Yellow banded Hermits - Bad guys?

[trybry5]

Hi,

I have 3 hermit crabs that I can't ID. They live in very small shells the size of a Narsi snail. They are very small and very aggressive with each other. They seem to like flake food and have yellowish bands on their legs. They seem to have some red too and the claws see to fade into white at the tips.

Does anyone know what kind they are?

They are so small I can't tell you much more about them. They are very shy and retreat quickly into the tiny shells as soon as the see you. They have no problem bullying each other too.

It's sounds like a bad addition to my tank. Can someone tell me otherwise?

Thanks

Good ole Trybry5

[kreblak]

Does it look like any of these?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?siteid=23&pCatId=501

[kreblak]

Or this?

[trybry5]

Thanks,

With a little sun light in the holding tank, I got to see the tell tale blue bands with the yellow ones. These should make them Dwarf Blue leg Hermits.

Okay now the Drs. website says they are peaceful algae eaters. Is this true? I have my beloved Narsi snails, there are a few spare shells for them too. Will this be enough to keep the peace in the tanks.

Are there any other drawbacks to adding them to a tank with a bumble bee, Narsi snails and a larger scarlet reef hermit crab.
I have a large number of amphipods and other worms. Will these crabs wipe them out too?

Thanks

[kreblak]

I have scarlett and blue legged hermits in my tank, and they have been just fine for as long as I've had the tank. Blue legged hermits are notorious for killing snails to sheck out the housing potential of their shells, but I have yet to experience this. Your hermits won't mess with any 'pods. Mine just go about their business eating algae and cyano where ever they can find it, and scavenging when the fish miss.

I have found that my scarlett hermits will eat diatoms, filamentous algae, and cyanobacteria (aka slime algae). My blue leggeds will eat green hair algae, and I see them picking at the live rock constantly.

[Guy W]

Ya what he said :)

Basicly the only risk is that they will kill snails for their shell. But that is a maybe, not a definate. If all you have is 3 I don't think it will become a problem, maybe if you had 300 then I would worry about your snails.

Guy

[trybry5]

Okay,

Thanks