Question about hermits...

[bennyd]

I had ordered tons of snails and 50 or so assorted hermits for my 120... All of the hermits had bigger shells than all of the snails, except for the turbos, well.. have been seeing a lot more empty snail shell than I would like to see...

Are the hermits eating them and if so why? The tank is fed WELL. sometimes over-fed by relatives at the moment but not having any algae problems and my water params are up to par as far as what is needed to be kept track of for what I have.

 

[boozerell]

Probably. I have a couple hermit crabs, and the one I've had for the longest, I've seen killing snails and eating them. he's bigger than the other and if he gets close enough, he'll get 'em.

 

[BigTuna321]

my blue legs have killed my turbos and most of my astreas,,, its very frustrating im thinking about getting rid of my hermits,,, i dont even think they are very good cleaners either...

 

[guillotine]

ya i have 20+ blue legged hermits and im probly down to abuut 12 since they didnt have shells to go into but the ones i have have eatin a lot of my astreas and even some of my turbos to have a larger shell ive even caught them in the middle of eating them n then tranfsering shells so its not cuz u under feed them they just out grow their shells

 

[bennyd]

i just don't get it though, ALL of my snails are smaller EXCEPT my turbos, they're not eating them for the shells... the little bastages.

I think I'll be getting rid of mine too when I move my tank. I want a lot more snails to keep the glass as clean as possible anyways lol.

 

[princesuhaib]

I have also recently been noticing my turbo snails have died, and I do have blue legged hermit crabs, I hope its not them, I like the snails for my glass also.

 

[camaro5026spd]

i have some blue legged crabs too and the one is a big bastard and have caught him with some of my snails before and he killed few of my other blue legged. it also likes to re-arrange any of my corals that are not mounted really good. once i get my new tank set up he wont be getting transferred that's for sure , ill be going with more snails or find some less aggressive crabs

 

[BrunstuckyJoe]

Have you ever seen hermit crabs kill small clams?

 

[bennyd]

Not I Joe