Is it time to say goodbye to my hermit crabs?

[Cole.mormon]

Yes

 

[Cole.mormon]

Also I am starting a sump soon

 

[Cole.mormon]

Should I use rubble rock or marinepure block?

 

[Nano sapiens]

Back to hermits, I've had many types for years and have very rarely had problems/issues. I don't keep Astrea or Trochus sized snails, but I'd expect some to be killed for their shells. In a smaller tank it's easy to collect them first in a cup before feeding LPS and such, or alternatively, just feed them a pellet or two first before feeding the corals. They'll be so preoccupied, that the corals will usually be able to gulp food down and the hermits very likely won't go after their food. I've found Blue-Legs and Blue or Orange Knuckle to be two of the more aggressive types. Red-Legged and Dwarf Zebra are kind of in the middle and surprisingly, the somewhat larger 'Halloween Hermit' has turned out to be the best behaved that I've had so far.

Cleaner shrimp, now that's a whole different level of potentially damaging thievery

 

[Tastee]

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

Er...bad news I’m afraid. Hermit Crabs will regularly live 20+ years in good conditions.

 

[MarshallB]

They are hungry. They will do what they need to get food. Only options are to remove them or try feeding them before you feed the corals.

 

[Tamberav]

Just give them a piece of nori. I have never had any real issue with mine and one of them grew large enough to fit in a Mexican turbo shell. Still he doesn’t do nothing but pick at algae and food that floats by or nori.

 

[stanlalee]

Shrimp are much more aggressive and faster at stealing from coral than hermits but neither really hurt anything. They know to go for duncans, acan and on top of monti cap. I don't have any hermits because I don't want them and they don't survive long term anyway once they outgrow their shell and you don't provide any larger replacements.

 

[Clownfish_Boy]

If something is in any way edible, then crabs are liable to try to eat it.

 

[supernanoguy]

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

Did the coral survive? That recently happened to me with My torch and now my clown decides to start hosting rituals with it while it is injured. I’ve lowered the lights and feeding the tank a bit more than usual.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Did the coral survive? That recently happened to me with My torch and now my clown decides to start hosting rituals with it while it is injured. I’ve lowered the lights and feeding the tank a bit more than usual.

Yes coral did survive but could be cause I removed crabs and shrimp and from that point was able to heal and not be disturbed anymore. If left shrimp in then would have repeatably happened and maybe died then

 

[supernanoguy]

I have already surrendered the cleaner shrimp.

 

[terraincognita]

IMO just pull that one hermit and put him in your sump, do the same if any start learning similar habits.

Eventually you could probably ditch them all just make sure you have replaced their duties with another utalitarian reef safe tank mate if needed.

 

[I’m Batman]

I have had this happen so much to the point that before I spot feed reef roids and mysis, I throw in a pinch of pellets, then watch the tank for about 30 minutes until the polyps open back up. Usually during this 30 minutes I take my coral tongs and pluck out any that are making a bee line for a feasting coral.

 

[Cole.mormon]

U get rid of the crabs?

 

[Rmckoy]

I don’t believe hermit crabs are native to living on any reef .......

 

[Nano sapiens]

I don’t believe hermit crabs are native to living on any reef .......

While many of the smaller hermit species are found intertidally, rocky shores and sand flats, the reefs do have a number of hermit crab species of different sizes.

The one most encountered by reef hobbyists for cleaning up algae is the relatively small 'Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab' (Paguristes cadenati). As the name suggests, it is found on coral reefs in the Caribbean.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Simply place in sump for a little while. it is rare that they cause any type issues

 

[Dkmoo]

I keep both the blue leg and red leg variety as well as emerald for years. Imo, just like peppermint shrimps, they get a bad rap unfairly a lot of times. They may be different species in this trade and some might be more indescriminant feeders, but most of the time they only do what CUC is supposed to do pick at corals that are already dead or dying and leaving healthy polyps alone. In nature you dont seem them as the menacing pests that wipe out corals like the locust. Instead they coexist peacefully.

Only if they are starving would they to after healthy tissue. If that's the case, likely you got too much than your tank can peacefully sustain with normal algae growth. The type of algae they prefer are the really small "new sprouts" instead if ones that are already grown visibly long so if you still see algae that they dont seem to touch that could be why.

Mine climbs all over the delicate polyps and pick at the small new algae sprouts to keep the crevices clean and never pick at the polyp themselves

 

[Uncle99]

Removed every single crab 5 years ago.
Since then, mysterious overnight losses have ceased.
I have not had to add back any snails.
They cleaned nothing in my tank but did learn that free food came twice daily from the sky.
Sleep much better now.