Do I need hermits? Ready to drop kick all of em

[scrapz]

pros: devours dead fish

devours everything else, including each other. they just went through 2 clams i had for years, decided that my clams were tastier

snails from now on

 

[knockout]

I glue everything on the rocks to prevent frags getting knocked down, I agree that the little ones are far better than larger ones... if one gets too big they go to the sump, as for snails only, some can be destructive too so I think is size what matters!
I think hermits are great at sniffing and devouring any dead matter in the tank, for this alone I think every tank should have them, there is no way to remove a dead fish from under 200 lbs of rock... hermits will clean that out in a matter of hours. JMO

 

[redhanded]

ive cut down the number of hermits by alot in my tank. yes they are useful, and yes they are basards. love hate relationship, lol

 

[aquafrags]

no more hermits for me, kept killin snails

 

[knockout]

they (hermits) are opportunistic "hunters" they can smell death a mile away, so when a snail is flipped up side down they come out of the wood work, I think the cost of a few snails is a small price to pay (in this very expensive hobbie or ours), and its not cruelty, its just nature, IMO it by far outweighs the cost of a precious show piece of coral dieing because of a ammonia spike when a fish dies and you did not know about it, the chances of such spike are reduced immensely in a habitat that incorporates hermit crabs, JMO.
they are also great indicators if something is wrong with a coral... if you see them coming and surrounding anything... look out there is most likely than not some dead flesh in the surrounding area

dont get me wrong I have no love for them, but they serve their purpose in my system, btw my kids call them the savages

 

[Paul_N]

My hermits crawl all over everything but never damage anything. They clean the crap out of my clam's shells and and frag plugs.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I'm not a big fan of crabs of any kind. The only hermits I would recommend are micro blue legs.

 

[gnoles]

I caught mine yesterday with a nass. snail pinned to the sand. Both crabs have been relocated to the 'fuge for a battle to the death.

 

[H@rry]

I consider snails as expendable anyway. They're pretty cheap in bulk. Besides, I enjoy looking at the hermits. We have four different species. Every once in a while I just order another box of snails.

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I consider snails as expendable anyway. They're pretty cheap in bulk. Besides, I enjoy looking at the hermits. We have four different species. Every once in a while I just order another box of snails.

Depends on what snails you like. I only use blackfoot trochus and they are expensive as far as a snail goes, but last a very long time.