Are blue-leg hermits really THAT bad?

macphoto

macphoto

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Aug 19, 2005
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I'm considering going with a reduced-size tbsaltwater.com "Package" to provide my 90g soon-to-be FOWLR with some good live rock and sand to seed the dry rock and sand, and to give me a starter crew of cleanup critters, which I will add to as needed (I don't want to have 150+ hungry snails and hermits roaming the tank with not enough to eat).

If I do go with TBS, I'll end up with at least 2 or 3 dozen blue-leg hermit crabs. Now, from what I've read searching through the forum, blue-legs sound like the spawn of the devil, committing mass genocide against the peaceful snails just to try on their shell for a few minutes then move on to kill the next one. Or, when they're not waging war against the snail population, they battle each other. Are these little guys really that violent and destructive, or have I developed an impression of them that is not accurate?

I know a lot of people eschew hermits altogether in favor of more snails. But I really like hermit crabs (not just for their role as cleaners) and do want them in my tank.

--Mike
 
Not bad at all

I had a blue-legged and a red-legged. They were tiny. I saw Nassarius snails fight them for pieces of food and take the food away from the little things! They both died (possibly starved), and were immediately eaten by the snails. Now I have an Emerald that is much larger than the snails. He is a hervibore, so he doesn't compete with the Nassarius, but they'd better don't dare mess with him!
 
I haven't had problems with them myself, keep them fed and they should be o.k. I have heard horror stories however. :Angel:
 
I have had little trouble with blue legs. If you get the package from TBS, the hermits help a lot dealing with the sponges and things that die off over the first few weeks.
 
don't think the hermits won't fight though....I had all 5 of my hermits all fighting at one point.
 
Thanks for the info. If I do get some blue-legs, I'll make sure to keep some extra empty shells in the tank (maybe that will reduce their snail-killing binges).

--Mike
 
i've never had a problem... just feed them regularily and keep the tank stocked with empty shells and they won't have a reason to be a pain.
 
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