Stocking a 25 gal

[naesco]

Originally Posted by Snaz

Why so down on hermits? They are by far the best CUC in my tank. I have a handful of small red legged hermits that get every pellet, mysis or other food that hits the sand or rock. I have NEVER seen my hermits do ANY harm to a coral.

Why so down of hermits

1. They killl snails.
2. They are predators. They spend all day searching for tiny invertebrates
that breed in your tank and provide your coral with natural food.
3. They irritate some LPS causing them to remain fully retracted and recede.
4. Many reefers have observed some of them have a taste for some corals.

The idea of a reef eco system with a sandbed and live rock is to maintain a high level of critters in our tank that feed our fish and coral . Hermit crabs decimate them.

One or two are not going to do much harm but the "marketing concept" that you need a CUC (clean up crew) composed of so many snails and hermits is simply marketing and nothing else IMO,
Too many hermits cause the stated problems
Too many snails simply die of starvation and pollute the tank.