Hermit and Snail Protection

a few of the wrasses i have been reading into recently say they eat hermits and snails and i just don't see how. my astrea snails are like little tanks with thick shells and my blue-leg hermits aren't too far behind them. i can see a puffer trashing them with that beak, but how does a wrasse do it?

i really like the little extra life and benefits my cleanup crew bring to my tank, but at the same time would really like either a harlequin tusk or a Coris gaimard down the road. can either of these really get through the defenses of my inverts?

~Will.

 

Wrasses will eat inverts by pecking through the opening in their shells. There's a good reason why wrasses have pointy "noses"

 

I also read that they can actually break the shells with thr bite

 

what kind of wrasse eats snails and hermit?

 

Although some fish can crush shells, most of the snail eaters swallow them whole. There are several species of snails that have only been collected from fish stomachs. Sometimes they are in good shape, sometimes they have been in the stomach long enough for the acid to badly damage them, and sometimes they have a tooth hole or two in them. Rays can crush conchs and cone snails with their mouths, which you would know is quite a feat if you've ever tried to crush one with a vise. The wrasses you are reading about can probably swallow small snails, and crush slightly larger ones, but I doubt they'd jump on any snail that was larger than the wrasses mouth?

Cheers,



Don

 

i'm trying to decide between a harlequin tusk and a Coris gaimard for my 125 fowlr but i really want to keep my hermit, starfish and snail population up. from what i've read the harlequin is the more passive of the 2 but the personality of the coris really appeals to me. has anyone kept either of these and had them not destroy snails and hermits, or are they doomed?

~Will.