Spare Shells

[kevin34]

Will I need spare shells for hermits? If I do how many shells will I need for 10-15 hermits and how big should the shells be?

 

[reefforbrains]

the world of hermits is king of the hill, they dont NEED new shells unless the ones they have are cramping for future growth but they just seem to like to play with shells and fight over them. With 10-15 hermits, just have an extra doaen or so shells here or there in the tank rubble. Even if you had 50 hermits I wouldnt think you would need more than a dozen or so empties for them to swap in and out of.

 

[nicetry]

Go to a craft outlet (Michaels or A.C. Moore). They sell bags of mixed shells for cheap. Boil them for a few minutes and rinse them well. Drop some in every couple months and the crabs will have a field day.

 

[fish addict]

The LFS will probably just give you empty hermit crab shells or small empty snail shells.

 

[garnet13aj]

I would just keep a few extra around. My hermits get bored and change shells a lot, but they also kill eachother a lot creating new homes for themselves and the other hermits, so that is another way to get extra shells.

 

[sharkboy13]

Originally Posted by garnet13aj
I would just keep a few extra around. My hermits get bored and change shells a lot, but they also kill eachother a lot creating new homes for themselves and the other hermits, so that is another way to get extra shells.
mine do this, its fairly annoying

 

[kevin34]

So if one of my hermits kills another for a shell do I have to take the dead hermit out? I have the same question for everything else in the tank. If something in the tank dies no matter what it is should it be removed? Also can hermits kill fish, shrimp, or corals?

 

[renogaw]

if a hermit kills another one, you won't know it until you notice a few extra shells around.
if you're near the beach, go grab some periwinkle shells. my hermits LOVE them. just make sure you boil them for ~ 20 mins. we do have mantis shrimp and molusk boring snails in our ocean up here, and boiling the shells will kill them and any bacteria.

 

[kevin34]

bump

 

[mamasky712]

I got a pack of 50 empty shells on SWF for like $5. We boiled them and then scattered them around the tank, mostly in our tonga piles since that's where the hermits love to hangout. Our hermits change shells all of the time and luckily we haven't lost a crab or a turbo snail yet.

 

[crt81]

I have about 10 hermits in my 12 gal and I only put like 3 to 4 empty shell in my tank. I keep a close eye on how many larger shells have been used and when I notice if the little shells are empty I take them out and replace the smaller shells with the larger ones. I don't like to see my sand bed cluddered with what looks like rubble.