Hermits In Your Reef??

[revhtree]

Do you have hermit crabs in your reef? (scarlet or blue leg)

The next big question is are they good citizens?

 

[msman825]

there little bull dozers on knocking frags off though

 

[Yote]

Rev,
My hermits have not bothered anything that I know of,except for a snail now and then.

 

[revhtree]

Well I was scared by a buddy at one time and I evicted all of my crabs. Now I wonder if they would help keep the algae in check a little in the frag tank and maybe drop a few in the main..

 

[Yote]

They'll help with any left overs from feeding for sure.Plus they like an algae snack to boot.

 

[fishes2889]

blue legs......bulldozers and eat super glue off the frag plug at times.....ticks me off

 

[edwing206]

They ALWAYS eat my snails.

 

[Paintguru]

Yes and mine are fine. I think they do a great job with algae that snails cant/don't touch.

 

[revhtree]

Ok so what kind do you guys have in your reefs?

 

[fishes2889]

blue and mexican brown legged.

 

[revhtree]

Am I wasting money on the scarlets or will the blue legs be just as good?

Thanks.

 

[fishes2889]

blue seem to be efficient. never had scarlet just because of the cost. The cost is just the color and the availability. blues are more common....

 

[efishnsea]

Am I wasting money on the scarlets or will the blue legs be just as good?

Thanks.

I have heard that the scarlets will not eat turbo snails. I have about 100 blue leggies in my 210 and they are pretty peaceful. They like to hang out on my leathers, I guess the like to eat the mucus.

 

[Cirrhilabrus]

I don't have experience with the blue legs, but I would go with scarlets over the mexican red/brown legs. My scarlets are not at all aggressive, but they are just as effective at grazing.

 

[ecotoxlady]

I have had issues particularly with my red legs with stealing food from my corals. Other than that, the blue legs seem pretty peaceful and behave much better. I would definitely recommend having at least a few hermits in your tank. You can always evict them to the sump if they misbehave

 

[Azurel]

How many you looking toget Rev? I know the "experts" say 1 for every 10g. I had some and they liked to kill the snails for thier houses.

 

[revhtree]

I just ordered 15 to try out. 10 for my main 5 for the frag.

 

[rackyrane]

Mine are no problem. They ate some of the smaller snails until I put a BUNCH of empty shells in there. Now, they go to the "hermit rental area" and try on shells for size. Have never bothered any of the corals, except to bulldoze them over--the snails are worse than the crabs at that though.

 

[surfn]

i have a couple hermits, but i keep a VERY close eye on them, b/c when they start getting bigger, they knock everything over, and will attack and kill snails for their shells.

at the moment, i have:

1-2 scarlets
~3 blue legs
~2 zebra

but some of them are getting big (zebras), which i've had problems with in the past messing with my snails, most notably my nasarius snails and margarita snails. small itty bitty ones i dont worry about.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Blue legs eat snails. I added about 20 margarita snails to my tank & within a week, every single blue legged had a margarita shell on their back! I've been picking them out when I see them & they are Mantis food.

I keep scarlets & zebras now. Prolbably a few others scattered about too.