What does your emerald eat?

[krux]

I am considering getting an emerald crab to help with some of the garbage that settles to the bottom of the tank. Do your emerald crabs help clean up or do they mostly stick to the rocks?
I was also thinking of getting a couple more hermits, but I am afraid that I am going to start losing my snails. Does getting HUGE hermits keep them from killing the little snails, or will they eventually kill them anyway?
If emeralds will indeed help me please let me know, otherwise I guess I'll shell out the 9 bucks a piece for the giant hermits in the lfs tank.
Thanks

 

[kevin r.]

My emeralds are great. There always eating and keep the green algae under control. However,it is very rare that I see mine leave the rocks.

 

[bigeyedfish]

My emerald stays on the rocks as well. does a great job with the green algae and sometimes eats wasted food. My i recommend nassarious snails for cleaning up the sand. you cant always trust hermit crabs.

 

[flydan]

Hey,
DO NOT get huge hermits. If you want hermits, IMHO, get small scarlets. They will leave your snails alone. Large hermits can wreak havoc on a reef tank.
Same thing with Mithrax crabs (Emerald crabs). Get small ones. They are great little cleaners and you don't feed them anything. They earn their keep. You may not see them much at first but after a while they will be crawling all over your lr.
Dan'l

 

[krux]

Thanks for the advice. I am in the process of gathering up my hermits that i have now and returning them to the lfs to trade in for more snails... My fighting conchs do a lot of cleaning the sand, but i think i will try some of the ones suggested above.

 

[crazyelvis]

As I posted last night, my Emerald Crab is a real worker... I got him yesterday, and he is working over all of the green alge in the tank... I couldn't be more happy with him...
As for other crabs, I have several very small zebra or left hands... And also a few small scarlet reefers...They both seem to do a real nice job as well...