How many Crabs do you all keep

[booya]

I was just wondering if I am over stocked with crabs? I have 20 right now in my 55 and was thinking of adding more what do you think.

 

[hondo]

any snails or other clean up crew members. I always like alot of diversity as each thing seems to do something different for the tank.

 

[oregonbud]

One important thing to remember about your clean up crew is that they are scavengers, doing your dirty work for you so to speak. If you have too many, with not enough "dirt" for them to eat, you will have to feed them individually.
I have 12 hermits, 1 snail, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 brittle star - I agree that diversity is good when it comes to your clean up crew, since each animal does different jobs. As my tank matures I will add more clean up crew as I see fit, but right now the amount I have is doing a great job.
So the long answer to your question is - you can have a lot in the line of clean up crew, but you can overstock in the sense that you will have to feed a little more if the other livestock is not leaving enough waste behind for the clean up crew to survive on.

 

[cliffrouse11bas]

You could probably add a few more and keep it extra clean...

 

[booya]

I have 10 snails (turbos) and two cleaners with one Emerald.
If you think this is two many what do you all fill is the best food for these little guys.

 

[donjasper]

Personally I've had it with hermit crabs. A variety of snails do the same thing with less expensive 'tastes'.
If had to do it all over again - I'd get two or three scarlet hermits and call it good and use snails for the bulk of the cleaning function.
Fortunately (perhaps) my crabs seem to agree, and are busy eating each other. Hey - if they have a 'crab eat crab' culture - that's fine. I just hate spending like $2.00 for their lunch.

 

[steelchromis]

I keep:
1 emerald crab
10 bluelegs
and for some reason a zebra hermit that came with some snails that I bought, yay, free livestock!

 

[booya]

I have seen alot of people in these forums writing that the hermits kill things. Is it really as bat as it seems? Mine have been doing fine but I have not had them long. Do they do this if they have plenty to eat?

 

[ekclark]

I have seen my bluelegs eat each other, scarlets, snails, and a fighting conch. I still have a bunch of them...I would guess about 30, plus 8 scarlets and 10 zebras. They can and will kill things, even if they are full and have a ton of shells. I don't know why, whether it is to eliminate competition or just because that is what they like to do. I still enjoy watching them and they can really clean when they put their minds to it. You just need to watch them and be careful what you add.

 

[lesleybird]

Originally posted by booya
I have seen alot of people in these forums writing that the hermits kill things. Is it really as bat as it seems? Mine have been doing fine but I have not had them long. Do they do this if they have plenty to eat?
They mainly kill things if their owner does not provide enough replacement shells of a proper size for when they grow out of their old ones. They will kill a snail for a shell if they cannot get one some other way. Lesley

 

[aarone]

A hermit i had, was almost full size, he was still killing snails mch smaler than him. I had no shells in the tank that he could fit into, but he still preffered to kill everything. Now thanks to dockery07 he is safe in a new home. Safe from me that is!

Here he is eating.

aaron

 

[jp0379]

I have a 55 and a 25. In my 25 I have ten hermits, and a couple of snails......in my 55 I have 25 and a couple of snails. Never had any problems with them eating other fish, but as has been stated on here many times, if a fish dies at night while you're sleeping, theres a good chance it'll be totally gone by the time you wake up, and you'll be wondering if aliens got 'em!

 

[sloth54]

how big can hermit crabs get?? i want some big ones

 

[aarone]

If you really want big ones, make sure they eat meaty foods, have enough iodine, and shells so they can grow fast. Thats how mine got huge. They are a pain in the ass to be that big.
aaron