Can My Hermit Crabs Damage My Corals?

[craigybaby37]

got 6 corals in my tank now... got a pulsing xenia, green star polyp, a leather coral, an orange zoo frag with about 60 - 70 zoos on it, a mushroom frag with about 10 shrooms on it and finally a trumpet coral with 6 or 7 trumpets and my question is will my hermit crabs damage any of the corals as they have taken a particular liking to the pulsing xenia, green star polyp and the zoos and ime just qurious weather they may be damaging them??

thanks

 

[pengy666]

Cant see why they would?? I have no problems!


what type of hermits you got?

 

[shibby]

they like to walk over them! and if there not secured properly they usually topple them over.

 

[littleme1969]

Yup no probs form any of my 20 or so hermits, and ive never read of any probs with them either.

 

[Musho3210]

Yup no probs form any of my 20 or so hermits, and ive never read of any probs with them either.

ive read more failure stories with hermits than successful ones, but most of these stories are about hermits killing snails, only every once and a while i hear about a hermit eating and killing a coral.

That said my hermits dont do anything to help my algae, they like the leftover food i feed my fish, but they dont bother snails (probably cause the snail is double their size) and they dont bother my corals.

 

[nanocubeking]

when i first got my tank going i got a nice clump of pink xenia. and ive seen my crabs eat it.

 

[Lynden]

The largest hermit crabs will disassemble even a very large colony in a few minutes if they happen to feel like it. But the smaller ones never do so. Though it may appear as if they are, since they pick algae and dead things from in between the polyps.

Zebra hermit crabs are known predators of nerite snails. They seem to have a fascination for the nerite's shell, and the two species should not be kept together. The majority of nerites aren't really suitable for many reefs anyways.

 

[craigybaby37]

thanks for the input people ....no damage has been done to the corals i just fort ide ask the experts if its possible for them to be damaged....i only have 3 red legged, 2 blue legged and one black hermit and none are exactly huge in size.

 

[ab420]

Mine seem to annoy them from time to time, but don't seem to ever actually hurt them...

 

[eschaton]

Personally, I'd never put hermits in a reef tank. While they rarely eat polyps, they pick live rock clean of other beneficial organisms like dwarf featherdusters. They also will steal food out of the mouths of larger polyps. And they don't come from reef areas in the wild.

 

[Lynden]

I'm not sure about the accuracy of the above post... hermit crabs, especially the dwarfs, eat algae and dead things above all else. I have TONS of microfauna in my nano reef, of all kinds, and the hermit crabs have made no dent in their population.

As to them not inhabiting the same areas. Our reef tanks are perhaps the most unnatural habitat on the planet... basically a "mish mash" of organisms from all over the globe, placed in strange habitats that are a bizarre combination of different areas. Keeping that in mind, I have found electric blue and zebra hermit crabs in close proximity to urchins, intertidal anemones and stony corals in the wild; in fact near Kauilua-Kona, and Hilo, Hawai'i.

Lastly, I personally would never consider any marine tank, reef or not, without at least a few hermit crabs. They are just too damn cute and beneficial to ignore.

 

[Musho3210]

i agree with lynden except the cute part..... These things are so freakin ugly lol.

 

[eschaton]

I'm sorry, but I saw it in my own tank in action.

When I started out, I had three small blue-legs in my 20-gallon. They seemed to be doing an okay job, but things like dwarf featherdusters, horsehair worms, vermetid snails, and Chaetopterid worms just disappeared - aside from Coraline and a dash of sponge and macro my rock was picked clean. As soon as I took them out, I saw a huge return of all species. Maybe a lot of people don't know how rich their live rock can look because they're used to the hermits, but not having them makes a big difference.

Anyway, Nassarius are better detritus cleaners, and various other snails are better overall for algae-eating. If you want an interesting, reef-safe crustacean get a porcelain crab or a sexy shrimp. Just my opinion though.

 

[Lynden]

I have spaghetti worms, coco worms, fetherdusters, amphipods (along with many other crustacean genera), those things with the two long arms (can't quite remember the name), TONS of sponges, and the stationary snails that throw nets (vermetid snails?) alongside my zebra hermits, which are widely considered more predatory than bluelegs. My 20 gallon tank is rich in microfauna. Perhaps your hermits were indirectly causing the decline by stealing the meager food (I assume, as most reefkeepers feed sparingly) that was available.

I do agree the snails can be better algae eaters, but nassarius snails are about equal to hermits in "janitor ability".

 

[Musho3210]

there is also individual personality, i have heard many people that complain about hermits doing bad stuff but just as much people say hermits are awsome.