Do Hermit Crabs eat SPS?

[snaza]

Hi,

Well not actually eat SPS but nibble? I have a few SPS with unexplained bits of missing flesh on random branches. Not tissue neurosis. I see hermits on SPS at night which i just assume they are cleaning algae but now i'm wondering. I've searched for months and never found any other pests.

cheers

 

[biggles]

Considering it's been months and they are the only critters you've seen at the scene of the crime i think it might be prudent to treat them as guilty until proven otherwise. It usually takes a few days before algae begins to grow so if they are on the area a day later i'm pretty sure they aren't eating algae. I have read of blue legged hermits destroying a stylo colony and others have asked the same question here but there was no definitive answer that i could find. Quarantine them in the bad crab holding facility (freezer) until you make up your mind mate.

 

[Guygettnby]

so far i have never seen any of my hermits chewing on or bothering any of my corals unless they were just put into the tank and needed a cleaning, covered in algae or they were on their way out the door. emerald crabs and some various other things i have seen lots of. but the hermits never really bothered anything.

 

[a.browning]

All my hermits now live in the sump/refugium. I kept finding them in my colonies irritating the corals. I never had proof they were eating them, but they were certianly bothering them. I much prefer snails and will likely never add hermits again.

 

[Dexters Reef]

My hermits clean my sps and dont eat it. I mostly have the small blue leg, and some of the larger red leg ones. Every night there is about 10 tiny hermits on my rainbow montipora, and in the morning it looks happy as ever. I occasionally find one inside an acro branches, but have never seen any damage or stress.

Other types of hermits or crabs might be nippers though

 

[Chriskid]

Quarantine them in the bad crab holding facility (freezer) until you make up your mind mate.

i love it lol

 

[reeferlover]

yeah i see my hermits on my sps all the time. hate it sps get ****ed i just the hermits in the fuge when i see them on there its usally the same ones

 

[Gills 619]

Will not put hermits in my tank ever. Always climbing over everything! Have seen them damage monti cap but not other sps.

 

[MHG]

An old thread but I just caught a blue leg hermit chewing on my purple stylo. The crab has been in my tank for 4 years. Today he is on top of a healthy growing colony and ate a patch out of it.... Never seen anything like it. He now lives in the sump

 

[bogg]

Maybe he was starving last resort....
I've had crabs eat Sps polyps not hermits ime though