blue hermits, good or bad??

[jbeck]

I keep hearing people say blue hermits are bad, yet most places i talk to tell me i should have 1 per gallon or more for my tank. I put 22 of them in this weekend and they are doing a great job of cleaning up the green hair algae in the tank and are not fighting with each other. What is the story here?

 

[heyoo]

crabs are mean. Its a fact of life. They will compete for shells, and randomly kill each other or snails for a new home. I've seen crabs kill each other - take the loser's shell, and move again in a day or two. Just accept the fact that they might kill snails, and they might kill other hermits.
Other than that, they are very beneficial to your tank. They'll keep algae in check, and will quickly consume any food that the fish miss.

 

[alti]

blue legs suck. plain and simple. they are way too agressive and dont do a very good job of cleaning up anyway. when they start eating your snail and other hermits you'll see why some people hate them.

 

[chef jaysen]

I love to play devils advocate. My damn turbos keep diving off the live rock and commiting suicide. I wont waste anymore money on them. My blue legs on the other hand have been very social and in less then a day have climbed to the top of the lr and are eating the brown algae like it was candy. I'm definately pro crab.

 

[acez28]

i have some scarlet hermit crabs now, 10 of em, they clim all over stuff but i havent seen them actually eat any brown algae yet. The 2 snails i bought are eating the brown algae tho.

 

[reefaddicted]

I agree with Chef Jaysen blue legs do a great job.
However, they can be agressive toward each other IME. My population dwindles over time and on ocassion I will find one walking around in an Astrea Suit Such is the nature of what some like to call the food chain. Sorry if this offends, but lemme ask this... Are you offended by people who feed live brine?

 

[small reef]

I guess I've been lucky, I haven't had any problems with my blue legged hermits. I have had problems with zebra hermits though. I had a nice Orange Cateye snail that did a great job with algae, but one day I saw a zebra hermit walking around in its shell. Too bad, I liked that snail. It was kinda expensive too. Oh well, I guess thats just bound to happen sometime.

 

[acez28]

i change my statement....i just shined a flashlight in my tank and the scarlett hermits were all over that brown algae. If they eat my snails then oh well.....i will buy more.