Thoughts on hermit crabs?

[Bugenar]

hermits just hunt my snails, and eat waste. I have plenty of things that eat waste in my tank but don't eat snails. I even have things that eat waste, stir the bed, and are still hunted by hermits.

can someone tell me why hermits are so popular, or their purpose in your tank? thinking about getting rid of them all. (to lfs of course)

 

[TX_REEF]

I like small hermits because they're better at eating longer hair algae growth than snails. Once they get larger (bigger than a dime or so), they become a liability. I have even seen larger hermits eat coral, including LPS skeletons once they've polished off the flesh.

 

[vittpsu21]

I have about 10 blue legs in my 200, I just accept that there will be casualties sometimes, most of the time the idiots kill each other tbh

 

[Mark Goode]

I was watching my blue-leg hermits munching on hair algae a couple of nights ago, and decided to get more. If they eat snails, I've probably got enough, so that isn't a problem.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I had blue legs in my tank, they wre half way decent at taking care of my GHA woes

 

[helmsreef]

Hermits don't last more than a day or two with my wrasses. The only one I have is a Blue Knuckle that is probably about 2" in size and cruises around in a large turbo snail. Had him a few years and is too big to be eaten by my wrasses. Also leaves my snails alone unless he needs a bigger shell.

 

[everpresentnoob]

I bought a tank package from reefcleaners last year. came with a bunch of hermits. all they did was cruise around and kill almost all the snails that came in the same package. after they polished off the snails they slowly murdered each other. Ill never have a Hermit crab in my tank again.

 

[SebM]

Just don’t see the point in them. Everybody looking at the tank likes them and finds them funny but all they’ve ever done is kill all my snails. The shells were far too small for them and I gave them a lot of empty shells.

Just bought a whole lot of snails and banished the three hermits we had left into the sump where they can keep my chaeto clean and eat detritus!