Why or Why not Hermit Crabs

[SHARPiE]

I have seen a few threads around with people going against hermits crabs as a CUC.
I have around 12 hermits in my 42g FOWLR.

What are the positives and negatives around using Hermits as a CUC?

[Mitchell0605]

It's really only in reef tanks Sharpie. They can pick at corals and try steal food from them. They can also kill snails for the shells but if you have pleanty of shells on the sand then you shouldn't have that problem.

[Kurt_Nelson]

My only issue with hermits is that they're not the most dainty things when dragging themselves across your landscape. I lost two corals early on due to damage that I'm 99% sure was inflicted by one of my larger hermits dragging/banging its shell around. Since then, I've gotten smarter at coral placement AND I've gotten rid of all but about 2 or the most docile ones that seem to understand where the "no go" zones are! I've never seen them purposefully damage or nip at corals - hermits, that is. However, I just saw a thread on another forum (with pictures) of an Emerald Crab ripping the heck out of an Acan. It wasn't going after food, but it sounds like it was just ripping it up just because it could!

I think hermits are a good thing to have in tanks, but just not in the numbers normally recommended in the typical clean up crew "packages" that are advertised. Yeah... they'll kill a snail now and then, but hey... that's nature at work.

[cmor1701d]

I saw too many red and blue body parts and an ever decreasing snail population to keep them in my tank. Dwarf hermits, ok, but blue legged do not mix or play nice in my expeience.