life span of snails and crabs

[craig45]

Any guesses as to the average life span of your typical cleaning crew? Seems like there are about half as many crabs as two years ago (maybe they are just hiding better!). Do you replenish a few every few months? Don't think I've lost a fish, or shrimp in 5+ years.

Craig

 

[Brian5000]

I'm not sure about hermit crabs, but astreas and many other common snails can live for decades if properly cared for.

Many, many people overstock these critters. If you notice they're dying off (with nothing else looking stressed), you may have had too many in your tank to begin with, and the extra crabs starved.
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[camaroracer214]

the dib's founder brian plankis, who lives in my area, was telling me a lot of the time the typical turbo snails we get live in colder water than we typically have in our aquariums and usually live a year or less.

lifespan depends on too many things to tell you a definitive answer. you have to take water quality, acclimation techniques, in-tank stressors (like aggressive fish and inverts), and diet just to name a few. not to mention the life span of one species of crab could be 10 years while another very similar crab has a life span of 2 years.

 

[Anonymous]

Two biggest killer of snails is warm temperature /(turbo comment above) and lack of food. Otherwise, they can live for a long time, particularly if you acquire them when they are young.

Certain snail/ crab have a short lifespan. You can tell by the size when they are matured. Smaller one usually is shorter.

 

[craig45]

Interesting. The large turbo snails are still doing their job, while the small (1/2") dwarf crabs are just about all gone, or are really great at hiding.

The tanks may have been at the upper temperature limit of 78 - 79. I started to cool off the tanks a few days ago and they are now ranging from 75 - 76.

Very little visible algae on the live rock (live rock wall from end to end), but there is growth on the glass. So guess I might have about the correct numbers NOW.

Thanks for the responses.

Craig

 

[Brian5000]

I have a turbo snail. I sorry to say I bought a few without knowing what it was. I still have one cruising around the tank, and it's very healthy.

I think you can occationally find a few turbo snails that will adapt to aquarium conditions, but as a general rule, we can't count on this when we buy one.
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1990 recession

 

[mr_X]

going on my second year at about 78 degrees, and i still have some of the original mexican turbos, margarita, and astrea snails i started with. most of the snails that died(as far as i know) were killed by either hermit crabs, or a predator worm (Oenone fulgida), which i caught red-handed.

speaking of cleanup crew- i know not to put anything past a crab, but has anyone heard of an arrow crab killing a large porcelain crab?
i caught him munching on a claw, and there was a little too much meat in that claw to be a molting 8O