Do you consider hermit crabs a RISK in your reef aquarium?

Do you consider hermit crabs a RISK in your reef aquarium?

  • YES

    Votes: 164 17.3%
  • NO

    Votes: 450 47.5%
  • Somewhat

    Votes: 246 25.9%
  • Not Sure

    Votes: 79 8.3%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 9 0.9%

  • Total voters
    948

ReefStash

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I just added 2 Halloween hermits and 10 blue legs along with an RV park of open shells… one simple reason… THEY ARE FLIPPIN FUN TO WATCH! Simple as that. Also added a pom pom crab…. That dude is awesome.

I consider them all reef safe. They may kill a snail here and there.

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Richsoar

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I've never had a problem with Hermits. Blue leg, Red leg they are all part of the clean up crew.
 

Acros

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Amazing how still/ relaxed your fish looks with a crab hanging off its mouth ha ha
Maybe the hermit seen a cleaner shrimp cleaning fish and thought " hey I can do that " so he gave it a go lol
But on serious note I would truly consider putting that hermit in my " sump jail" but at same time would be thinking did the fish try grab the hermit and the hermit fought back then not the hermits fault ^_^
Think it was you who said your fish continually grabs and tosses hermits around tank if hermits get to close to his stuff ? If so then idk lol
But never seen a hermit clinging to a healthy fish before, reminds me of seeing a foxface with an aiptasia sticking on its side pffft
The hermits are always trying to get that fish. They try to grab the fish by its fins. I have already rehomed 2 batches of hermits so far, will rehome more this weekend. It’s only the bigger ones that have this problem.

I am not the one who made the comment about their fish grabbing and throwing hermits. However, I saw this fish do that today. It also spit a bunch of sand on one of them.
 

Drendo

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In my experience they are the spawn of Satan. Awesome on algae, but murder snails for sport. I need the snails more than I need hermit crabs.
 

Melanie D

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I have had many blue leg and red leg hermits over the last 5 years. Only problem with them is with each other. My emerald crab that's another story. He was banished to the sump.
 

ADHDan

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i got some electric blue hermits and they seemed fine, but when i bought another load of snails a few months later they massacred them, they were actively hunting them down, no idea why, there was plenty of empty shells and crap for them to eat, they just liked it i guess.
I moved the hermits down into the sump and brought the snails from the sump up into the DT.
 

Breadbox

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My Electric blue hermit is 100% snail and coral safe, kept it with tochus, astrea and conch, showed zero interest in any of them.

I keep it pretty well fed tho, everytime I feed the tank it'll come stumbling out of the rock-work without fail.
 

ying yang

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The hermits are always trying to get that fish. They try to grab the fish by its fins. I have already rehomed 2 batches of hermits so far, will rehome more this weekend. It’s only the bigger ones that have this problem.

I am not the one who made the comment about their fish grabbing and throwing hermits. However, I saw this fish do that today. It also spit a bunch of sand on one of them.
Aw sorry,I just remembered some kind of sand sifting goby throwing hermits around,ovbiously not yours,but wouldn't blame the poor bugger as your hermits are wild grabbing it's fins and face pffft
Andy mrs wants a sand sifting goby as thinks looks cool,I just keep saying tank needs mature more as really dont want one incase get any corals I want put on sand or any new corals I start low on sand ^_^
 

kingjames_dc5

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I had to dig through the depth of my build thread to find this link... If you want to know about hermits please read this

I absolutely loved this thanks for sharing!!
 

Acros

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Aw sorry,I just remembered some kind of sand sifting goby throwing hermits around,ovbiously not yours,but wouldn't blame the poor bugger as your hermits are wild grabbing it's fins and face pffft
Andy mrs wants a sand sifting goby as thinks looks cool,I just keep saying tank needs mature more as really dont want one incase get any corals I want put on sand or any new corals I start low on sand ^_^
They have got great character.
 

MMcKenna1029

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I voted somewhat. I have a bunch and have been considering taking them out. As much as they may not directly do harm, everytime they steal food from my RBTA or I find one that decided to play king of the hill on my red dragon I just get irritated.
 

Alex's Nano Reef

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Personally ive never had problems in my old tank i had a red legged hermit that would hang out on my frogspawn and keep the baby heads clean of algae it was awesome. currently i got one of each in a 20g AIO tank and no problems so far but i think its a good idea to put some empty shells in there.
 

Arego

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Never have been a problem for me. I only have 3 Halloween crabs that are a few years old and know how to survive our tank. I dropped 20 blue legs in at lights off last night and by 9am I counted 16 empty shells torn apart from the all the wrasse.. sigh

It's a numbers game, a few live and learn how to wake up the next day and that adds up. Until they're killed.
 

Boonsiew830

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I would definitely consider them risky and ultimately took them out.
1. Started to see them actively hunting my snails
2. Though I cannot confirm, I believe they were the cause of a limb lost on my favorite starfish
 

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GeoSquid

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They are not a risk in my reef tank. I have two triggers! Occasionally, I collect my own hermits here in socal and last time I put in about 100 hermits into my 180 gal. I don't think they even lasted a week.
 

Jorda320

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Never bothered my coral but I've had hermits go after every type of snail in my tank. I always thought it was interesting to watch how the Nassarius Snails would curl up around the hermit's and then make their escape.

While not snails, I did just remove peppermint shrimp from my tank because they were eating the whiskers of my Duncan. Caught them at night and I can still see the part where the flesh of the Duncan was ripped off. Thinking that these might not be peppermint shrimp but some other species.
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 66 37.3%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 59 33.3%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 14.1%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 27 15.3%
  • Other.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
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