Hermits on the reef.
- Thread starter dnorton1978
- Start date
Depends upon your need for them
are they
1) A cute little obsessoin? Just to see things walking around which is cool.
2) Are they a scavenger? They are quite good at picking various pieces of stuff from the rocks, however they will pick snails too.
3) Are you trying to raise an army that will be able to crush all resistance that comes their way? In which case this isn't cool.
are they
1) A cute little obsessoin? Just to see things walking around which is cool.
2) Are they a scavenger? They are quite good at picking various pieces of stuff from the rocks, however they will pick snails too.
3) Are you trying to raise an army that will be able to crush all resistance that comes their way? In which case this isn't cool.
My opinion is to go either snails or hermits but not both. My softie tank is simply hermits, not that many either although there is one lone turbo that's quite large and probably stronger than the hermits ability to flip it. My sps tank however is all snails... although I question their ability to graze on the larger/thicker patches of algae.
I have them. Plenty of scarlets and a few blue leg. I have plenty of Ceriths and Astreas too....as well as an army of limpits that came with the rock 8 years ago.
I've seen hermits eat an Astrea that kept falling off rocks and just seemed like it was gonna die and I finally just lay there on the sand.
Has any one of you actually seen your hermits murder a fit healthy snail.... and I don't mean watched one @#$w with a snail for 20 minutes but actually kill it?
I've seen hermits eat an Astrea that kept falling off rocks and just seemed like it was gonna die and I finally just lay there on the sand.
Has any one of you actually seen your hermits murder a fit healthy snail.... and I don't mean watched one @#$w with a snail for 20 minutes but actually kill it?
i have 4 red legged hermits and about 10 turbo snails. i have placed a few empty shells for the hermits and the only time they have attacked the turbos is when they fall on there backs, in which case i let them cos its nature in a small glass tank 
but they never bother my corals, tho one of my turbos hoovered through my green zoa, no damage done tho.
but they never bother my corals, tho one of my turbos hoovered through my green zoa, no damage done tho.one hermit i remembered was not a red leg. nor was he blue. he had sort of gold and black legs. i don't remember where i got him, but when i was at the LFS i said "gimme a dozen assorted hermits". this guy was a real snail eater.
i have not seen the reds and blues kill snails, but they have changed shells a few times. how they got them we'll never know. one thing i can almost be sure of is- those snails that gave their shells, didn't do it willingly!
i have not seen the reds and blues kill snails, but they have changed shells a few times. how they got them we'll never know. one thing i can almost be sure of is- those snails that gave their shells, didn't do it willingly!
Hermits should not be part of a reef - the reason is that they clean the rock - of everything. This includes not only various algae species, but sponges, tunicates, tubeworms, etc. You end up with sterile rock, which is not our goal in a reef tank.
If you like they for their own sake, which I do, then maybe 1, in a 100 gallon tank is fine. You don't need hermits as a reef janitor.
Jim
If you like they for their own sake, which I do, then maybe 1, in a 100 gallon tank is fine. You don't need hermits as a reef janitor.
Jim
JimM":dhq9zuar said:
I love comments like that. Clearly and simply "this is gospel"; yet demonstrably not true in 1000's of tanks.
I have tubeworms and more sponge than I care for. My hermits apparently haven't got the memo yet. I haven't got any tunicates that I know of though so maybe they ate em all before I found them.
stubbsz":34cguxbm said:
:|
Quite the contrary...show me a thousand tanks with the typical janitorial staff of hermits, and I'll show you a thousand tanks with less biodiversity than a tank without. It's quite easy to demonstrate. Many hermits are significant predators on a variety of worms and crustaceans, and other inverts. A keeper who's always had a bunch of hermits, quite frankly doesn't know the difference. In small concentrations, a few to a large system, they are fine.
In large concentrations, they are destructive - period. The only question is what kind of diversity you wish to have in your tank, and if you know enough to know the difference.
Lose he hermits, (again, if they existed in large porportions) add some fresh rock, (you will notice this to an extent even if you don't add more rock) and over time you'll notice a larger variety of small gastropods, worms, tunicates, etc.
Or set up two identical systems, one with a large concentration of hermits, one without. Wait a year, observe, then post from empirical data rather than from a quite unnecessary defensive/ego standpoint.
Bottom line, the severe lack of these organisms that I speak of generally doesn't hurt the reef, it just means you have fewer species of critters in your system. Again, depending on your experience, you may not know the difference anyway.
Peace
Jim
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