Number of Turbos/hermits for 55gallon

[alienz1]

Just wondering what a good number of Turbos and lil bluelegged hermits a 55 gallon reef (sandbed, LR) would be, I don't want to add too many and have some starve

Thanks.

 

[Anemone]

IMO, avoid the hermits altogether - they are omniverous adn can cause problems with certain snails. Which brings me to the second part- get a variety of snails - different snails each seem to have different algae "preferences", so a variety works better than just one or two species.

I'd only buy a couple of turbos and a couple of astreas (both regularly available from LFSs). I'd buy a dozen each of cerith and nerites (usually available only MO), a couple of fighting conches (if you have a sandbed - these can be found either MO or at some LFSs), about 1/2 dozen nassarius snails, and a few trochus (again, sometimes available at LFSs).

FWIW,

Kevin

 

[Anonymous]

I second the "skip the hermits" thought.
More trouble than they're worth.

 

[Anonymous]

I love hermits, never had any problems with them. I have 8 in my 30 gallon. I'd say get 10-12 for your 55. Don't listen to the hermit haters.

 

[DEADFISH1]

I have 2 red legged hermits in my 58 gal., caution on adding too many hermits, the more you have the more empty shells you need lying around for them to move into as they grow bigger, it is very hart wrenching to see one out of its shell, do to out growing the one they had and not having another one to move into.

 

[Anonymous]

i'll second(third?)the cautionary statements on the hermits-some will remove turbo's fron their shells in order to find a larger home.

anemone gave excellent advice re: adding only a few turbos and astreas-my experience saya that most people initially overstock on these critters, only to have most die of starvation-start of with minimal stocking-you can always add more later, if necessary :wink:

 

[kevchev515]

I also agree not putting hermits into your tank because as hermits grow they seek new homes... what could be a more obvious home than that of a snail that has fallen off the wall or is stripped off. I personally would go the snail route and get a variety.

Get a few turbo-graizers because these things are algae destroyers. Also get Cerith snails because they will bury themselves in the sand and if you are looking to add a little color throw in some bumble bee snails. Even though they don't eat a lot of algae they are really fun to watch. There are also the conches and astreas that are easy to come by.

Add as much a variety as possible because the more variation there is the more stable the environment becomes.

that is my $.02

 

[Anonymous]

I also used to agree about keeping hermits out of my tanks with snails, but lately I have to say that I have changed my mind.

I have several tanks with over 1000 blue legs living with snails and there doesn't seem to be any problems. With how much time the snails spend on the glass the hermits could never reach them anyway. In one tank I suspect I might have some problems with the smallest hermits and the nassarius snails since the nassarius shells seem to be a perfect fit for the next upsizing, but we'll have to wait and see what happens.

I have several other tanks which several hundred scarlets share the space with snails and I don't expect any problems whatsoever.

Do not overstock on clean up critters. You can always add more if you don't have enough.

HTH

 

[Anonymous]

You know, you can always go to the pet stores and get buy a variety of shells that are suitable for hermits. As they grow they will check out empty shells before they start thinking about the live snails. Scatter the shells in the tank, and in a month you'll see them getting tried out by the hermits. Then the smaller hermits take over the shells left behind by the larger hermits...

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks super cow for reminding me. In all tanks I keep hermits in I ensure there are plenty of shells to move into. Extra astrea and cerith shells are never in short supply.

 

[Anonymous]

And to add again, I also feed heavily in tanks with so many hermits to ensure they don't go crusing around looking for trouble. I think it has a lot to do with curbing unwanted behavior.

 

[danmhippo]

I was just about to say the more hermits you keep, more you have to feed extra to keep these hermits happy. 1000 hermits = a lot more food to go around, and if there aren't a good export system, typical aquarist will end up with more algae.

I fourth/fifth skipping out the hermits all together. For my 150G, I only hve 4 turbo, 10-15 astrea, and a number of cerith snails hitchhiked with some macro algae shipments and is proliferating in my tank.

Oh yeah, and a 5" tropical abalone which I only see once a month.......in the middle of the night.

 

[SPC]

I don't keep hermits because of the damage they do to the sand bed fauna. I find that nassarius snails are a good replacement for the job that hermits are used for.
Steve

 

[Bill2]

I'd recommend Trochus snails above all snails. They seem a bit expensive but
A: they don't bulldoze anything
B: they can turn themselves over
C: they seem to stay smaller for longer

 

[Anonymous]

I have had trochus snails bulldoze some frags of the LR and down to the substrate. That's about my only complaint with trochus.
Otherwise I say they're great. Effective algae eaters.

 

[yellowfiji]

From my experience, hermit crabs also kill snails for food!!! I took all crabs out from my reef tank and found no more empty shells

 

[Reefguide]

I had several large red legged hermits and several large blue legged hermmits, both of witch killed off all my snails except for maybe 3-4. The larger of the red legged hermits started to eat some of my polyps and a few other things. I did add a few smaller hermits only after I began to get some hair growing on my rocks after a few months. To my surprise after throwing them in, they aren't blue or red-legged. They seem to be brown-legged with a bit of black in them. I cant remember right now but the antenas were either blue or red. What are they anyways?? they can give a crap about the hair by the way.

 

[Reefguide]

anyone?

 

[Tangy1]

I recently got a clean up crew from Reeftopia. I purchased snails, peppermint shrimp and crabs. I selected a variety of snails. All said a month after acclimation the more variety the better. In the past I just got plain Astrae turbo snails. With this last more educated decision I mixed it up selecting bumblebee, nasarrius, cerith, nerite and astrae snails. for a 55 you wouldn't need more than 3-5 of each of these. I believe the variety of snails allows their different diets to control more unwanted algae. The nassarius, cerith and bumblebees do a great job of stirring the top of the sandbed.

Best not to overpurchase. You can always get more a month or two later.