Emerald Crabs and Sally light foots

[kpatrick]

I know I have asked this before but I didnt get any responces. Do Emerald Crabs or Sally light foots eat Hermit Crabs? Im trying to figure out who is eating all my scarlet hermits and I know its not the fish. So that leaves the Emeralds, Sally light foot, Coral Banded Shrimp, or other scarlet hermits. any ideas? I hate to see them all become dinner

I was told to stay away from the blue leg hermits because they eat each other but maybe the scarlet do the same????

any help is appreciated

[BrianH]

My sally lightfoot crab doesn't bother any of the critters in my reef tank. I'm not exactly sure but my vote would go to the coral banded shrimp. They can be pretty aggressive.

Brian

[JohnMemorialHS]

if you don't have plenty of empty shells in your tank, chances are, your hermit crabs killed it. Hermit crabs could and WILL kill other hermits or snails just to try out their shell, often time they don't even use it :D

[kpatrick]

I have heard that before but I was told that the scarlet leg hermits werent bad, but I should stay away from the blue legged hermits because they were the ones that were mean. Since blue legged hermits are about 1/2 the price as the scarlets im thinking about getting them next time and just adding extra shells.

[JohnMemorialHS]

While it's true the scarlet legged hermits are less aggressive when shell hunting in both theories and my experience, it still doesn't mean they won't do what they have to do to find new shells to grow in to. Blue legged hermits will try out any shell, and lots of times, they'll do ANYTHING just to get in that shell.

[BrianH]

I agree with JMHS regarding the blue legged and scarlets. I haven't seen my scarlets bother anything but I've witnessed my blue legs killing snails and even a fighting conch. Since the scarlets seem to be peaceful, I surmised that hte culprit may be the CSB since they are known to be very aggressive.

Brian

[kpatrick]

i wathced the cb shrimp last night and he just doesnt seem like it has the strength to flip over a snail but then again I could be wrong. Does anyone think that the Emerald crabs may be the guilty party or not? I just counted and I have lost 6 out of my 12 snails so far and it seems to be all the smaller ones that are lost. I really want to get more snails and hermits to help with the algae but im curious if maybe another type of snail would be better suited for the tank instead of the turbo grazers?? and from what I read so far im guessing that even though the blue legged hermits are half the price as the scarlets, im better off paying more for scarlets to help eliminate the killings?

[BrianH]

Do you turn the snails over when they fall down? Turbo snails will die if you don't turn them over when they are upside down.

Brian

[kpatrick]

yes, I do turn them right side up again but its just frustrating not knowing for sure who the trouble maker is. A friend of mine swears that his Sally Lightfoot is eating his snails and he believes that my SLF is the problem but the other day I did see my coral beauty nipping at my snails and maybe it is knocking them off the glass when it nips at them??? I was thinking about getting a variety of snails like bumble bee, trochus, nerite just to see which is best but im not sure if I want to chance it yet... one of the little issues that you deal with!!!!! ha