Thoughts on Blue Leg Hermits

[Black71gp]

What does everyone think of the blue leg hermits??? good luck or bad? I am not a crab person but I can get some so i figured i might or at least for my lagoon..

[Poseidon]

I am sure the rays would like them...

Personally I would keep them out of the display, away from any snails.

[Black71gp]

ya i know your thoughts on them!!! lol rays might like them.. huh... could be cool

[fishtal]

I use them in my broodstock tanks for CUC. Mike is right, they will take out most snails but they are good little cleaners. IMO

[Fade2White12]

To tell the truth, it's really surprising to me to see that so many people say that they take out snails. I'm not doubting any of your claims, but I've had all sorts of hermits (including blue legs) in my display for several years and have never seen a crab kill a snail. Now I have seen them eating dead snails, but I can blame them for the death abou as much as I can a Nessarius for cleaning up decaying matter. It must just be hit or miss, but I can't imagine a tank without them.

[kimber45]

i would try snails at first.

although i haven't noticed any damage they do at least seem to be bothersome to my corals. i will slowly be phasing mine out.

[elkinsda957]

I think blue leg hermits are alright, you probably would not want to keep the same size hermits as your snails for the reason they "may" attack. Personally I have never witnessed a hermit attack and kill a snail.

[cichness]

i like hermits, i have.... 19 in my display, and only 6 snails, im all about asthetics, and i think snails are ugly lol. and i like to look in my sand and on my rocks and see the hermits all so busy cleaning up. snails look like road commition..... always on break and moving "at a snails pace" lol

havnt seen any hermit on snail aggression, even from the huge holloween hermit ive got. onlything ive not liked is last night i spoted one climbing on my blasto..

[blammomike]

i say load up on the cleaning crew mine sometimes eat snails if they die i love zebras crabs they look cool

[logawho]

never get emerald crabs, i had 3 and they eat 2 of my corals, killed my cardinalfish, and were a pain to catch.

[cichness]

ive got 12 blue legs, 6 scarlets and a large holloween hermit, all is well in my tank!

[blackbox]

I can't say that I wouldn't put blue legged hermits in my DT, because I have. I had just three of them in there and a ton of nassarius snails. Today I found one of my tiny (smaller than my nassarius) blue hermits in a nassarius shell. I promptly removed all three and put them in the sump. I'm not taking any chances. Whether the snail died on its own or some other culprit, seeing nassarius snail shell that I bought alive 2 wks ago (while all others are doing excellent) on a hermit, I placed the blame accordingly

[jimsflies]

I've never had any issues with them. I think they do a great job cleaning injured corals which helps minimize the spread of infection by eating the dying tissue. Never seen them go after a healthy coral.

As for snails, I haven't seen them take out a snail that is upright and healthy. If there is one on it's back, it is fair game. Although, sometimes that's just as well since many snails can't get flipped over anyway, end up dying, and contributing to ammonia level. For those that have snails disappear, it could be a predatory flat worm getting them. I think they are far more common than we think. I found one in my system last spring after the kalk overfeed (it lived through it).

My only complaint with blue legs is they don't seem to last that long in my tank. I seem to have better longevity with the scarlet variety of hermits. Although, I think it has to do with getting slightly larger specimens that don't require as frequent of shell upgrades as the tiny blue legs (which are common with cleanup crew group buys).

[blackbox]

Last night I saw 3" of a brittle worm sticking out from under a rock. Would they go after my snails? I put the hermits back in