Killer Hermits?!?!?!

[gallagherjim]

has anyone heard of hermits killing snails? I think I may have a killer hermit on my hands 8O

 

[austinsdad]

They do it all the time when they need a shell to grow into.

 

[gallagherjim]

even if there is already empty shells for them to use? thanks

 

[Fluff]

Are you certain that the hermit is killing the snail? Or just cleaning up one that has already passed?

And to answer your question, yes, some will. The grass is always greener.... well, you know.

 

[JohnS]

It's happening in our tank right now! A blue legged hermit is in the process of "evicting" a poor turbo snail. We've noticed quite a few of our turbo's have surprisingly blue legs! There are a bunch of empty transitional shells in the tank, but for some reason they are ending up in the snail shells. I'm not sure if the empties I have are too big or what, but to answer your question, it does happen.

 

[austinsdad]

I started with electric blue ( so my LFS calls'm) hermits. 'Bout 12 of'm 12 months ago. Got one or two left. I noticed how aggressive they were it seemed as they attacked each other. I witnessed one that attcked another, picking up his shell and banging it against his own, finally driving the "banged" crab out. The aggressor crawled out of his, with the poor chap on his own shell -behind him. He tried of the new shell for a minute or so, and crawled back into his own. When he walked away, the poor chap crawled off his back and returned to his shell.

I've never purchased any more blues. I use the scarlet reef crabs and mexican reds now. Couple of staghorns for the front sand. All is more peaceful, but if someone needs a home, I will lose a margarita or astrea from time to time.

 

[klam]

Blue hermits are aggressive. I've never had any problems with my red scarlet hermits so far.

 

[steve r]

my blues are very agressive. scarlets and mexicans red leg have been peaceful. i am going to stick to more snails in the future.

steve r

 

[quarryshark]

I just had to pull a Emerald crab out of my tank last night for munching on my CC star. The poor star was halfway up the glass trying to get away and the crab was hanging on picking away.
At least it was easy to catch the crab, all I had to do was place a net under him and he bolted right into it.