Hermits or no Hermits

[30_gallon_guy]

i have a 35 gallon reef. iv got one colt coral, one candy-cane, one brain, and one leather. but i have that brown stuff on my sand and some cyano and some algai the sand is starting to look kinda crummy. My tank is 7 weeks old. iv herd that herits will help with stiring up the sand and cleaning it up, but dont they also take their pick on snails, corals, and all of my amphipods. so to add hermits or not to add hermits that is my question.
thanks
aleks

 

[lando]

Personally, I like reef hermits. they are a lot of fun to watch and are great cleaners. They will not eat your cyno however. I think they are sometimes given a bad reputation when they are just doing what they are suppose to do...clean the tank. Add a few and see what happens. I have never had a problem with mine.

 

[cougaran]

Unfortunately you never know with invertebrates. A dealer one time put it to me a tank is like one big smorgasbord! They say reef safe for alot of invertebrates, but the survival of the fitest is probably more like it.

 

[Scatcat]

I don't know how safe they are, I am new to this, but I love my hermit carbs. Their eyeballs crack me up. I do find myself looking to see what they are doing most of the time. For what it's worth.

Rachel

 

[SsSarahsS]

You could also try a sand sifting star, mine does wonders in cleaning the sand. I also have a blue leg hermit. When I first put him in the tank it looked like he was destroying my coraline. Everything is fine now I think I just had a lot of hair algea growing on top of my coraline. My hermit crab is very large and his claws put some big gouges in the live rock but the coraline is coming back now. So if you do decide to get hermits maybe try a few small ones. I would hate to see them wreck your corals.