blue legged hermits eating my cloves?

[JonnyJ]

this is the third time in 3 days i have found my newly aquired blue legs eating my clove polyp stems. wtf?

 

[BHDMC]

I had the same problem. They were feeding on my SPS coral, so I removed them. I read somewhere some Blue leg Hermit will feed on corals and some will not.

 

[JonnyJ]

they keep eating my colony... everytim i pick one up off the colony he has a tight grip and the stem hes on is secreting in that section and then it dies the next day wtf.

 

[BHDMC]

If it is the only one Blue leg crab that is giving you the problem, you can try moving it to another part of the tank. They may find their way back. Like I said before, I just took them all out of my tank.

 

[Imbarrie]

I took all the crabs out of my tank. Peace of mind. You never know what they will get into.


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[FrostyNYC]

Mine ate my xenia for one day and then never touched it again. I guess they decided they didn't like it after all.


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[ryangrieder]

wait which blue legs we talking about? those little guys usually available for cheap at lfs thats dont get that big or like the elec. blue legs or something like that

 

[motortrendz]

i have blue leg, red scarlet, white leg hermits.. never had a problem, they just like to go after my snails and pluck them out of the shells when they want a new home..

 

[ryangrieder]

i have blue leg, red scarlet, white leg hermits.. never had a problem, they just like to go after my snails and pluck them out of the shells when they want a new home..

could not agree anymore. although i did have an electric blue leg hermit that nipped at corals, not eat them, but nip randomly. the small blue legs and scarlets and halloween hermits never did a thing

 

[rickb]

I think its an individual thing, I had one that I'm sure murdered a snail. I just banished him to the sump. I've seen other hermits fight each other for shells but thats just good entertainment.

 

[seldin]

Now, you have me thinking. In the past, I would see hermits go after damaged corals that had dead tissue. That's how I know a coral was really dead...

I have a large bali green slimer that I see a blue legged hermit hang out on. I had put him to the other side of the tank and he came back. However, this coral is doing fine. I do not see hermit doing damage, just hanging out.

So I guess, I have to watch to see if he will be doing damage.

I also like your suggestion of putting him in sump if problem. Easy fix.

PS. The exception is that I have seen my hermits go after newly fragged zoas. Never understood that. I guess there must have been mucas that attracted them.

 

[basiab]

Crabs of any kind are opportunists. They will kill or eat anything if they get the urge/chance. Hermits will kill snails even if there are plenty of shells around. Moving them to another area in a tank is useless since they can travel fairly quickly. You have to remove them if they are causing problems.

 

[jrobbins]

I think its an individual thing, I had one that I'm sure murdered a snail. I just banished him to the sump. I've seen other hermits fight each other for shells but thats just good entertainment.

they will all "murder" snails. you are going to have a ton of crabs in your sump if you keep that up

 

[JonnyJ]

They returned 3 times after being relocated. the cloves must taste good. They have definitely killed 3-4 stems of my cloves. they are thriving and multiplying so i am going to just keep an eye and if it continues they will be removed.