Hermits - good cleanup crew or pests?

[Mihai]

As my diatoms and hairy algae are about to overtake my LR, I'm looking
for a cleanup crew. I understand that the best for the job are the
snails, and I'll get a bunch of snails: I narrowed the available
selections to Turbo, Nerite, Margarita, Nassarius, Queen Conch or
Fighting Conch, BumbleBees and Cerith; I decided to pass on Astrea as
they can't right themselves if they fall upside down.

Even if they are not as efficient by comparison, I'd still like to get
a bunch of hermit crabs for the looks. I'll probably not have a fish
in the tank for another 1-2 months or so (still have to cure the
second batch of LR), so I'd like to see some action (the snails and current
feather dusters hardly provide any).

However, I heard some horror stories regarding hermit crabs: some kill
snails (bad business -> not only that they don't work so hard, but
they'll also kill the guys that do), and some even eat corals and/or
fish.

I was unable to find a good reference on hermit crabs, and hence I'm
asking for your advice:

Which hermits are good/bad? I am looking at several that are available
online:

Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Clibanarius tricolor
Blue leg hermit Phimochirus operculatus
Scarlet hermit Paguristes cadenati
Red leg hermit ?
Left handed ?
Halloween Ciliopagurus strigatus
BumbleBee Pusiostoma mendicaria
Dwarf zebra Calcinus laevimanus
Mexican red hermit ?
? hermit (red legs) Dardanus megistos
Electric Orange Hermit Calcinus sp
Dwarf Red Tip Hermit Clibanarius sp

Do you have any good/bad feedback on those?

I know that some crabs eat your snails to steal their shells: can this
be prevented by offering a bunch (say 24) empty shells?

Finally, do I ask too many questions? Am I wasting too much of your
time? If yes, please let me know so I'll slow down . Or just ignore
me, I'll take the hint

Thanks,
Mihai

 

[ChrisRD]

IMO all crustaceans are opportunists and if they get hungry enough they'll pester snails or corals (some shrimp/crabs will pull food out of their polyps) for something to eat. I know a lot of people feel they need them, but personally, I don't have a single hermit in my tank and couldn't be happier.

 

[ChrisRD]

BTW, IME the large Mexican Turbo snails are great at eating just about any form of nuisance algae. Just don't get too many as they eat about 5X-10X as much as the little snail species...

 

[Anonymous]

First off i dont think you can ask to many questions when one is educating themselves...and yes crabs can/will eat snails from a time to time...mainly for a new home, but will eat the snail as a benefit meal...the red hermit i hear can nip at corals, blue legged, zebras, scarlets i know for sure are fine since i have them in my tank....now if you get snails large enough the crabs wont bother the snails...i have 4 large turbos and dont even think twice about bothering them...for the most part though, the aforementioned hermits arent really predatory on snails...i guess your common hermit(anything bigger than an inch i would believe) try to avoid..those are the ones that will eat fish...

 

[Anonymous]

I guess Chris is right, you dont really need them, its personal choice, I think they have neat personalities. I have several in my tank and I couldnt be happier :wink:

 

[ChrisRD]

They are pretty comical to watch...

 

[Mihai]

Thanks for the advice.
I'll go for hermits .
Mihai

 

[Anonymous]

I like scarletts the best. They don't seem to bother a thing.

I had blue leggs and hated them. They seemed to be the opportunistic at killing a snail for it's shell IME.

Louey

 

[c0yote]

One of the things I like most about this hobby is the bio-diversity. I've got blue & scarlett hermits as well as atraeas, nerites, ceriths, a fighting & queen conch and a turbo. The hermits are quite interesting to watch and the scarletts are quite the climbers - have seen them scale the powerhead cord to reach the water surface. I feel this activity is worth the price paid in the occasional snail loss.

 

[psiico]

I have blue legged and left handed hermits mixed with astrea, nassarius, cerith and nerite snails. The hermits rarely bother the snails. They do treat my cucumber like a jungle gym from time to time, but they aren't hurting him any. Even if one kills a snail or two, that's the natural order of things, so be it I say. Snails are cheap.

 

[hillbilly]

Crab spelled backwards is barc, which stands for
bad a$$ reef creature!

 

[Mihai]

That sounds like guys full of character .
I like that in a pet.
M.

 

[Anonymous]

hey piisco...I love the buddy Jesus...{DOGMA}