Snail and hermit lifespans

[daplatapus]

When I set up my tank almost 2 years ago, I put in bunch of hermits and snail and over that 1st year I added more, including a selection of snails and blue legged hermits. I've recently noticed I have no hermits left that I can see and maybe a half dozen or so snails. What's the lifespan of these things anyway? Do you guys have an annual replacement regimen or do I have an aquarium mystery on my hands? Alien abduction maybe?

I've had no problem keeping anything else, all my shrimp seem healthy, good pod population, I've always battled algae so I doubt they're starving... not too sure. Thoughts?

[1eyedjyde]

I found my hermits would kill off each other and snails however I have had 2 turbo Snails for over 2 years now and 3 blue leg hermits for well over a year

[naesco]

What is the size of your tank and how many snails and hermits did not add before you decided to replenish them

[daplatapus]

Tanks are a 77 gal and 20 gal tied into a common 150 gal sump. Approx 150 lbs of live rock. I've never really had an end population I wanted to reach of either snails or hermits, just wanted a good size clean up crew. But life and work and side projects got me so consumed I started forgetting to just sitting down and watch the tank.

I never noticed until the last few days when I've made a concerted effort to clean up my tank of some algae that's been driving me crazy that there's very little clean up crew left. Trying to figure where they've all gone...

[Dearth]

Blue and red legged hermit crabs have an average life span of 3-5 yrs in captivity.

Most snails live about a yr some species are shorter others are longer

I've lost about a third of my crabs to various things and have had some crab procreate i have 4 blue legged hermits born in my tank but my snails have been voracious procreaters I've only got one snail left from original batch and I have about 18 or so in my tank that were created and born in the tank.

If you don't have a lot of detritus your CuC can starve to death as well it could be one of many possibilities

[pinkreef]

I have a zebra hermit crab thats 4 years old.

[naesco]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

Tanks are a 77 gal and 20 gal tied into a common 150 gal sump. Approx 150 lbs of live rock. I've never really had an end population I wanted to reach of either snails or hermits, just wanted a good size clean up crew. But life and work and side projects got me so consumed I started forgetting to just sitting down and watch the tank.

I never noticed until the last few days when I've made a concerted effort to clean up my tank of some algae that's been driving me crazy that there's very little clean up crew left. Trying to figure where they've all gone...

I think there is a couple of things at play here.

1. You probably added too many snails and hermits in the beginning and they starved to death. A couple of hermits, primarily predators, is enough for a tank your size. When there is little food for the hermits they can attack the snails.
2. If you did not have a very slow drip acclimatization for the snails they would be injured and die. Ya, they are juat snails but they have a complex system that is affected by saliinity, temperature and water quality.
3. If you tank took a bit of a downhill trend for a while, this might affect them.

Many new reefers fall victem to the 'I need a CUC kit' with the result that too many or the wrong inverts are provided that eventually die polluting the tank.