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Love/Hate Hermits

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philhender View Drop Down
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    Posted: April 22 2010 at 2:01pm
I have to openly admit my love/hate relationship with my hermit crabs.  In my 55g tank I probably have about 25ish hermit crabs.  I love them because they keep everything 'cleaned' up... HOWEVER I think they're too hungry.  Not wanting to over feed (feed twice a day, once with flake, and then a second with either mysis or brine shrimp) for algae reasons.
My Hermits keep killing things... Ouch  I picked up 4 turbo snails.. hermits have killed 2 of them, not sure if its for their shells or not, as it would be like a child trying to wear my clothes, and just last night, my green-leggd crab was in the process of molting and they got him when he was defenseless.

My real question/comment, how many hermits does everyone keep in their tank? is 25 to many for a 55g? I can understand and accept the loss of the margarita snails, I have to look twice to see if its a snail or crab LOL, but the turbos are a little bigger hit.

Side subject.. do peppermint shrimp stay hidden all the time? I'm on my 2nd pair, they just don't want to come out... are skunks any better?
I asked the Lord for the blessing of Patience... he gave me 6 kids!

125g Reef / 55g Sump-Fuge
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Ahanix View Drop Down
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Skunks love to be out in the open from what I have seen/heard.  I've seen my friends skunk actually jump on a fish to clean it haha.

As for the hermits, do you have any extra shells for them?  I bought about 6 extra shells for mine but they still killed about 3/10 of my snails in my tank for theirs (I guess they were prettier or something.)

 I have a little 14g tank with 7 hermits in it (had 10 to start and a couple died over time, I think the other hermits killed them as they weren't in their shells when I found them)  so I think 25 for a 55g would be just fine.
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Jeremyw View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Jeremyw Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 22 2010 at 2:15pm
I would do a skunk they are great out in the open they will clean your fish! Hermits... I HATE... i dont have any in my tank they were killing all the snails and would knock over the corals! i pulled them all out of the main display. I do have about 10 in my sump though
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Ryan Thompson View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ryan Thompson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 22 2010 at 2:21pm
I too hate hermit crabs. I have like 3 or 4 in my tank and I am just waiting for them to die off. Enough snails will make up for the loss of the hermits. Get some waste eating snails like nassassarius and there is no need for hermit crabs IMO.
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jwoo View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jwoo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 22 2010 at 3:01pm
+1 to what Ryan said. Get some nassassarius snails, and a brittle star and you'll be all set and won't need hermits. I do not like hermits - I think they are cool but not worth them eating all my snails.
None at the moment
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Luckedout View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Luckedout Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: April 22 2010 at 7:25pm
My hermits must be wimps because I've never seen them eat a snail. My biggest problem with them is bumping things around, but not nearly as bad as my diamond goby, who likes to use the frag plates to close up his burrow. Angry
-Ben



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www.body-balancechiropractic.com

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