What to do with crabs?

[an411]

I bought some blue legged crabs as part of my cleanup crew and as many said they started to kill my snails take there shells all that good stuff. With that said I am thinking about getting rid of them or putting them in my sump. Is putting them in the sump fine is there anything that I should worry about before putting them in there. I feel like the snails did a good job cleaning the tank and would like to keep them in the main display. would I be better getting rid of the crabs all together or putting them in sump and let them feast in there?

 

[ScottL4619]

I only have a few crabs left in my tank from a purchase long ago. One in particular was rather large and enjoyed stealing shells from snails. He liked it so much that he killed one just about every couple of days whether he needed a new home or not. I saw him in the open one day and he became banished to my sump. He has lived there in peace for 6 months and seems fine. He eats whatever food makes it down there I suppose. I did throw a larger shell in once because he looked a little cramped and he moved over that night.

I would throw any trouble makers in the sump unless of course you also have snails in there.

 

[an411]

yeah there are no inverts in sump that is why I was thinking of throwing them in there and getting a nice clean up crew in my display again. Ya my snails have been victims of crabs since day 1

 

[Sk8r]

Sump is fine.
Dunno what species they are, but hermits aren't supposed to act like that. I have scarlets and micro-bluelegs and have never lost a snail to a hermit. I know others have. If you get good pix of these bad guys, you might post same to let other folk know what is not a good roommate crab.

 

[an411]

Yeah I will try to do that tonight cause these are some pesty bad boys in the sump they go and I am going to order more snails cause i have hardly any left

 

[Packersfan21]

If the crabs are killing the snails for there shells then just put some empty shells in the tank and that should solve the problems.

 

[stevelkaneval]

you have too have more shells for them too move into or they will kill. ive had the same hermits and snails for over a year now and havnt lost a single snail to a hermit.

 

[ScottL4619]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11677759#post11677759 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Packersfan21
If the crabs are killing the snails for there shells then just put some empty shells in the tank and that should solve the problems.

I tried putting more extra shells in than there were crabs, but they still seemed to like the "fresher" ones. My experience only.

 

[Agu]

Are the crabs killing the snails ? Or are they cleaning up dead snails and then appropriating their shells ?

Things aren't always as they appear ..........

 

[IHOP]

I never had any issues with crabs killing snails.

 

[macronut]

I never had blue legs kill snails in my previous tanks, but only cleaned up after a dead one now and then.

 

[ScottL4619]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11679343#post11679343 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Agu
Are the crabs killing the snails ? Or are they cleaning up dead snails and then appropriating their shells ?

Things aren't always as they appear ..........

It's just the one crab. I think I bought it will some blue hermits one time, but this one didn't stay small like the rest. I once caught him in the act and he flipped a snail over as it was crawling across a rock and proceeded to clean the shell out for himself.

 

[Latimer]

so far i havent had any problems with my hermits killing snail, i have about 9 red legged, 2 large electric blues and one large hermit but no clue what kind he is. they live with prob 15 various small snails, queen conch, fighting conch and a red footed conch. but i also have quite a few empty shells of all sizes strowed about the bottom of the aquarium. one of my hermits (the unknown one) switches shells like once a week.

i think the key to happiness and fair playground play is to have a variety of empty shells so no killing has to be done

 

[an411]

I had some extra shells but they were not just cleaning up after dead ones I had to pull crabs off my snails shell they were trying to rip him out of his shell guess i ended up with evil crabs lol

 

[Latimer]

yeah i think thats just nature in general, you are always gonna have a few killers in the group. maybe get a couple smaller red legged and try those

 

[rustybucket145]

Do you feed? Is there a chance the crabs are starving?

 

[ScottL4619]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11686094#post11686094 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rustybucket145
Do you feed? Is there a chance the crabs are starving?

Do I feed my fish? Yes. Do I feed the crabs specifically? No.

I do add enough food so that some hits the bottom for the crabs and shrimp.

I'm pretty sure that the one crab I have just kills the snails for their shells. I banished him to the sump long ago and when I redid my sump, I threw him back in the tank since there would be no water in the sump. I figured that he had a plenty big enough shell already and there were only 4 snails in the tank, so it wouldn't be a big deal. Well, I woke up the next day and he had already turned over and begun eating my largest snail.

Back to the sump he went.

 

[Mr. Barlow]

So what kind of crab is this? Hermit? Pics?

 

[ScottL4619]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11686258#post11686258 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mr. Barlow
So what kind of crab is this? Hermit? Pics?

I'll try to snap a couple pictures tonight if I think about it. Not sure what kind of crab it is. Looks like a regular hermit crab, not blue or red and pretty good sized.