blue or red leg crabs?

[kyocean]

I was just wondering which is better for a reef tank, or would both kinds together be best?

 

[flamingkingofhe]

i always here of people putting the two together so i would have to say both but in case i am wrong i would say the red usually they are bigger hence eating more algae and stuff like that this is my opinion

 

[swilbs83]

I, along with alot of other people, don't like blue leg crabs because they have a tendency to be really agressive. Not a threat to fish really, but they are known for killing snails and eachother. Red legs seem to be more passive and they do a great job cleaning up.

 

[cosmo]

I just gave away my blue legs. They were killing each other, my red legs, my zebras and some snails. Go with the red legs!!
cosmo

 

[glinton]

I would definitely agree with cosmo. I have witnessed two murders already. I tried to break one fight up, but they wouldn't let go of each other. The blue legs are definitely too agressive. When I get a chance, I will return my blue legs and get some red legs.

 

[gatorcsm]

I agree as well. I got rid of my blue's when one killed a snail. The scarlets never have bothered a thing.

 

[jja]

I bought all red legs because it seems to be the consensious on this site but I have to say in the last thre days I saw them eat a turbo snail and I just found an arm from a scarlett on the bottom. They seem to wrestle a lot. I haven't had too many blue legs so I can'tr really tell you the difference but my scarletts seem to be fairly aggresive.

 

[hairtrigger]

Ditto what the general concensus here says. I have many many red leg scarlett hermits in my tank. I only bought those because of the nightmare stories I hear about blue legs and others.
So far my scarletts have been a great in my tank. They have yet to kill anything, including each other and snails. I keep some spare shells lying around the DSB so they have a home readily available.
I hear bluelegs fight with each other, kill snails, and just are nasty little buggers.
As far as scarletts and doing their job as a cleanup crew, I have no complaints. I see them everywhere in the tank, including on the DSB sometimes. They are amazing algae eaters, and detritus eaters. Just seem like good all around assets to me. I plan on buying more.

 

[salty rick]

I have been more pleased wit the redlegged than bluelegged. The redlegged seem to work harder. I haven't had any problem with the blues because they are about half the size of the reds.