Adding hermit crabs

[haus]

I want to add more hermit crabs to my tank. A new guy at the lfs (he seemed "fishy" to me, like he only wanted to make a sale, not usually what I get from that store) told me I could add about a dozen to a 55 gal. I am concerned about the bio load that they would put on the tank. I don't think that it is much, but it would increase the ammonia a bit when the first go in wouldn't it? Anybody have any ideas about how many I can put in at a time? TIA

PS --> sorry for the cheesy humor

[austinsdad]

How many in there already? A dozen wouldn't be a problem IMO. They don't really do much on the bio-load. They help it more than anything 'cause they take care of leftover food.

[Jermz79]

I have a dozen in my 29gal. let me tell ya ... they do an awesome job of keeping things in check! I have 5 common brown and 5 scarlets! I would imagine that you could probably have 20 in a 55gal.

[seaham358]

12 is fine and will be no bioload issue, you could add double that if you wanted with no problems.
As long as there is waste for them to eat they will be fine. they like meaty foods so feeing the tank some brine or mysid shrimp once in a while will be good for them as long as they get some left overs. Crabs are cool!!!

[haus]

I plan on getting about 20 all together. I have one in there now and I want to add add about 10-12 tonight. My concern is adding that many at once, will that cause an ammonia spike?? I do feed the fish mysis shrimp and plankton, and the hermit that I have now really enjoys feeding time. I think I have all the fish my tank can handle (and then some), I want to get a good clean up crew now to keep everything in line. I will also get more snails in the future.

[Bearfan]

You could add 50 at the same time and it wouldn't be a problem.

I'm a fan of Scarlets and Blue-Legged.

[schoeplein]

...anyone know a good cheap place to get a variety of the smaller crabs (reef safe, of course)? Like say 10 blueleg, 10 scarlet, and 10 something else (like the orange or purple legged ones?)...?

[Bearfan]

I got mine from www.saltwaterfish.com since it's $10 to overnight (they call it a box charge) with a minimum $79 purchase. It's the best deal I've found so far on shipping.

[haus]

Thank you Bearfan. Like I said, I will get about a dozen tonight and more some other time. I didn't look at what kind of hermits the lfs has, but they are only $1.25, so I can afford a few. Are there any snails that are better than others? Right now I have 6 Astrea Coneheads now and I want to add more snails too.

PS --> BearFan - I didn't know what a paludarium was until now!!! I have one, but I call it a river tank.

[Hara]

I like www.reeftopia.com.....not a huge selection, but what they have is nice. I have ordered from them several times and as a sidenote the peppermint shrimp were awesome sized.