blue leg hermit crabs

[stuntmanjp]

hey guys me again....boy I just keep asking questions dont I! umm yea i have about 5 blue leg hermit crabs in my 30 gallon right now and i was thinking about ordering 10 more. Would that be too many for my tank?
Thanks,
Justin

 

[ka0z4allu]

Most reef cleanup packages I have seen for 30 gallon tanks include about 10-15 snails and 20 hermits of 2 different types(10 of each). I think that you would do fine with 10 more provided that you have plenty of extra shells in the tank for them to get into, to aviod fights and deaths for housing.

 

[stuntmanjp]

alright thanks....i did have some red leg hermits before but i do not have any left maybe the blue legs killed them i dunno, but thanks anyway for the advice!!

 

[silleemee]

I bought the 100 extra shells when I ordered the invert package.
Today I saw a homeless hermit upgrade to a different shell
and then another in less than 5 minutes.

 

[elitephoto]

yeah have extra shells as i learned today. I got a call from my wife today... " there is a hermit without a shell" im like say what!? she said that his shell was stuck upside down inbetween 2 rocks so he climbed out and was running around going nuts looking for a new shell. by the time i got home to handle it he was already dead. she was afraid to stick her hand in the tank to fix the problem...so lesson learned...keep extra shells in the tank

 

[omgsaltwat]

Originally Posted by ElitePhoto
yeah have extra shells as i learned today. I got a call from my wife today... " there is a hermit without a shell" im like say what!? she said that his shell was stuck upside down inbetween 2 rocks so he climbed out and was running around going nuts looking for a new shell. by the time i got home to handle it he was already dead. she was afraid to stick her hand in the tank to fix the problem...so lesson learned...keep extra shells in the tank
crabs die when out of their shells??

 

[elitephoto]

I dont think they do normally but mine did after being in the tank for 8 hours today without his shell...he prolly got picked on by one of the other electric blue hermits or by my arrow crab. No clue what happened. he was alive this morning when i went to work and dead and out of his shell this evening.

 

[timo]

30 gallon tank... One hermit crab should do it, and he's just for that "total reef effect".
Worthless creatures in the home aquarium, in my opinion.
And that bit about supplying extra shells... they're not fast growers, and if they are in your tank, you better check your detritus levels. Sure they may change out if they find a new one laying about.
Stick with snails. They earn their keep.
TimO

 

[stone]

Originally Posted by TimO
30 gallon tank... One hermit crab should do it, and he's just for that "total reef effect".
Worthless creatures in the home aquarium, in my opinion.
And that bit about supplying extra shells... they're not fast growers, and if they are in your tank, you better check your detritus levels. Sure they may change out if they find a new one laying about.
Stick with snails. They earn their keep.
TimO
Worthless in what way

They do there job.

 

[mikeyjer]

Originally Posted by Stone
Worthless in what way

They do there job.
They do their job to a certain extent, I would stick with snails myself!!! I only have 5 small hermits and 2 larger hermits in my 55 reef and I want to rid the 2 large ones. My snails does a great job cleaning, but the 2 larger hermits does even a better job though. The only problem with'em is that they move my corals around and have caused some major problem. They're going somewhere soon......If you want hermits, get scarlets!!! :happyfish

 

[elitephoto]

Originally Posted by TimO
30 gallon tank... One hermit crab should do it, and he's just for that "total reef effect".
Worthless creatures in the home aquarium, in my opinion.
And that bit about supplying extra shells... they're not fast growers, and if they are in your tank, you better check your detritus levels. Sure they may change out if they find a new one laying about.
Stick with snails. They earn their keep.
TimO
when i mentioned supplying extra shells...there was a good reason for that. its not cause they grow so quickly it was because I just had one get stuck between rocks and couldnt free his shell so he went running off to find another one and ended up dying cause he didnt have any prtection from anything else in the tank. But hey thats just my .02 cents =)

 

[silleemee]

The ones I got are crawling up over the rock and sand.
They are not even all the way around the back yet.
And one is cleaning only the empty shells.
Looks like hungry workers to me.