Hermit Crabs, Friend or Foe?

[zum14]

Curious what the thoughts are on this as im still novice here and seem to be having a few issues with a blue knuckle, he seems to enjoy knocking my piece of montipora cap around, attatched to rocks, wedged in crevis's, doesnt care, i move it, he kocks it around. I have a hunch but we will see.

[Dolf]

Most will likely tell you that they are a friend- this is accepted as "common knowledge." However, it depends on how you want to keep your system as to weather they are friend or foe. I try to keep mine fairly natural and prefer all of the life that I can get- so they are foe. Yes, they eat some stuff we consider undesirable- but they will eat anything they can pick at including lots of small but beneficial life forms. They do not occur in anywhere near the numbers on a reef that we are told to add them in our systems (if memory serves they average a maximum of 1 per square meter.) It all depends on what you want from your system and how you want to keep it.

[landshark]

I have kept Hermits in my reef aquarium for the last 3 years. The only problem I have with them is that they will knock frags over, but so do snails. Secure your frags to the rockwork with eg.(epoxy putty) and you won't have this problem. I also keep snails in the system, and occassionally one will die unproven at the claws of a hermit. I think hermits are cool, but I only keep a couple in a 55 gallon and I get rid of them for smaller one's when they get tooo large.

[zum14]

interesting. its not as swayed as i thought.

[Ron99]

Can we vote for both? I think they have their benefits (in small numbers) for scavenging and eating algae etc. and can also cause problems eating snails or snatching food from LPS etc.

[BlueAbyss]

I won't vote because it's not that cut and dried... As Dolf mentioned, while they are there on the natural reef, they aren't required in a reef tank and certainly not in the numbers that many LFS would have you believe you need. I say if you like them most definitely go ahead and get a few, but don't overdo it. They also vary in reef-safeness between species and even individuals, so do some research ahead of time... I had a little Blue Legged Hermit and found him to be an interesting, benign creature, I'd recommend getting several of those if you have a large tank.

Also, if you have whorled-shelled snails like Nassarius and the like, I would seriously avoid hermits in general since they like to kill snails to take their shells (and eat their bodies). Though for the time I had my hermit, he never touched any of my Stomatella and Colonista snails. That I saw, anyhow.

Hope this helps!

[zum14]

Originally Posted by landshark

I have kept Hermits in my reef aquarium for the last 3 years. The only problem I have with them is that they will knock frags over, but so do snails. Secure your frags to the rockwork with eg.(epoxy putty) and you won't have this problem. I also keep snails in the system, and occassionally one will die unproven at the claws of a hermit. I think hermits are cool, but I only keep a couple in a 55 gallon and I get rid of them for smaller one's when they get tooo large.

Oh ive tried that as i mentioned in the first post, this poll was basically created as i was curious of what the general feeling was in the industry for these, i agree that what they post as you should have in your tank is ridiculous but they do there part. Its just my one blue knuckle, hes fairly good sized and like i said, glued, jammed whatever i do hes got a real problem with just the montipora cap. Ive got it in an area he rarely frequents now and seems to be doing good. The couple blue legs i have do nothing but good so far.