Help! My blue leg hermits are eating each other!!!!

glb · Mar 6, 2015

I got six new small blue leg hermits for my 12g nano and lo and behold one day I find two of them chowing down on their crustacean brothers. Now I'm down to 3 little cannibals. Has this ever happened to anyone else???

sucio_reefer · Mar 6, 2015

It can happen. They are scavengers and oppurtunistic. One may have gotten into it with another for its shell and then the others took advantage. If you buy more try and throw in a few bigger shells in with them. If they have vacant homes available they may not fight as much.

miamiangler · Mar 6, 2015

Hey, It happens to me also , when I need to replace some hermits I just go to some of the islands in Biscayne bay and collect some more at low tide . I also have a blenny that loves to snack on them .

glb · Mar 6, 2015

Ok I feel better. Little monsters.

swhobbie1 · Mar 6, 2015

Little monsters eat snails too. I decided to go hermit free and I had no idea they were killing off my snails... I figured snails didn't live too long in tanks but now with no hermits my snails don't seem to die and disappear . .. don't think I lost one in months and months now.

sucio_reefer · Mar 6, 2015

swhobbie1 said:
Little monsters eat snails too. I decided to go hermit free and I had no idea they were killing off my snails... I figured snails didn't live too long in tanks but now with no hermits my snails don't seem to die and disappear . .. don't think I lost one in months and months now.

One reason I stopped getting astrias. They can't flip themselves so they are easy prey. Harder for them to get to turbos, nerites and margaritas.

glb · Mar 6, 2015

Well I only have a 12g so I'm stuck with the little devils for now. I counted and I have four, plus one peppermint shrimp. Should I even bother with snails in that size tank?

miamiangler · Mar 7, 2015

Snails are good but It depends on how much algae you have In your tank , In my 60 gal I only have two snails (one eaten out of three) ,but I have 50 hermits there . In my 12 gal I have two snails and around ten Hermits and not bothering the snails .I hand picked the hermits so they are all tiny and snails were slightly larger .

glb · Mar 7, 2015

miamiangler said:
Snails are good but It depends on how much algae you have In your tank , In my 60 gal I only have two snails (one eaten out of three) ,but I have 50 hermits there . In my 12 gal I have two snails and around ten Hermits and not bothering the snails .I hand picked the hermits so they are all tiny and snails were slightly larger .

Thanks. I think I'll just buy one turbo now to keep the glass clean.

miamiangler · Mar 7, 2015

That`s sounds like a plan , you can always add more later . most of the time the snails stay on the glass anyway.

wangspeed · Mar 7, 2015

Trochus are easily my favorite overall snail, but I do balance it out with 3 turbos in my 90, and some ceriths and a few big nassarius. Just say no to astraea, nerites, and margaritas. Astraea cannot right themselves, and fall all the time, nerites leave awful eggs everywhere, and margaritas are from cool waters.

glb · Mar 7, 2015

I got one turbo and he's chilling on a rock. The crabs look like they're just waiting for him to tip over.

wangspeed · Mar 7, 2015

Turbos are usually too large for a hermit to hurt. Trochus are great at defending themselves. They shake/twist off hermits, and are also pretty quick for a snail. Not my video, but I see this sort of stuff all the time, and I hear them when they shake and tap their shell against the glass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jlVvmHFM0g

glb · Mar 7, 2015

wangspeed said:
Turbos are usually too large for a hermit to hurt. Trochus are great at defending themselves. They shake/twist off hermits, and are also pretty quick for a snail. Not my video, but I see this sort of stuff all the time, and I hear them when they shake and tap their shell against the glass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jlVvmHFM0g

Cool! That snail is doing the hula.

haleyf1024 · Mar 7, 2015

I have never had a problem with my blue legs eating each other and their snail friends, and my snails prefer the rock, except a few astrias. I have turbos, astrias, cerith, margaritas, nassarius, and mexican turbos and the all seem to coexist with all of the hermits (2 scarlets, 4 mexican red legs, and 80-90 blue legs) in the 110. I guess I should start praying they stay like that, lol. If your 4 cannibals eat each other, you can always try scarlets. I have heard that people prefer them because they are way more peaceful than the other hermits

glb · Mar 7, 2015

haleyf1024 said:
I have never had a problem with my blue legs eating each other and their snail friends, and my snails prefer the rock, except a few astrias. I have turbos, astrias, cerith, margarita and mexican turbos and the all seem to coexist with all of the hermits (2 scarlets, 4 mexican red legs, and 80-90 blue legs) in the 110. I guess I should start praying they stay like that, lol. If your 4 cannibals eat each other, you can always try scarlets. I have heard that people prefer them because they are way more peaceful than the other hermits

Could I put them in a 12g nano?

haleyf1024 · Mar 7, 2015

Yep! Treat them just like the blue legs. Mine are slightly bigger than most of the blues I have, except the monster ones... But they do seem more chill than the blue legs.

glb · Mar 7, 2015

haleyf1024 said:
Yep! Treat them just like the blue legs. Mine are slightly bigger than most of the blues I have, except the monster ones... But they do seem more chill than the blue legs.

Thanks. I've had them before without a problem but this batch is plain bloodthirsty.