I have heard quite a bit of chat about hermits eating snails, bulldozing over coral frags, etc so i have never had any for my nano tanks. I have read that some dwarf species are not so bad, my thoughts were to just add some diversity, color & entertainment, not so much for clean up thought that would be a bonus. Thoughts on adding one for each tank? Which kind? I heard that dwarf species could be safe?
Crabs or no crabs?
- Thread starter drfu
- Start date
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
They should be fine.
Any hermit that stays 1"> is safe to have. Generally anything bulky is going to push over an unstructured rock with a coral on it.. snails and urchins are worse with that. Hermits atleast begin climbing instead of wedging.
Hermits will kill smaller snails for a larger shell. Even if empty shells are provide there is no guarentee that they'll like them better than the snail's. Sometimes they don't even like the shell and never go in it after the snail has been killed.. hence the bad rep of them being flat out predators of snails.
Any hermit that stays 1"> is safe to have. Generally anything bulky is going to push over an unstructured rock with a coral on it.. snails and urchins are worse with that. Hermits atleast begin climbing instead of wedging.
Hermits will kill smaller snails for a larger shell. Even if empty shells are provide there is no guarentee that they'll like them better than the snail's. Sometimes they don't even like the shell and never go in it after the snail has been killed.. hence the bad rep of them being flat out predators of snails.
So i have dwarf cereths, nassarius, nerites, bumble bee that are all small, which ones could be lunch? I also have the larger coral banded trochus ones as well.
What about my shrimp, i have sexy & peppermint?
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
The shrimp will be fine. (I wouldn't put a .5"> sexy shrimp with hermits personally, if they're bigger it'll be perfectly fine.)
Those snails could easily become new homes for the hermit crabs. It's a risk you take, which can be prevented by having additional properly sized shells for them.. then again they may not like them and still go for the snails.
Those snails could easily become new homes for the hermit crabs. It's a risk you take, which can be prevented by having additional properly sized shells for them.. then again they may not like them and still go for the snails.
Sorry, just to be clear, my sexy shrimp would be lunch or are they too fast?
Calappidae
Harlequin Shrimp
Sexies are too fast.
If the sexy was as big as the hermit crab's claw I'd be worried.
If the sexy was as big as the hermit crab's claw I'd be worried.
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