Snails or Hermits?

azaintcold

azaintcold

Member
I have my mind made up about corals and fish, but still undecided on a clean up crew. I don't want to have to many snail casualties, and from what I understand, hermits will kill snails for their shells.
So my question is this, hermits, snails, or both?
keep in mind this is for a peaceful reef tank, there will be brittles, linkia, shrimp, etc.
Please give good/bad experiences. Thank you .
 
S

saltfreak4

Guest
I have mostly hermies because I think they are so cute, but I really think the snails do a better job. :)
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
I have about 4 or 5 hermits and only because they are left over from my 30gallon. they have only wacked a few snails but I probably will never add hermits again. snails just work better and target more specific issues. between the nassarius and super nassarius, cerith, astrea and fighting conch I have detritus, diatoms, film algae, glass, sand and rocks covered. I probably have around 30ish in all in a 100 gallon. fire shrimp makes quick and immediate work of fallen food at feeding time and 15x quicker than hermits move to it. think I'm going to add a skunk cleaner for the other side of the tank.
 
xcdennisx

xcdennisx

Member
just got wit half blue legged and half nass snails. they dont kill each other well mine dont. i got abou 20 of each and 10 turbos and they keep the sand and stuff clean
 
aquaguy24

aquaguy24

Active Member
i have 3 mex. turbo snails and 4 hermit crabs 2 cleaner shrimp the snails do a way better job on algae.. just get some snails and some cleaner shrimp for left over food..the first day i got the clean up guys my sand was clean the the next day i woke up..oh i have a 24g aquapod..wit 25lb lr and 20 ls..
 
azaintcold

azaintcold

Member
Majority rules snails I guess. I think I'll try the mixture with the small blue legged hermits and snails, see how it goes.
I'll also have a few cleaner shrimp and emerald crabs. This combo any decent?
 
vpotts28

vpotts28

Active Member
Originally Posted by azaintcold
Majority rules snails I guess. I think I'll try the mixture with the small blue legged hermits and snails, see how it goes.
I'll also have a few cleaner shrimp and emerald crabs. This combo any decent?

Aza, I have a 55g, and try to keep with the rule, one snail/hermit per gallon.
I have 10 scarlet hermits, 7 blue legged hermits, 2 electric hermits, 2 emeralds, 10 astrea snails, 2 cerith snails, 9 margarita snails, and 10 super nassarius snails. They all do a great job.
 
azaintcold

azaintcold

Member
Clean up crew is going to get pricy for the 150. I'll have to go with a reef package but they always come with stuff I don't want like nudi's or conchs. Thats life I guess.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
I have about 15 hermits, 30 snails, 2 mythrax (emerald cousins) crabs, 1 sally lightfoot, 2 useless peppermint shrimps and a bunch of small bristle stars, and one big one, in my 75
 
vpotts28

vpotts28

Active Member
Originally Posted by azaintcold
Clean up crew is going to get pricy for the 150. I'll have to go with a reef package but they always come with stuff I don't want like nudi's or conchs. Thats life I guess.

I would definitely do a cleaner/reef package from swf. I tried to pick a few up here/there so I could get what I wanted, and probably spent double what it would have cost me here.
 
vpotts28

vpotts28

Active Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
I have about 15 hermits, 30 snails, 2 mythrax (emerald cousins) crabs, 1 sally lightfoot, 2 useless peppermint shrimps and a bunch of small bristle stars, and one big one, in my 75
Please excuse me Aza, and everyone else that may be offended. It is not my intention to hijack so I won't get off topic to much. I don't know how else to do it. But I want to ask renogaw how the sally and the mythrax get along. I have two emeralds but want to add a sally.
But Aza, I would definitely do the astrea/turbo snails, they are incredible workers. They cover lot of ground. If you have that big of a tank you may consider mexican turbos.
 
vpotts28

vpotts28

Active Member
Originally Posted by azaintcold
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11...ot_parent_id=4
This sounds pretty unbeatable for the price. Yes? No? Breaks down to about 44 cents each.

Considering I paid $15 for 10 turbos, and $15 for 10 blue legged hermits, I would say yes that is pretty unbeatable. I just wanted a little more diversity in the tank.
Make sure that you have replacement shells for the crabs you get. They will molt, and will need new homes.
 
mamasky712

mamasky712

Member
We have 6 blue leg hermits, about 30 of both mass and turbo snails, and 2 mexican turbos in our 90 and so far everything has been great. When we ordered our clean up crew from SWF, we added in a bag of extra shells and scattered them all in the tank. So far, 4 of our hermits have switched and we have yet to lose a snail.
 
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