Can hermits die from overfeeding?

[Mako72]

Hello, I have a three week old tank. I have some snails and hermits in it. All the snails have survived, even a peppermint shrimp that is in there as well. However 5 out of 10 of the hermits died off, including a nice electric blue one. Last I saw him, I fed him a small piece of Krill that had been dipped in seachem's vitality (vitamin dip). Any ideas why hermits might die off but not snails or shrimp?

 

[Mako72]

sorry..it posted twice..tried to delete one but wouldn't let me

 

[100%hydrophylic]

i hate electric blue hermits. they always die and theyr too expensive . i can keep every other hermit alive in my tank but electric blues die after 3 months . and no they cant die from over feeding really. they can die from underfeeding though. its really strange to me whats occurring in your tank because generally i have heard snails are more sensitive than hermits. how did you acclimate them and what are your tank parameters?

 

[wrott]

Hermits can kill each other, for the shell or just for fun.

 

[100%hydrophylic]

yes they can, but wouldnt you think theyd kill the snails first?

 

[bubbly]

No, they don't kill the snails first because they also kill each other to eliminate competition for food -- it's probably a territorial thing.

I got two hermits for a 6gal, and the first thing they did was to go after each other -- I tried to keep them separated, but one of them finally got the other one -- it was just constant.

After that the winner then proceeded to kill and eat snails and take their shells.

As far as I have seen the hermits (dwarf blue legs) are pretty indestructible, except by their own kind -- you can just toss them into any tank and they live fine, no acclimation needed, and they can survive on almost nothing at all -- you don't need to feed a tank they are in, they will find stuff to eat.

They just love to murder each other, though. I think it's a territory / food issue -- two dwarf blue legs get along fine in the 55-gallon reef tank (they are the only mobile critters other than bristleworms, etc)