Crabless Reef Tanks?

[Rcpilot]

I'm not a fan of crabs. I've had blue legs, reds, emeralds, etc.. They all turn into opportunistic predators and eat snails or pick at corals during feeding time. I've witnessed an emerald attack a nassarius and eat it. I've witnessed blue legs and reds attacking astreas and turbos--only to kill them for the shell and leave the carcass on the sand bed... when the tank was already scattered with hundreds of spare shells for the crabs to host inside.

That being said, has anyone had success running a reef without a single crab? Would you do it again?

In lieu of crabs, what kinds of inverts did you use for your CUC?

This thread got me thinking about using a few cucumbers to supplement the snails:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/should-i-get-a-cucumber.462547/

 

[Daniel91]

I like this question - I really wanted hermits or even a Pom Pom crab when I first started but posts like these made me fear them.

 

[Radman73]

I watched an emerald stalk a yellow watchman goby, learning to hang out over its cave and actively trying to snare it coming out. Got rid of it ASAP. Also saw the emerald go after nasarius.

I accidentally ordered a CUC with crabs earlier so I have a few in the tank but most were banished to the fuge in the garage. There's a big hermit still parading around out there in a turbo snail shell.

As to alternatives? I like fuzzy chitons and limpets. The chitons have seemingly lived longer. Also, a fighting conch, or two or three depending on tank size, does a great job on the sand bed. It will bull doze sand based frags though.