

 

[TinyReefObsession]

Sorry about your snail. I have both in the tank and it’s been generally peaceful. We do overfeed I’m sure lol but only aggressive interactions I’ve seen were shortly after moving the tank (everyone was up in arms and reestablishing their pecking orders lol). I saw the bigger blue leg poke the snail as it was bulldozing towards the hermit, and the snail flipped away, and I saw the super tiny blue leg dig up a snail and take a few swipes, before the snail just burrowed deeper away. I have heard that all crabs are opportunistic feeders - maybe yours arrived pretty hungry? :/

 

[JasonVH]

I have noticed the hermit crabs getting excited if they find a nassarius snail aboveground. However if the snail is underground or with only the siphon exposed, they make no moves towards them.

If I'm reading you correctly, those were just introduced to the tank? The snail may have been already on the way out or was stressed by new tank conditions and so wasn't feeling like diving under the sand right away(which is ideal). Apparently some snails need time to adapt, particularly if they'd been shipped.

However, I've not been able to keep nassarius for long. They came from a LFS and dove under the sand immediately, looking all healthy. The first few weeks their siphons will be visible along occasionally seeing them out and about after lights off. Gradually they'd just not show siphons as much anymore. Another week, seeing only one or two siphons out of three... I've tried spot feeding them with mixed results in case they were starving. Sometimes they'd show interest, sometimes no reaction.

It's typical for new hermits to be particularly hungry. Deliberately feeding them would be a good idea, they are in perpetual eating-mode so that will not affect their cuc duties. More like giving them an energy boost to get busy.

 

[Bucs20fan]

You will naturally have hermits kill nassarius, circle of life. I refill cuc every 6 months anyway. Ive tried feeding the hermits and providing shells, they still kill the snails they choose to.

 

[Reefer Matt]

I am phasing out hermits. They don't clean the glass, and they prefer to eat snails over algae, from my experience.

 

[John J in Pickens]

I was wondering if putting a Conch or two instead of Nasarius snails will do the same job of stirring up the sand bed?

 

[jhadaway]

Yup! I try and drop some pellets for them every other day or so. But when the hermits are gone they're gone.the same goes for my banded coral shrimp. Intimidating!

 

[Rick's Reviews]

I have various snails, and hermits and find the only time hermits attack are either for another shell or really hungry... also as mentioned if a snail is dying they kind of sense this and have a feast.
If you supply additional larger shells for hermits (a good amount/various sizes) also you can feed with additional food like crab cuisine pellets or algae flakes hermits go crazy for these

I will add that it also depends on species, I had red legged and Halloween hermit for 3 years but since I introduced these green legged (picture), my Halloween and red legged have gone MIA but my electric blue legged at still around

 

[immo]

I have only experienced my nassarius snails assassinating my hermits, never the opposite. Just my experience.

 

[Troylee]

Or you get nassurius snails big enough to eat crabs haha! Saw this yesterday in my tank.

 

[kazeespada]

Or you get nassurius snails big enough to eat crabs haha! Saw this yesterday in my tank.

Pretty sure that's a molt and not a dead crab. The nearly clear middle section is a good indicator.