Decorative Spider Crab and Hermits

[Viperboy]

Ok so i know that any crab will turn on its tankmates if it is no properly feed but here is my delima. I have a decorative spider crab that i caught munching on a hermit the other day eating it out of its shell and i have seen him gunning for my banded coral shrimp and the other day when i woke up my shrimp was misisng one of his pinchers but other wise appears to be fine (will he grow this back?) .... and then today i saw one of my little hermits eating the insides of one of my little snails ..... now i knew this would happen to some extent but my question is what can i feed those crabs and other inverts like my shrimp in my tank so they are not so aggressive .... righ tnow the only thing i have in my 29gal is a O clownfish that i feed mysis shrimp and one got by him today and i saw a hermit eating it ....... any ideas ..... TIA

Ray

 

[Devilishturtles]

I don't know about the spider crab, but my guess is that there is nothing you can do...

About the hermits and snails, unfortanetly, that's all too common. You can try and prevent it by adding in larger, empty shells for the hermits (they are probably killing the snails for their shells). I had 6 or so hermits wipe out my entire tank (30 snails or so) in a few months...

 

[roka64]

I agree, there is not much you can do. I would suggest getting a gel-based food. They will quickly sink to the bottom and might keep them well fed, so they won't kill each other.

 

[courtneyclv]

I think I suggested to you before...no crabs! I love them..and mine were so cute. But they ate everything, fish, shrimps, other crabs, snails for their shells.

Good luck!

Courtney

 

[dorian965]

i have lots of extra shells and my hermits still eat the snails.i over feed the tank about once a week to give them something to feed on but i have come to see the snails as live food. the hermits still do a good job cleaning the tank so i think is worth having them. find a cheap place to buy snails. i pay $10 for 10 so its not too bad.

http://liverockandmore.com/products.php

you can get astrea snails from these guys for .45 a piece.

 

[Charlie]

Funny that you mention this. I have added several Nassaris and Super Tongan Nassaris snails to my tank but haven't seen a single one in awhile now. Hmmmmmm

I've got 2-Red legged crabs and 2-Electric Blue crabs. I've seen the Electric Blues toss a snail on occasion but have never actually seen them eat one. Now I'm wondering if those crabs have been eating high on the hog, or snail should I say. ????

 

[NewFishGuy]

http://liverockandmore.com/products.php

you can get astrea snails from these guys for .45 a piece.

Problem is... that web site is out of stock of every snail on that page.... is that their normal price on them or did they lower the price in order to get rid of them and that is why they are out of stock on all of them?

 

[dorian965]

no, thats their regular price. he runs out every so often but hes always got good prices on what he has.

 

[duddi]

I've just put 10 blue legged crabs a variety of 15 snails in my new tank one week ago. I haven't seen any aggression yet. Did put some larger shells for the hermits. I just got an emerald crab yesterday. I hope he doesn't start eating everthing, he looks like he could kick some a--. Does anyone have an emerald? Does it eat everthing? If he starts killing he's gone.