White leg hermit eating snails

[CaptainReefer]

I just recently got a few snails and small hermit crabs. I have had 3 blue legged hermit crabs for months now with no problems. I purchased a mix of small snails and hermits from indo pacific farms and have been noticing that a lot of my older snails are dying. I have also noticed that the White legged hermit is very aggressive towards the other snails in the tank, crawling all over them and what appears to be fighting. I have separated him a few times in the last few weeks because of this, but I'm sure a lot has gone down when I'm not around. I also added to the tank some sand booster and lagoon mud to increase my bioactivity, so I thought maybe the snails died because of bacterial problems and hermit was just eating it. Does anyone have any experience with small white legged hermit crabs eating snails?

 

[jrobbins]

crabs eat snails. thats what they do. even the blue-legs will do it eventually. either ditch the crabs or resign yourself to restocking the snails every so often.

 

[CaptainReefer]

My sand bed looks like a scene from the civil war, empty snail shells everywhere. I've since gotten rid of the white legged one.

 

[Euroreefer]

They will do that, provide larger shells and they may stop killing snails for them.

 

[marki24]

They will do that, provide larger shells and they may stop killing snails for them.

:iamwithst

 

[SevTT]

I just recently got a few snails and small hermit crabs. I have had 3 blue legged hermit crabs for months now with no problems. I purchased a mix of small snails and hermits from indo pacific farms and have been noticing that a lot of my older snails are dying. I have also noticed that the White legged hermit is very aggressive towards the other snails in the tank, crawling all over them and what appears to be fighting. I have separated him a few times in the last few weeks because of this, but I'm sure a lot has gone down when I'm not around. I also added to the tank some sand booster and lagoon mud to increase my bioactivity, so I thought maybe the snails died because of bacterial problems and hermit was just eating it. Does anyone have any experience with small white legged hermit crabs eating snails?

Any type of hermit will eat snails or other hermits, particularly if they want the shells. The red-leggeds seem to be the least aggressive, but beyond that, if you want hermits, expect and accept the occasional murder.