LPS safe hermits/crabs

[jmifland]

I am setting up a new aquarium and I would like to know if there are any hermits or regular crabs that are okay to keep with LPS corals. I have witnessed two LPS corals get shredded because a hermit wanted to get the mysis that one of my corals had nabbed.

I really enjoy watching the weird behavior of hermit crabs but not at the expense of losing a nice coral. I have only had one regular crab and it was a very tiny emerald crab that went MIA when I put it into my larger aquarium. I used to see him fairly often but now I never see him nor do I know if he is still alive. I never witnessed him killing any of my corals but I have heard people say that they have seen them eating fish and corals.

Any information would be great. I plan to keep all corals from zoas/mushrooms to LPS and SPS.

 

[Ghstwolf]

I've got red legged hermits in my tank with zoa's and LPS. They don't seem to bother my LPS to much, they avoid my plate and bubble coral. But don't seem to harm my brain or torch.

 

[jmifland]

Do you think they would attempt eating something that didn't sting or potential eat them? A zoa wouldn't eat small shrimp or fish pelets so I'm not too concerned about them. It never once messed with my Duncan aside from eating a little algae that was near the base from time to time but it wasn't until it got the scent of a mysis shrimp did it decide to start digging inside the mouth of the Duncan.

 

[Ghstwolf]

Never seen a hermit dig at my corals and actually be doing any harm. If possible to identify the little guy, it wouldn't be a bad idea to remove it to your sump. Not alot it could hurt down there. Otherwise just keep an eye out to see if it happens again, if it does evict it down to the sump.

 

[jmifland]

It was a blue legged hermit that did it and actually had two different ones attempt getting inside one of my duncans. The second time I wasn't able to save him. Each time I placed the hermit into the sump. I also have a monster hermit that I got when I ordered my CUC crew. It was supposed to be a blue legged hermit but it is tan and has gotten fairly large. He looks like a monster and I haven't seen him kill anything yet but he definitely scares me and I do see him crawling on top of the corals a lot.

I really like the scarlet hermits so I think I will do some forum searches and see if anyone has had a problem. I heard that they are very docile so I was actually looking forward to grabbing a couple of those. My girl friend is obsessed with Duncans so I would prefer them not to be killed so I just want to be careful.