Is it time to say goodbye to my hermit crabs?

[Sick_man]

My hermit crabs have always been well behaved and do an amazing job cleaning my tank. My tank is almost algae free thanks to them. They even cleaned up my zoas when they were infested in algae. However, I noticed today that one my my hermit crabs was on top of my duncan coral and it took food out its mouth and started eating. Duncan has been ticked off for about 2 hours now and I'm contemplating on getting rid of them. My hermit crabs have always been model citizens and have never been hostile towards a coral before up until now.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

That doesn't seem so bad but if it bothers you then yes it's time to get rid of them. Crabs just aren't very considerate creatures

 

[Sick_man]

That doesn't seem so bad but if it bothers you then yes it's time to get rid of them. Crabs just aren't very considerate creatures

Im just scared that it will learn that the corals have food so do you think its a good idea to see if it does it again? Or is it risky to let the coral get hurt again?

 

[((FORDTECH))]

My hermit crabs have always been well behaved and do an amazing job cleaning my tank. My tank is almost algae free thanks to them. They even cleaned up my zoas when they were infested in algae. However, I noticed today that one my my hermit crabs was on top of my duncan coral and it took food out its mouth and started eating. Duncan has been ticked off for about 2 hours now and I'm contemplating on getting rid of them. My hermit crabs have always been model citizens and have never been hostile towards a coral before up until now.

I have removed all crabs and shrimp from my coral tanks for this exact reason. Will never put them back in either

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Im just scared that it will learn that the corals have food so do you think its a good idea to see if it does it again? Or is it risky to let the coral get hurt again?

Yes they will learn exactly that and they will tear the food out of your corals mouth along with the corals insides

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Im just scared that it will learn that the corals have food so do you think its a good idea to see if it does it again? Or is it risky to let the coral get hurt again?

Like @((FORDTECH)) I won't keep any type of crab in my reef. But I'm not sure that it'll actually harm the coral. Or did it? What kind of hermit?

 

[((FORDTECH))]

You have this crab in tank with sharp shell and beautiful brain coral on sand that catch’s food then crab not caring about your favorite coral drags his body across coral and tears food from mouth and then keeps digging for more. Day after day till coral is no longer happy and does not open

 

[Sick_man]

I have blue legged hermits, @((FORDTECH)) youre scaring me

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Like @((FORDTECH)) I won't keep any type of crab in my reef. But I'm not sure that it'll actually harm the coral. Or did it? What kind of hermit?

i have seen the shrimp tear mouth apart of my acans that had food in it. The crabs more or less do same thing but not as aggressive as cleaner or blood shrimp

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I have blue legged hermits, @((FORDTECH)) youre scaring me

Yes blue leg is exactly what I have

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I have blue legged hermits, @((FORDTECH)) youre scaring me

No crab cares about your corals. Only cares about food

 

[Sick_man]

Yes blue leg is exactly what I have

Okay, if I catch it in the act again, I'll just get rid of them but I want to see if it learns. How long do these crabs live anyways? I've had them for 3 months

 

[Cole.mormon]

years to come

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Okay, if I catch it in the act again, I'll just get rid of them but I want to see if it learns. How long do these crabs live anyways? I've had them for 3 months

Here listen to this. Here was the last straw with the blue leg crabs. I have a huge gorgonia about 18 inch tall and 12 inch wide many branch’s. So one day at night I notice the want to start to climb this thing and sleep in the arms. Fine I let it go for couple days then I realize the rest of the crabs now want to do same thing. So now I’m worried will start to bother coral. So for about a week I continue to use tweezers and pluck them off and relocate to other side of 120 gallon tank. Not 30 min later all crabs are back on gorgonia. This goes on for at least a week till one morning I wake up to a broken branch with 3 crabs hanging on it as it broken almost to sand bed. At that moment I swore no more crabs. Since then branch is like a cat with broken tail will never heal right and always look weird

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I have blue legged hermits, @((FORDTECH)) youre scaring me

Most people do keep blue legs in their reefs. I wouldn't get too freaked out unless it did real damage (which they can but they really aren't too bad). I don't keep them because they kill snails and I don't keep other crabs (like emeralds) because they can damage corals.

This is coming from someone who likes hermits so much I have a dedicated tank just for hermit crabs. I wish I could keep them in my reef!

 

[Cole.mormon]

How is the coral?

 

[Sick_man]

How is the coral?

The Duncan has sprouted 5 little heads on the bottom and is doing well. I have noticed that the hermits leave it alone. However, when I fed my blasto I noticed they took food from it but that is also growing really fast too. This is the second time I've seen my hermits do it so I guess they can stay and plus it was like 3 weeks ago and I been feeding a good amount.

 

[OREGONIC]

Blue legged hermits seem to be more aggressive towards both coral and snails. In my experience the scarlet hermits are better tempered.

 

[Cole.mormon]

Scarlet hermits are better tempered IMO

 

[CanuckReefer]

Blue legged hermits seem to be more aggressive towards both coral and snails. In my experience the scarlet hermits are better tempered.

Scarlet hermits are better tempered IMO

That's thrice here....