hermit crabs ?

[jukboxx]

i recently read an online article discussing hermit crabs in a reef tank, in the article it stated that (even though they are great scavengers) they are not entirely greet for a reef tank. some off the reasons stated were " they can damage a corals tissue when they walk on them, they can & do still food from corals". the article states that they say you can get the same (cleaning/ scavengering) from a tank with just a veriety of snails for a clean up crew, along with a few other less damaging crabs such as emeralds. has anyone else heard this? i guess it kinda makes since. i just wanted to throw this out there to get some other insite on this subject.:squigglemouth:

 

[jukboxx]

does anyone have a setup without hermits?

 

[Rem]

I prefer snails only. I had hermits previously and they would pull food away from my corals and then occasionally kill some of my snails.

 

[jukboxx]

thats kinda what they were saying, do you have hermits now.

 

[_sludgefactory]

I'm in the same boat, i might keep a few scarlet reefs but I'm pretty much done with herms. I had a lot of trouble over the years with them. Bought a bunch of Tongan nass snails and with on a week the blue legs killed them for their shells. We all know Tongans aren't cheap, so needless to say i was pretty angry. I also got a dendro and the stupid herms kept stealing it's food and tearing it's flesh while doing it.

 

[jukboxx]

i know they are not cheap here, i have had that happen to me also... i am thinking about adding more to my CUC, and i think i will stay away from adding more hermits.