Hermits don't like bare bottoms

[pseudorand]

I just put 3 hermits in my bare bottom QT. They're flailing around, legs trying to get a grip. Will they manage, or do I need to sink a few rock and place them on it?

 

[PicassoClown04]

This is true, I run 3 barebottom systems and they struggle in all 3. Eventually they make it to your rock work and they don’t scrabble so much. I prefer shrimp for this reason, and I like creating ground cover via zoanthids

 

[Ksull72487]

I just put 3 hermits in my bare bottom QT. They're flailing around, legs trying to get a grip. Will they manage, or do I need to sink a few rock and place them on it?

Scavengers. They want sand that’s a gurantee. Your probably ticking off those hermits with no sand. They forage. Kinda like a pistol shrimp digs and moves sand for a living. Bare bottom they can survive. But usually you want the right combo of snails. Not hermits.

 

[daybreaksky]

i put sand and a few rocks in my Invert QT. which should be separate from your fish one so you can have rock and sand in it since you won't use copper or meds in invert QT. You can leave it running indefinitely to QT future snails, crabs etc

 

[PicassoClown04]

Scavengers. They want sand that’s a gurantee. Your probably ticking off those hermits with no sand. They forage. Kinda like a pistol shrimp digs and moves sand for a living. Bare bottom they can survive. But usually you want the right combo of snails.

I agree with this, I have a ton of snails and 1 shrimp per tank. No hermits anymore they never did super well

 

[pseudorand]

Scavengers. They want sand that’s a gurantee. Your probably ticking off those hermits with no sand. They forage. Kinda like a pistol shrimp digs and moves sand for a living. Bare bottom they can survive. But usually you want the right combo of snails.

It's a QT. They're destined for my display with plenty of substrate, but they need 30+ days to prove they're clean.

I could put them on the rocks, but there's not much to eat there yet. I guess I have to turn off the powerheads for an hour and target feed them.

 

[92Miata]

Hermits don't like glass.

They do fine on starboard.

 

[daybreaksky]

why not put some sand and rocks in it?

 

[Ksull72487]

why not put some sand and rocks in it?

Usually in a QT you want nothing but the bare necessities. Sand can introduce things especially if it’s live. I always believed in bare bottom QTs. Plus sand is a pain in the butt to get out. Hospital tanks should be bare bones to rule out things. I agree with you but I also understand why he has bare bottom.

 

[Privateye]

You could always sink a filter pad, dry rock, or dry sand if needed. Even coralline algae would be fine. They just need a bit of traction.

 

[daybreaksky]

Usually in a QT you want nothing but the bare necessities. Sand can introduce things especially if it’s live. I always believed in bare bottom QTs. Plus sand is a pain in the butt to get out. Hospital tanks should be bare bones to rule out things. I agree with you but I also understand why he has bare bottom.

inverts need a separate QT anyways along with filtration and surface to grow algae for snail like rocks. Inverts QT should be something planned to be kept long term or things will simply starve.
you are 100 correct on the fish one though because sand/rock will absorb meds/copper

 

[Ksull72487]

inverts need a separate QT anyways along with filtration and surface to grow algae for snail like rocks. Inverts QT should be something planned to be kept long term or things will simply starve.
you are 100 correct on the fish one though because sand/rock will absorb meds/copper

Well I’m not going to argue with that. And yeah live sand does act as a biological filter. You could try dry sand or starboard etc like some users suggested. Just make sure they are able to do what they do. The short story is they don’t do well on bare bottoms.

 

[daybreaksky]

Here is mine. Current residents are hermits and a pistol shrimp under that bag of media. Ick and velvet can be dormant on their shells but once they hatch they can't reattach to anything without a fish. So you can keep adding inverts to it, I plan snails in a couple of weeks. As long as you keep track of when each critter entered, they can all be in there at the same time perpetually. If I need to move the tank, I drain it, pick it up with the sand in it and refill it. Currently it's on my daughters school desk