hermit crab life expectancy

[Leilani57]

I have a 55 gallon tank with live rock, a LT Anemone, star polyps, zoanthids, snails, hermit crabs, with these small fish: yellow tang, ocellaris clown, dragon goby, pseudochormis, and 2 anthias. In the past week I have noticed two dead hermit crabs. All the inverts and fish seem perfectly healthy and I tested all the nitrites, nitrates, ph, alkalinity, and everything is fine. I did a 10% water change two days ago.

How long do hermit crabs live?

When I called the LFS they said that every six months or so I should buy a handful, that if I tested my water and everything else in the tank is fine not to worry about it.... thoughts?

 

[sir_dudeguy]

they were prolly killed. Hermits will fight each other for their shells, (and they'll kill snails off too for their shells as well). Also, could it have been a molting? They molt every so often, and i had that happen a couple times, where i thought they were dead and saw them the next day.

 

[nmprisons]

i bet they were molts ... did you see an empty shell? also, put some extra empty shells in the tank to prevent fighting over shells.

 

[Leilani57]

one of them is definitely a body. i can't find the other one, might have been buried in the sand by my dragon goby.

how many hermit crabs should you have? Is there a guide, like 1 crab for every 5 gallons, etc?

What about snails, is there an estimate for them as well?

Right now I have 5 hermits and 5 snails. There are a few extra shells sitting around the tank for them so hopefully they won't fight, but i will get some more just in case.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

how many hermit crabs should you have? Is there a guide, like 1 crab for every 5 gallons, etc?

imo, none. They've ALWAYS killed off snails, despite having 30 plus extra shells. Also, i've been told that they're not even very common in reefs...so why risk it? They're opportunistic and if they can kill it for its shell, they're gonna.

For snails...theres no real number of them per gallon of water so to speak...it just depends on what types. You wanna get a veriety, because each one eats a little different than the next.
I've got about 60 small astreas in my 55, and i need to get more ceriths and a couple more turbos. I've also got a few nassarius. People will say that i've got way too many. I dissagree, because for one, i've got tons of stuff for them to feed off of, so they're definately not gonna starve. I've actually not lost any snails since the tank has been up due to lack of food (tho i've lost about 15 due to hermits). Also people will say thats too many because they dont have enough space or something to that affect. Look how they are in the wild! You'll see hundreds of snails side by side. Even if you just look at the rocks along the coast, you're gonna see tons of snails. Yes they're different species, but they pretty much act the same. Gallons of water doesnt mean anything to them as they dont swim, so you cant say that they've got "more water per snail". Bout the only ones that you gotta be carefull w/is conches...i've heard they dont do so well in captivity and that they need lots of open sand.

so just dont get so many as to starve them.

so is this for your 55? If so, i'd get maybe 20 ceriths (i wish i'd have gotten more ceriths than astreas). And maybe 30 or so astreas. The ceriths are just better cleaners. And then you can get a few nassarius, or you can get a couple turbos.

 

[WhiteCloud]

As for life expectancy...I have some original hermits and crabs that are 2 years old.

Astrea snails usually lost due to falling and landing on it's shell...become a nice escargot treat for hermits....but I still have about 1/2 from my original cleaning crew.

 

[skippy2]

My hermit is over 4 yrs. old. Definately a love-hate relationship.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

thats another thing..people always say that astreas fall and die cuz they cant get up. I've had a total of 2 actually fall and 0 die in 4 months since having them...and i got 60 or so. The 2 that actualy fell i just flipped over. They do get caught in my powerheads quite often (i dont have the little cover things dangit) but they dont even die from that, and sometimes they go days before i notice them.

 

[Leilani57]

one of them is definitely a body. i can't find the other one, might have been buried in the sand by my dragon goby.

how many hermit crabs should you have? Is there a guide, like 1 crab for every 5 gallons, etc?

What about snails, is there an estimate for them as well?

Right now I have 5 hermits and 5 snails. There are a few extra shells sitting around the tank for them so hopefully they won't fight, but i will get some more just in case.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

lol double post But my answer is still the same as above so i wont post again lol.