How many hermits?

[eddthompson]

I have a 30 gallon tank, now just reading the tampa bay saltwater website they recomend 60 (yes sixty) blue legged hemits for a 30 gallon tank.

I have 4 red legged, are the blue legs smaller? or do i need to buy many more red legged hermits?

on a side note, im used to differences in price between the uk and america (have a holiday house in florida, and recently married my wife in disney ) but live rock here is 14 uk pounds per kilo, thats $25 dollers ish for 2 pounds.

I then read that its $5 dollars a pound when you need 60 lbs, thats a lot of money im in a sulk now, my dad works in tampa a lot, just need to figure a way to smuggle it back


edd

 

[Max]

crabs

Well, there are lots of different opinions about hermits and the following is mine it is only an opinion and observation and not really anything scientific. I have a 90 gallon tank with probably 40-50 mid to small sized hermits. I really think that they do more harm than good. They tend to pick at stuff nock things over and kill other critters in my tank, " mostly snails so far." They are pretty good cleaners but, I think if I had it to do over again I probably wouldn't have put them in my tank. The red hermits don't seem to be as much trouble but, again that only in my tank and they are outnumbered about 10 to 1. I'd try snails and other critters like cleaner shrimp and maybe a brittle star they don't cause nearly as many problems and do the job just as well with out a lot of the issues. This tends to be especially true in a reef not sure how it would go in a fish only or peaceful community tank
p.s. As to the rock I'd just buy a little good quality live rock and fill up my tank with either coral skeletons or any porous calcium based stone and it will turn into live rock over time. It will save you a bundle.
hth
Chris

 

[eddthompson]

I have a sand sifting star, a stombus, and 6 or so snails, so a nice variety of critters.

as for the rock, thats exactly what i have done, lava rock and ocean rock as a base.

edd

 

[wastememphis]

I regret buying all 20of mine, they climb all over corals and bother snails and could even go after a snail for its shell... some shrimp clean rocks... and you can get like nasarius snails for the sand bed... if you had 60snails, it would be redclious, i have 20 in a 29 and its too many. they do help with the clean up but i wich i had less... of a cooler looking type of hermitcrab tho.

 

[mogurnda]

For my 20, I have 5 scarlet hermits and maybe 10 blue legs. The scarlets are definitely less aggressive, and seem to be more interested in algae.

I'll be getting a TBS "package" for my 90 next month. I am intentionally sizing it for a smaller tank (probably a 50) because 2 hermits per gallon is ridiculous.

 

[eddthompson]

Ok. it isnt just me who thinks 2 per gallon is a bit mad, at 1.00 doller each i suppose its not too bad, it was 30 dollers for my 4 red legged, and there the only hermits i could buy in the local area.

Thanks again.

edd

 

[benjen]

I wouldn't get the package from TBS, personally.
- 30 lbs of base rock from Hirocks costs $50 shipped in the US. You have this covered with ocean and lava rock.
- 30 lbs of top quality live rock costs $125-$175 plus shipping, so usually around $200-$250 in the US.
- You don't need live sand if you have top notch regular sand ($5-10) and live rock, but 20% live sand is a good idea, so assume adding 15 lbs to your live rock order for a total of maybe $40-60 shipped.
- An array of 15-25 snails (nassarius, cerith, astrea, and at most one Mexican turbo), 1 serpent star, 1 peppermint shrimp, and 10 scarlet hermits can easily be picked up for about $60 (which includes shipping) from etropicals. This might be too much cleaning, too, but you have to spend $60 to get the free shipping with that website.

Blue leg hermits are destructive and sometimes homicidal towards tankmates. Cucumbers can poison an entire tank when they die. Peppermint shrimp can be trouble, too, but they are less trouble if you only have one.

The package from TBS costs $373 plus shipping for a 30 gallon, but you can get a better thought out package for about $350 to $400 counting shipping. Unless you have something that will eat the hermits like popcorn, then you might actually be saving money feeding an eel or something...

Obviously UK shipping costs will be different, but the package simply isn't the deal it claims to be, IMO.

 

[eddthompson]

It would be very impracticle to ship to the uk, nor was i considering buying the package from tbs, but the difference between 4 and 60 hermits is quite a lot. if it had been 8 i wouldnt have worried, but 60!!!!

edd

 

[mogurnda]

Ben,
Overall, you make a good point. TBS live rock may not be best for everyone, and the package has some flaws (like the peppermint shrimp and too many blue-leg hermits). However there are reasons that some of us like it.

First, it really is just a matter of what you want to get. I have never seen any Pacific live rock come in with the variety of life you see on TBS rock. The corals, macroalgae and sponges are incredible. Some of the sponges die off, but many of the encrusting varieties thrive.

The live sand is packed with infauna. I agree that it's not necessary (or even desirable) to use it for your whole sandbed, but it's unbeatable for innoculating a DSB. As an added bonus, cerith snails come along for the ride, IME.

Cucumbers can poison an entire tank when they die.

I think this is a myth, at least when talking about the ugly, sand-sifting kind. Sea apples can take out whole tanks, but I know of no evidence of the ugly ones releasing enough toxin to cause a problem. I have been scanning the boards for a few years, and have yet to see any claim of a tiger tail/donkey dung or similar cuke causing problems. Calfo and Fenner's Reef Invertebrate book says basically the same thing.

Gulf rock and sand are also riskier, because more stuff survives the trip. Note the threads here about mantis shrimp, for example. Plus, I have had to pull hairy crabs and predatory flatworms out of the tank, in addition to having nereid worms that make the sandbed hazardous for anything soft (not all bristleworms are harmless scavengers). And limpets that will taste your softies.

So, why do I even get it? Well, I guess I like all the variety. It's worth the risk to me. Also, I do worry that the collection of thousands of tons of live rock in regions where regulation is scant is having an ecological impact.

Oh, was this thread about hermits? Sorry.

 

[benjen]

I actually was thinking of buying TBS rock and sand as one of the options when I listed the prices for those. I think it sounds like great rock, usually, but I think the package sounds much less well concieved than TBS claims.

My point was just that their package as a whole shouldn't necessarily be used as a guideline for setting up a tank, which ties back to edd's point.

I'll take another look at tiger tails. I've read some conflicting info about them.