Killer Hermits

[tankedagain]

I'm getting rid of them as we speak...not sure what they really do except kill snails. I thought the point was to have them clean the tank, not have to introduce extra nutrients to feed them. I think there are better options for cleaner crews, like a nice variety of snails and bristle worms....

Apart from eat the dead what do they do for the tank, bristles can do that job just fine....

 

[rustybucket145]

To each his/her own!

I find that the hermits are continuously scraping any algae off the rocks , sand and glass. Should a larger fish die in your tank somewhere you couldn't get to then a 'healthy' population of bristleworms probably wouldn't be able to clean the carcass before it began to rot. However if your tank does have a ton of nutrients and your bristleworm population is very very large you will be ok.

 

[illal]

a hermit wont kill another fish , shrimp or what ever unless its already dead or dying...that is unless you got some other non reef safe kind

 

[floridagator]

double

 

[floridagator]

I have 12 scarlets, 24 blue and 24 zebra leg hermits that live with 2 cleaner shrimp and i've never had a problem. I agree that the shrimp was sick

 

[plateboy3293]

The shrimp was just bought from eagle reef and I allowed the shrimp to acclimate for a hour before putting it into the tank. The hermits also damaged one of my Maxima that was on top of the rock structure. It landed on my plate coral and both look horrible.

 

[oxkisses12ox]

hmmmi have a black hermit...... it has never been trouble for me ????? are they reef safe?? black egs w/ little green/white stripes

 

[TWallace]

I have about 40 to 50 hermits (mostly dwarf blue leg, but a few scarlets). They coexist peacefully with 2 cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp and have done so for months. I think there was something wrong with the shrimp if it let some hermits take it down.