Why your Hermit Crab is killing your snails

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A lot of people who have reef tanks will experience this problem where there are hermit crabs will kill and eat cleaner snails. A lot of the times this happens due to a lack of empty shells in the tank for the hermit crabs to grow into, so they take matters into their own hands and start "excavating homes". This can also happen if the hermit crabs are lacking an appropriate amount of food as they are opportunistic feeders and will go after whatever they can catch. To avoid this try and make sure you have at least two to three extra shells per hermit crab in the tank, and that they have decent amount of leftover food or algae to munch on to keep them busy.

 

[ArielS]

I have one hermit who king of jerk. He would kill or harras every snail or hermit even the tiny one just for fun.

 

[commod0re]

Lol there’s definitely more to it than availability of appropriate shells and food. I have one halloween hermit. I have supplied him with an abundance of appropriately shaped and sized shells. I feed him and the other crabs regularly, and they get plenty of algae. Generally he’s among the most peaceful of crabs in my tank. I tried a couple of conchs and within days he murdered them both. One of these murders occurred right in front of me, and the Florida fighting conch was healthy and active immediately before it happened, so there was no denying it. Best (or worst) of all he didn’t even take their shells

At the end of the day, crabs are gonna crab lol

 

[saltwaterfish.com Verified Sponsor]

Lol there’s definitely more to it than availability of appropriate shells and food. I have one halloween hermit. I have supplied him with an abundance of appropriately shaped and sized shells. I feed him and the other crabs regularly, and they get plenty of algae. Generally he’s among the most peaceful of crabs in my tank. I tried a couple of conchs and within days he murdered them both. One of these murders occurred right in front of me, and the Florida fighting conch was healthy and active immediately before it happened, so there was no denying it. Best (or worst) of all he didn’t even take their shells

At the end of the day, crabs are gonna crab lol

That's totally fair and you're right at the end of the day crabs are def gonna crab, and yikes it sounds like he's got a penchant for murdering conchs. My sympathies

 

[penfold2]

Lol there’s definitely more to it than availability of appropriate shells and food. I have one halloween hermit. I have supplied him with an abundance of appropriately shaped and sized shells. I feed him and the other crabs regularly, and they get plenty of algae. Generally he’s among the most peaceful of crabs in my tank. I tried a couple of conchs and within days he murdered them both. One of these murders occurred right in front of me, and the Florida fighting conch was healthy and active immediately before it happened, so there was no denying it. Best (or worst) of all he didn’t even take their shells

At the end of the day, crabs are gonna crab lol

Do you have cone snail shells available for him? Halloween hermits have evolved to utilize shells that have a long, narrow opening, rather than a round one. I ordered some cone snail shells in a variety of sizes on Etsy and my Halloween hermit moved right into a surprisingly large shell that same day. Conchs have a similar shaped opening, so it makes sense that he would see them as a potential fit.

 

[commod0re]

Do you have cone snail shells available for him? Halloween hermits have evolved to utilize shells that have a long, narrow opening, rather than a round one. I ordered some cone snail shells in a variety of sizes on Etsy and my Halloween hermit moved right into a surprisingly large shell that same day. Conchs have a similar shaped opening, so it makes sense that he would see them as a potential fit.

yes, as I mentioned I've supplied him with an abundance of appropriately shaped and sized cone shells, I even rotate them out periodically to try to make sure he's always got good stuff around... and he didn't even try to use the shells after murdering the conchs

he might just have to go into a different tank eventually lol