what is safe

[daybird]

Everyone has their own opinions. What are yours?

 

Which hermit crabs are best, in your opinion? Some say the little blue hermits are ok; some say they'll kill all your snails. Some say that the scarlet red hermits are the best. Searching the internet, I see people selling upwards of a dozen different varieties and everyone claiming theirs is the best. Halloween? Electric Blue? Right handed? Upside down?

 

What about shrimp? Peppermint shrimp eat aiptasia but what else do they eat? Coral banded shrimp used to be reef safe but not anymore...why's that and what do you think about it? What good is a sexy shrimp? The ones I've seen are very small.

 

Which snails are the best? Atlantic turbos? Mexican turbos? Which ones get turned over and drown? What about margaritas? Nassarius are cool but nerites climb out of the tank? What's that pretty orange shelled crab called? What's a zebra snail good for?

 

What about other crabs? Green mithrax eat bubble algae but what do arrow crabs do? Don't shrimp fight with arrow crabs? Procelain crabs? Anemone crabs without an anemone doesn't sound nice.

[lgreen]

Hermit Crabs: None. They are all evil.

 

Shrimp: I like cleaner shrimp the best.

 

Snails: Turbo. They all turn over and try to die. Margaritas, no tropical don't do well.

 

Other crabs: no

[circusordie16]

sexy shrimp: just an ornamental shrimp for small tanks

[daybird]

Hermit Crabs: None. They are all evil.

 

Shrimp: I like cleaner shrimp the best.

 

Snails: Turbo. They all turn over and try to die. Margaritas, no tropical don't do well.

 

Other crabs: no

 

 

no crabs at all...turbo snails try to die and margaritas don't like the warmer water

 

what do you use and recommend?

 

which cleaner shrimp do you recommend, specifically?

[this1fish]

i think he means the skunk cleaner shrimp.

[southernfried]

i'd stay away from coral banded shrimp unless your tank is 100+ gallons. Hermits and snails...just mix them up, I have only had a problem with one kind of hermit, and it was one someone had traded in at the lfs (go figure). I don't know the name of it, but t's claws were not for eating algae (I soon discovered, and so did my snails). Necarious (sp?) are good too. It all depends on the size of your tank. Oh, and I don't really like peppermint shrimp. My fav of all time is the fire shrimp, he and my yellow watchman are good buds. can;t go wrong with cleaner shrimp or sexy shrimp, although sexy shrimp do better in groups. Do not get arrow crabs, mine was always trying to steal food from the hermits and one day he tried that on my large zebra reef hermit and paid the price. He lost a leg, which slowed him down enough for my coral banded shrimp to get him...the rest is history, which if we go back to the beginning of this post and start over you get the picture.

 

Inhabitants in a tank I liken to this...

 

Picture a large room of politicians all from different countries. Some have guns, some are drunk, some have body armor, some have conditions to temperature of the room and catered food that if it isn't perfect they either start shooting other politicians and/or starve...but all have their own agendas. Now, change that to a small room (nano reef) and make them all very cranky, and every now and then add new ones as others are killed off. There is no voting in this scenario, no set terms of service, just death.

 

If everything you buy gets along and nothing dies prematurely, pat yourself on the back.

[southernfried]

Sorry, I feel like I have to elaborate on the coral banded shrimp... I have one in my 20 gallon, and I want him gone, now, and regret spending money on him. He has killed two fish, and indeterminate amounts of hermits and snails. The only thing I know of he has never bothered is my sexy shrimp, which I can only surmise is due to the fact that the sexy shrimp does not move, he morphs from place to place, and I don't think he can catch him (given that the coral banded has taken out a pseudochromis and goby, both of which were added much later than the sexy shrimp). And yes I feed him, but the greedy b@st@rd is insatiable.

 

The only pros of the coral banded that I can think of is that he

* looks cool

* If there is something in your tank you don't want, he will 8 times out of 10 eat it. i have dubbed mine the sheriff.

 

cons...

*angry

* large

* hungry

* likes fresh meat

 

To sum this up...

 

I worked in a fish store this past summer. One of my coworkers was cleaning a tank with a sizeable coral banded in it. The coral banded did not flinch. It did not run for cover, it did not flap away. It stood its ground, and drew blood from his hand. It attacked him. I hate them.

[Withers]

Hermit Crabs: Red legged (clibanarious hermits), then scarlet (both are pretty non-combative and don't bother my snails).

 

Shrimp: Skunk Cleaner

 

Snails: Astrea (but they can't flip themselves over), and Nass. snails for the sandbed

 

Other Crabs: Porcelains are nice

[yardboy]

crabs - blue legs eat more algae than any other, and I'm amused by their squabbling. Only snails they ever killed are stupid astreas when they were upside down. Emerald (and a red variant) are great detritus eaters and will work a number on any bubble algae you have. I was once diving in the Gulf and found a hermit that had red hair and blue eyes, I've had him for 5 years now and think he is the coolest. He goes everywhere, rocks and sand, and is a detritus muncher. Regular red legs will not survive in a tank with even one blueleg, from my experience.

Arrow crabs have never been bad in my tanks, but then they haven't been good either, they just kinda hang around until someone kills and eats them.

Snails- Cerith are the best, but they are pretty small. I've never seen anything eat red cotton algae like Mexican turbo's, but they have an affinity for overflows and powerheads, don't know why. Nerites are cool too. Stomatella eat film algae and have sex all day long, to provide lots of plankton to your corals. Bumblebee's are just cool looking, they are pretty worthless otherwise. Nassarious are great sand sifters, my sand has always looked good due to their work. That and cucumbers, they work the sand real well too.

Shrimp. I've had a sexy for over a year now. What do they eat? I don't know, but I never feed her, and she lives in the refugium alone with the ceriths and macro. I like the way she waggles her little butt though.

Coral banded, I've heard enough horror stories to not go there. Skunk cleaners will definitely pick the ich off fish. Saved my coral beauty and Red Sea tang, that and garlic (they were vampire ich)

Peppermint shrimp are supposed to eat aiptasia, but they have to be alive to do it, and I've never had worse luck than with Peppermint s. Supposedly you need 1/10 gallons or some such bull, I can't afford that. Joe's Juice is cheaper.

[sharps45110]

Everyone has their own opinions. What are yours?

This is what is in my 12ga

 

Crabs:

Emerald, cool, not very active, if no algae, must be fed

 

Hermits:

Scarlets are lazy, don't move, don't eat much, don't fight

Blue legs are active, funny, will eat anything (you must feed them or they will be trouble)

Zebra hermits, same as blue legs, but meaner

 

Shrimp:

peppermint are meat eaters (one ate a blue leg hermit yesterday), they must be fed or they will be trouble

 

Snails:

Nasarius, rarely see them

Astera (sp?), need one or two, any more than that, they must be fed

Mexican turbo, pretty, but slow. Mine starved to death because it didn't have any algae to eat

 

I think that the biggest problem that most people have with crabs, snails, and shrimp is that they don't feed them! People wonder why their hermits are killing their snails, or their peppermint is eating their zoas......BECAUSE THEY ARE HUNGRY!

You have to find a balance between polluting the tank, and everything eating everything else.

 

my 2¢

Lee