hermit crabs, good or bad

[laurandavid]

Ok from what I read the hermits do have some use , however it looks like they will eat snails in the aquarium if I have them also. It also looks like this is unavoidable even if I have empty shells available.

Is this correct? So my question is , why do most of the cleaner packs have hermits? Do I need them? What about the dwarf varieties?

[ccCapt]

The dwarf hermits...Mexican Red Legs, Blue Legs, Scarlets, etc are reef safe. I have lots and they do not bother any of my snails. They will, however, pounce on a dead or dying snail. That's why they are part of a clean up crew.

[Devilishturtles]

Hermits are really great scavengers like cccapt said, but they do like bigger homes (as they grow) and do sometime take a snail down. If you want a few, then by all means get a few. You can try providing extra shells and it might work. If it doesn't then you'll just have to replace a few snails, and in my experience, the snail eating only happens for a while. The dwarf hermits will stop growing and not need a bigger shell.

[lando]

I have had no trouble with my reef hermits. I have mostly scarlet hermtis. As Lindsay said, providing a few extra shells of various sizes is a good thing. It will keep the hermits from stealing a shell and evicting the current resident.