Hermit cabs

Are hermit crabs totally reef safe, This may sound like a silly question but the manager of a lfs that my sister knows said you have to careful with the as they can be preditory . Every other source i know to me there are no problems at all, i have already reserved two red legged hermits at my local lfs and they look superb they have red coralline algae growing on their shells.

 

They are. However, you need to keep extra empty shells in there for them as they grow. If there are no empty shells, they will kill snails to take their shells

 

You can on occasion come across a rogue crab that will eat or nibble at a coral like polyps. I have read that Blue Leg are preferred over Red Leg but I house both. The only possible annoyance is they may walk all over the coral and cause them to close temporarily but really should be no threat....except to snails.

 

It depends on the crab, and how big it is. I've never had a problem with any of my little hermits >1/2 inch. But, I recently bought a 2-inch Dardanus pedunculatus and he's much more agressive. Luckily, he's slower than anyone else in the tank (except the anemone and the serpent stars).

 

i think they do it for the meal too, crabs are oppurtunistic. they see a meal they will take it.
as far as corals are concerned i think they dont eat because they are posioned by them(the reef safe ones that is).

 

Ditto on this. I have a bunch of shells in all sizes from Sanibel Island, Florida years ago. I occasionally toss in a handful and am amazed at the "house changing" that goes on. I have some pretty large blue legged hermits and the most damage they due is walking over my zoas, which makes them close up. Like another poster said, that's only temporary.

 

Cool, Thank's. The herimits i have reserved are quite big but they look so cool. On a different subject how come the crabs that have hitch hicked in on my L/R can survive the cycle

P.S Packleader, caught another two today and one was about 1.5 inches wide. They are really starting to get on my nerves

 

I always wondered that and Aren't they a pain in the Butt !!!
They can do damage I would hate to see "What would Happen" if I left one!

Actually... Check this out @ the bottom there is a video...
Just brutal... you can see who posted it...

http://www.3reef.com/forums/inverts/crabs-more-rant-them-63154.html