Scarlet Hermit Crabs Vs. Blue Leg Hermit Crabs

[badfish]

Is there much of a difference b/w the two besides 3 bucks more for scarlets and one is blue an one is red. I am planning my clean-up crew, even though i have a week or two before i can add. I was just wondering if there is a big difference. Which do you prefer and why?

 

[mjvincent]

Reef Suitability: The Blue-Legged Hermit is the most commonly sold reef scavenger hermit. They do serve the role of being a scavenger well and help to keep the algae in the tank under control. Blue-Legged Hermits are known to occasionally kill and eat snails, but it is not a blood-bath. http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/blue-legged_hermit.htm

The Scarlet Reef Hermit is a very popular crab because of its brilliant red color, yellow eyes, peaceful disposition, and algae diet. These hermits are an absolute must for any home aquarium. Most of their day is spent scurrying around the aquarium doing a tremendous job keeping aquariums clean of detritus and algae. Scarlet Hermits prefer to be kept in groups. They are voracious algae eaters.
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/m-inverts/Scarlet-Hermit-Crab.html

I prefer the scarlet... Either will do though...

 

[AR15 guy]

I have some blue legs in my 10 gallon. They occassionly hitch rides on the snails. But haven't appeared to try to eat them yet. The turbo snails are about 5 times their size though. I have lost a couple in 2 days though. I am not sure if they are starving or killing each other. I just added some extra shells recently.

I have heard blue legs are know to kill each other for little to no reason.

 

[badfish]

will blue legs kill other hermits like scarlets?

 

[klam]

The blue are know well known for shell jackings and will kill the victims. The scarlet hermits are not safe.

I got scarlet hermits myself and they have been more peacful than my cleaner shrimp.

 

[austinsdad]

I started with the blues. IMO, they are more violent than the reds. I'll get reds from now on. I've seen many snails dissapear. Even blue on blue crimes/assaults witnessed.

 

[boardsurfer]

My blues have killed MANY of my snails...I also think that they killed all of my red-legged hermits, but I'm still not sure if they did it, or if it was my coral-banded shrimp. I'll probably buy red-legged ones from now on, though.

 

[badfish]

When you say red leg, do you mean scarlets? if not how much do red legs go for? Thats good to know, cuz i was looking into gettin a Coral Banded Shrimp. Are these known to kill inverts?

 

[seaham358]

the CB shrimp can get nasty when they got big.... I had one and it was a killer..

IMO its a good idea to have a mixed clean up crew.. Different snails, crabs is good for the tank.
All crabs when they got larger want new shells so IMO they all have the ability to kill for a new home. Like others have said the blue seem to be mor violent then the scarlet...But I have both.. to avoid the the problem I buy bags of shells from the craft store and add them to the tank every few months.. The crabs come running out to check them out...
So after all my rambling..... I would get a mixed bunch of crabs and snails and some empty shells to keep the crabs happy.

 

[badfish]

Craft store, thats a good idea. Im gonna have to look into that. Im guessing with more shells they will be less likely to comit MURDER.

 

[lando]

I have both blue-legs and scarlets in both my reefs. No problems with either. I do make sure I have some extra shells in the tank if they need them.

 

[quarryshark]

I have both and I think their value far outweighs any downside. As for being murders, I believe it is more the case of being opportunists.
snails (especially Turbo's) will die off, the hemits will take the weakened animal for its shell...not a bad purpose IMO.
Get the Hermits, they do a lot of good work. You can always add more snails.

 

[SsSarahsS]

I have one very large blue legged hermit in my tank. It doesn't seem to cause any problems and it doesn't bother any of my snails. Well not yet.

 

[phishead]

I have mexican red leg and scarlets in my tank. I have read of blue legs eating coralline, and since I am not rich, I do not have a lot of money to buy corals so the coralline needs to be there to look pretty.

The scarlets are not as active as the mexican red legs, but they are also less aggressive. I have lost 2-3 margherita and 1-2 nazarious snails. I am not sure if it is the crab killing them, but they are there to clean up the mess and take the shell. But, that is how it works in nature, and nature is what we are trying to replicate, so I do not feel bad.

 

[JPloman]

After reading this thread, I went to the store and got some scarlet hermits. I already had the blue tips. They are all living happy in the tank together. I have not seen them fighting or anything.

I got about the same size hermits as were already in the tank.

Just thought I would share that...