Oh the carnage! (aka dead crab?)

[slackcub]

So far at my lfs, I seem to be getting great advice. Everything they've told me so far has jives with everything I've read here and elsewhere. They've helped me with setup and picking out my cuc. When I picked them up, my tank was growing a serious algae problem. It took them about two weeks, but the tank is now looking good. However looking back, I'm afraid the guy at the lfs (unfortunately the guy I normally dealt with was out the day I went get the cuc) was a bit green and may have over recommended.

 

I have a 29g biocube, and this is what I ended up getting:

 

20 blue leg hermit

3 scarlet leg hermit

1 Sally lightfoot hermit

2 turbo snails

2 astrea snails

 

The reason I'm worried about all those is because it looks like someone has gotten carnivorous. See the attached picture foot the scene I came home to. Did anyone have any suggestions? Should I pull out some of these? Am I just over thinking this and getting Weird over nothing (ie. Stuff happens)?

[xXReeferXx]

The Sally light foot are nasty buggers and it will be a PITA to catch as they are so fast...also I believe 23 hermit may be a tad bit HUGE for that size tank I had three to five in a 75 and 7-8 snails and my algae was completely under control

[slackcub]

In hind sight, that's what I'm afraid of. However, it did take the buggers two weeks to get things under control, so I'm hoping it's not a complete disaster.

 

 

Edited for auto correct misspelling

[xXReeferXx]

Is there still any algae if not they may start eating each other until either

 

A.The algae can support the amount of CUC

B.The Sally light foot might just eat everything including smaller fish if it can catch them in a weak spot

[farkwar]

10 to 1 thats from hermit on hermit crabicide.

 

Fighting over shells, with plenty of algae present.

[slackcub]

Oh, so the Sally Lightfoot I'd the likely culprit. I had read that the blue legs may be aggressive, but was having trouble finding information on that one. There is some algae, in particular on the glass (including lots of small white did, which concern me a little), and I definitely see them everyone picking stuff off the rocks and sand, but the amount of algae I have is nowhere near the level of when I initially got them.

[xXReeferXx]

Well hermits are omnivores so since the algae is running out/shells getting smaller you are about to find out who the fittest of the hermits are and if even this super hermits can withstand a Sally light foot

[slackcub]

Well there are tons of extra shells in there. So that's not an issue. Think I should wait this out and see who survived before adding fish?

[farkwar]

Well there are tons of extra shells in there. So that's not an issue.

 

You may continue to think that.

 

Its not accurate though.

[slackcub]

You may continue to think that.

 

Its not accurate though.

 

Why would you say that? There are about 30 shells of varying sizes strewn about the tank. How many would you say is enough?

[xXReeferXx]

Well each hermit will grow and take a shell but let's say there are only 5 of the right size shell for 20 hermits,so there may be 30 shells but 10 are to big and 15 are to small so there in reality is 5

[slackcub]

Well all the shells are at least as big as the ones they have now, so I'm hoping that's not the problem. I can always add more, but it seems like it's getting a bit crowded.

[xXReeferXx]

Maybe take out some smaller ones and replace with more medium?

[slackcub]

I can give that a try. Can't hurt

[farkwar]

Why would you say that? There are about 30 shells of varying sizes strewn about the tank. How many would you say is enough?

 

Because fighting for shells is an instinct.

 

They dont have brains big enough to think, "Man, there are some shells over there, better not get into a shell fight now".

 

They can be fighting on top of more than 100 and 30 empty shells, and hermits will attack another hermit 3 to 4 times their size. They die.

 

Its just normal hermit crab attrition.

[kimberbee]

Because fighting for shells is an instinct. They dont have brains big enough to think, "Man, there are some shells over there, better not get into a shell fight now". They can be fighting on top of more than 100 and 30 empty shells, and hermits will attack another hermit 3 to 4 times their size. They die. Its just normal hermit crab attrition.

 

My one hermit crab went and killed a snail (maybe it was sick or dying, who knows) and started wearing it's shell. The next day it was back in it's old shell. The next day it was in a new shell. The next day it was in it's old shell.... it switched at least 6 times.

 

I have 14 hermit crabs and at least 10 empty shells on my sand (that's what I can count without looking too hard). While I think that having some empty shells might be helpful, I do not believe empty shells will stop them from fighting.

[slackcub]

I guess it's all a part of the fun, right? Who knows, maybe I'll end up with just one hermit

[Tamberav]

My hermits always murder each other whether there are shells or not.

 

I found keeping just a small amount of hermits, like 2-4 keeps the carnage down.

 

They are silly... my tiny blue leg found a empty CONCH shell to wear... that thing is easily 10 times too big for him. I guess he wanted to be all pimped out.

[Icanhazcheeseburger]

Could have been just a molt where the excess have been picked off by other hermits.

[atrox]

Regardless the amount of inverts in that tank is way to many. 2-3 hermits at best, and 7-8 snails is plenty for that size tank.

[slackcub]

atrox - I've been trying to get some more opinions on that. They seem to be fairly happy overall. I've heard about 50/50 say this is fine vs. too many. I guess each tank is different...