BigA Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Hi everyone. I've got a quick question. Yesterday I bought some turbo snails (I think. They do have conical shaped shells). Once I brought them home and accimated them, into my tank they went. Almost instantly they got attcked by one of my hermit crabs (I'm not sure what kind it is. It has greyish legs, with red tips). I have a ton of extra shells in there and have had since the tank was started up. I seperated them this time, but when I awoke this morning it had happened again. I thought hermits were supposed to be reef safe? Is this a bad apple of a crab? A bad species? Is this going to happen every time I put some snails in the tank? Can this unprovoked attack be prevented? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharuq1 Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 Sounds like it may be a red-tipped HC. I have several of them in my system and I have found them to be alot more aggressive than the tri-color ones. I will often find one of the red-tipped trying furiously to get one of the tris out of it's shell--despite the shell being much smaller than the attacking crab. Many people I spoke to said they have had mixed experiences with HC's, some don't seem to cause trouble and some can be real "you-know-what's". If you have a sump you could throw in any "offenders". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kem Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 (edited) That's typical hermit crab behavior. Even my blue legged HC, wich are considered by many as reef safe as you can get, do attack my snails from time to time. Some experts, like Bob Fenner, don't consider them suitable tankmates and recommend keeping only snails. They are also known to snack on some LPS coral (Hammer, Frogspawn,...), although I've never seen it happen in my tank. On the bright side, they are not often successful at pulling a snail from its shell. Edited May 27, 2008 by kem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osprey Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 Heh...my dwarf zebra hermits have exterminated any snails I attempt to introduce to the tank. I figure you can pretty much expect snails to become snacks/housing for your hermits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorenz0 Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 I have 10 Calcinus laevimanus (dwarf zebra hermits) and 3 Trochus Snail's and have no seen any issues with them. Also have added a emerald crab and my hermits run from him, its hilarious cause all he is interested in is algae lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pier Pressure Posted June 2, 2008 Report Share Posted June 2, 2008 I have had hermits and snails in a tank that has been up and running over a year with no issues. Once in a while I find a dead hermit without a shell but I think they either lost a fight or died naturally. On the other hand - lorenzO - watch that emerald crab. We had one for a while and once he grew up he became a major tank bully. I watched him eat two small hermits before I took him out and shipped him off to the LFS. Maybe he was just a bad apple but keep your eye on him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorenz0 Posted June 3, 2008 Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 my emerald has been well behaved so far. I just put in a bit of an alge pellet every odd day and that seems to keep him well behaved thanks for the heads up though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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