Hermits in my SPS

CamBarr · #1 10/22/2007, 09:59 PM

Hey Guys,

I just added some new hermits to my tank and they seem to like to hang out in the branches of my sps . Should i leave them there or remove them

mile sq. reefer · #2 10/22/2007, 11:44 PM

Take them out. They will irritate and stress the coral.

nava405 · #3 10/23/2007, 05:37 AM

i got at leave 30 hermit crabs in my tank, and they always hang out in my acro during the night, so far i haven't see any problem..

Zooguy · #4 10/23/2007, 07:46 AM

Mine seem to just be wandering around I dont see them eating it and after they wonder off the polips come back out. Drop some food in the tank, mine skydive off the rocks to get to the bottom at feeding time. Also I have tiny crabs(nano) by finding them that way and keeping larger shells from the snails out of the tank when they die instead of letting the crabs grow into them.

ReefRockerLive · #5 10/23/2007, 10:01 AM

I usually see some Red leg hermits in my acro, but they never seem to do any harm to the acros, at least in my tank.

CamBarr · #6 10/23/2007, 10:39 AM

i will keep an eye an them. its one specific acro that they like as well??? the coral itself is doing really well its not new or breaking down or anything. I thought at first it maybe dieing or decaying but its just fine

stony_corals · #7 10/23/2007, 11:05 AM

Yeah, I have one that sits in a Stylo colony, night and day. Knock him off, he goes right back, there is no damage to the coral. I wonder if the crab is just feeding on the mucous...

rharr21 · #8 10/23/2007, 11:36 AM

My hermits sit in the corals all the time with no harm. Sometimes, they will knock a new frag off of a rock and that can be a problem if it falls into another coral.

acrylic_300 · #9 10/23/2007, 11:51 AM

They are opportunists....who is to say that one won't eat that lone flat worm before it becomes one thousand.

What ever they are doing is good...even if they are eating a coral...it's for a good reason. They will always know when something is dying before you do.

bk_market · #10 10/23/2007, 11:53 AM

my hermit always sit inside my green cap colony. They always molt in there too. I always have to use the choptick to pick them up

Jester · #11 10/25/2007, 09:34 AM

Mine like the hang on my Digitatas.. I'm always worried they are going to break some branches off since I seem to break them off all the time when I'm cleaning the glass...

Racenrich · #12 10/25/2007, 12:21 PM

if you have crabs, they will go where they want to go....no matter how many times you move them out of a coral...they seem to find the spot you dont want them at

.....IMO...let mother nature takes it course.
Personally, I have over 150 crabs, red and blue legged in my 120g.....to me its better to have them, then not too.

no fretting.....crabs dont kill corals.....poor husbandry does!

hope that helps!

ReefWreak · #13 10/25/2007, 02:49 PM

My (1) hermit in my 120g is never in the same spot twice. He's always in a different spot among the rocks. He's never been a problem other than knocking over frags, but I still don't trust hermits, and that's why there's only one.

Now the decorator crab hitchiker in my tank, he's another story. I see him crawl on my SPS at night, pull off polyps, stick them to his back and/or eat them, then walk around, do the same thing again, walk around, find another coral, same thing again, etc.

The only reason he's not down the flusher is because he's cool, he's got a kenya tree growing on his back, and he is small and isolated enough that my corals waaaay outgrow his progress.

I regret accidentally killing all of those acro crabs (from dipping first, checking later), since now I realise that it would have made an AWESOME biotope war watching him get chased away by the acro crabs...

wentreefgirl · #14 10/25/2007, 06:23 PM

Its been my experience that when I get new hermits, they like to stay in the branches at first. Why, dont know. BUt after like the first 24 hours, they stop. I just kept removing them.

trottman · #15 10/25/2007, 06:40 PM

one of mine got stuck in the branches of one of my fast growing (ugly of course) acros. about a week later, his shell was being encrusted upon with him in it. a few days after that, he was gone and the shell turned into an acro.

wentreefgirl · #16 10/25/2007, 07:51 PM

I had that happen too, with my blue tip mauve body. Not that fast but.

Jester · #17 10/26/2007, 08:31 AM

thats a fast growing acro...

serenity · #18 10/26/2007, 08:34 AM

I have a ton in my tank and have had no problems.

herostar · #19 10/27/2007, 05:28 PM

Mine don't bother my SPS.

There is one hermit that regularly climbs to the top of a digitata (highest point in tank) and hangs out for days at a time. The coral seems unaffected.

NaH2Ofreak · #20 10/27/2007, 08:47 PM

I think it has something to do with them spawning or something. They go to the highest point to spread their spawn. Im not sure. I remember reading something about that somewhere. My experience has always been that they climb up into the colony, then, a few days later, I see dead hermit carcus floating around the bottom and the empty shell left in the colony. It never seems to end good for me (or the hermit) when they climb up there.

Dennis

J. Montgomery · #21 10/27/2007, 10:18 PM

Leave 'em in the tank.

I've got multiple types and sizes of hermit crabs in my tank and many different types of SPS. The hermits hang out in the SPS and don't cause any problems.

roblack · #22 10/28/2007, 10:00 PM

My hermits were doing the same thing, and I kept knocking them off and after a while they stopped hanging out in the acros, but I never noticed any problems with the acros.

Crabs will eat corals! I had 2 stone crabs that were unknowingly introduced into my tank. After I figured out there was a problem, I pulled the rock out that a stonecrab resided in and removed him. The rock had alot of holes in it, and when I shaked it, sounded like a maracca. All kinds of stuff came out of it (snail shells, other crab shells, etc) and a few dead frags of "missing" corals including a once beautiful pavona frag. It was like I found a serial killer's cache.