Hermit crabs-Opinions please

[dburr]

January 2002 Aquarium Fish mag.
Artical by Ron Shimek.
HERMIT CRABS
Although many people hihgly recommend these crabs as additions to a reef tank system, they are really not "reef safe," and their presence will significantly- and negatively- impact many other animals in the system. In nature, hermit crabs are relatively rare in reef situations, ofton being more common in the sandy areas near reefs than on the reefs themselves. If kept in large numbers in a reef tank, they willlikely do a loot of damage. Most of this damage will become apparent only after they are removed or die, and the tank recovers to a more normal situation.
A small number of hermit crabs are normal on a reef, and a few of these will do no significant harm to most reef animals. There should be no more than roughly one hermitcrab per 10 gallons of tank volume, and one per 50 gallons is a much better ratio.
He says they will damage sensitive corels like bubble tips and such.
Do you agree or not? and why?

 

[tomato clown]

I agree, I went to my lfs and wanted to buy 1, but the guy told me "NO! I will not sell you one for a reef tank!" when I asked why he showed me. He tossed in a very small piece of LR with a little bubbletip on it and 3 of them went crazy. These were the large hermits, not the small scarlet reef hermits
Dan

 

[diatom]

I think Sammy has an excellent point, the one thing I think that was implied but not stated in his post is that this is why it's so important for people to do research before purchasing any critter to add to their tank. They should know going in of any potential problems, everyone is guilty of an impulse, uninformed, or misinformed (thank you LFS) purchase but they should be keep to as small of a number as is possible.
I personally don't have any hermits in my reef tank. there are other creatures that will do the same job without the potential detriments.
Also I mentined on here before Dr. Ron has said (a bit tongue in cheek)that hermits are ok in a reef tank if they are stocked in their natural concentrations 1 in 100 to 1000 SF.
This should be an interesting thread...lets hear from some others.
[ November 24, 2001: Message edited by: Diatom ]

 

[gabbys125reef]

I just ordered a cleaning crew from here. I hope they do more good than bad for my reef tank!

 

[wally]

I am not going to put any in my new setup. I have not read the article but I will have to look into it. I have always been quite found of snails (both land and water) and I intend to have a lot of snails and no crabs