Can I get away with not having hermits?

[STiTCH87]

So I had 4 hermits, one got eaten by another one while presumably fighting for it's shell, even though I have empty shells in the tank already. They are doing virtually nothing to visibly clean up anything so I really don't even mind whether or not I have them, but there is one thing about the 3 I have left that is aggravating...

They are picking at and walking all over ALL of my corals. They'll walk on all the zoas and they'll close then the hermit will try and steal food out the mouths of my zoas, gsp, and even my palys when they can reach them. They keep fighting the corals for food when they have plenty of their own on the sand bed, and keep fighting each other for shells when they have plenty of those on the sand bed as well.

So my question is, if I take them out and don't have any hermits, would that be an issue at all? I don't think they're exactly needed in a reef tank and really don't seem to accomplish anything but be a pest to everything.

Maybe I could get a starfish (brittle) or a few nassarius snails in their place to keep the sand bed clean and oxygenated like these hermits were supposed to be doing?

 

[Cherokee_Dude]

I haven't added hermits in over a year and I don't miss them for the exact reasons you describe. I loaded up w/ Nassarius {Decent sized ones} to keep the sand from settling too much.

 

[Doherty]

I find that my nassairus snails are just as bad..... If not worse, for stealing food from my corals.

 

[dcforester1]

I just bought a bunch of tiny ones at Skiptons. I have never seen them so small. He had all different sizes, but same here sick of the causing trouble.

 

[STiTCH87]

Yeah mine are very small as well. All under an inch sized shell. I think 1 blue legged and 2 red legged are left, not really sure, don't really care, lol. I get frustrated and flick them off of things they attack, but they go right back. Well maybe i'll try one nassarius to see how it does and if it does still steal food as one of you mentioned then it's better than buying a bunch. I'm sure people on here would be more than happy to have a free snail or two if I don't want it anymore.

Any opinions on brittle stars? A few people have told me they are awesome at sand sifting and keeping everything clean, but I have heard horror stories of them eating (quite literally) everything. Or at least I believe it was that type of starfish...

 

[DoctaQ]

sometimes starfish can be hard to keep and will generally not clean a tank as far as i know, never having kept one. i am not liking hermit crabs either, they are a little cooler than snails i guess

 

[STiTCH87]

Honestly, I like snails better to be honest. They're little mouths are amusing to watch. They can get annoying when they sit on a powerhead and their shell vibrates against the plastic though, lol. Which mine like to do so conveniently only at night...

Yeah I read more into starfish just now, and not feeling that either. Looks my my sandbed is kinda SOL right now... I'll likely end up trying either nassarius, or fighting conch. Or both, idk. When I get more rocks and frags into there i'll aim to powerhead a bit more downward to help keep algae growth down. I'd do it right now but there's so much open surface of sandbed that it would all get blown around right now.

Starting to wish I went with a crushed coral sand bed rather than sand. Or atleast sand then a coral top layer to keep the bed from blowing around.

 

[pillowfish]

I have a green corris wrasse that has been a PITA since I first got her over 2 years ago. It took about a week or so before she took out every peppermint shrimp, hermit crab and even an emerald brag or two. I have not had any type of crustacean in my tank since(except a cleaner shrimp which she does leave alone). I just have snails of varying types and I used to have a couple of sand sifting starfish as well. I never had any issues without the crabs, YMMV

 

[number1gsxxr]

My fighting conch is always roaming the sandbed and keeps it nice. But I'm with you on the hermits. I think they are a PITA.

 

[jayman10134]

i have had the same problem. the scarlet hermit crabs however i have never seen bother anything.

 

[Greg Hiller]

You don't need to have hermit crabs in your reef tank. They are however sometimes able to reach spots of algae that snails cannot reach. They will also help to clean up leftover food. Over the years I've had really good luck with reef-safe hermits. Because of the lower cost, these days the only ones I ever get a the smallest blue-legged ones available. I've found that sometimes hermits will very effectively clean away dead tissue from corals that might have a 'bad' spot. They nearly always leave the healthy tissue alone. This is also something that the average snail is not likely to help with, IMO/IME.

 

[Yanni]

I have always kept brittles in my tanks, black ones. The ones with the spinny arms not smooth. As far as clean up goes they do a good job in their area, once they find a comfortable spot where the current carries food to them they wont move much, if ever again. But they will once in a while under darkness venture out and collect debris from around the tank. I find my hermits always walking on my zoos and stealing food and such but they do not harm the coral in any way. Actually i find that the hermits clean in between the polyps very well, without them algea can build up between the polyps that can cause them to get smoothered and die. Also when you have a dying polyp in between a healthy colony they tend to clean them out and leave a blank spot instead of the rot continuiong through the colony. I would not run my system without them, of course you can but thats my opinion.

 

[Yanni]

I guess we were typing at them same time, +1 on what Greg said.

 

[STiTCH87]

Man, glad i'm not alone on this anti-hermit thing. Gonna try fighting conch or nassarius I guess. No more hermits for me after these ones.

EDIT: Greg & Mike, you both raise good points. Interesting, maybe i'll leave a few in there.

I have hair algae on one frag that needs to get the hell out of there too but the hermits and shrimp aren't touching it. Though a hermit ate 75% of the hair algae off a snail I have.

 

[gweston]

I have a mix of various snails (8-10 or so), 3 hermits, one sand sifter star and a skunk cleaner shrimp in a 29g.

I haven't hard much of a problem. The two turbos have knocked things over a few times. I positioned corals a bit better and haven't had anything fall yet. The shrimp has tried stealing food from my RBTA a few times, but hasn't been a problem. The hermits do clamber around corals occasionally, but seem to clean up some algae the snails miss.

I found the sand sifter star quite beneficial. It stirs and cleans up the sand bed quite nicely. It is small in size and supposedly won't grow larger than 3 inches.. if what I read was correct. I had to make a few adjustments to expose more sand bed to give it more room to scavenge. If a sandy spot is blocked off by a rock or coral with no sandy path in between... it won't go that way. I have a small cave in that situation that I'd like the star to get access to.

I think a couple hermits are good to have. I'd probably not go any more than the 3 that I have now.

 

[STiTCH87]

Well I have 3 small hermit, 3 astraea snails, and 2 peppermint.

Think i'll add 2 fighting conch and see how they do. If they do well i'll leave them, otherwise i'll trade them in for nassarius and see how they do.

I still think I may look into a starfish just for the heck of it.



Oh, and the sand-sifting stars get up to a foot according to 3 different sights I checked out, so you may want to keep that in mind. I'm sure you could sell it before it gets too big and buy a new small one in it's place every year or two though...

 

[Edward]

if you have hair algae i'd get one or two emerald crabs, mine cleaned it up in two days in my 20g. I'd stay away from starfish at a tank your size honestly.

IMO, and as it has already been pointed out, hermit crabs do a good job "weeding" dead spots in corals. I wouldn't be concerned with the hermits "stealing" food from your photosynthetic corals you have mentioned...light will do them just fine.