Hermit crabs??

[fait15]

Will a hermit crab eat a snail for its shell?My hermit is playin with 1 of the snails in my tank. Its kinda entertaining in fact,he spins the snail around,then pokes at it with his claws. I guess he needs to move but the 2 shells i put in must be too big for him.

 

[1979camaro]

he is probably trying to extract the snail to use its shell...what kind of hermit is it? left handed aka zebra hermits are notorious for killing snails....on a side note, your tank is way over stocked imo...how do you keep water quality up?

 

[S.Reef]

Yes, sadly if your hermit crab needs a new shell, he will probably pick your snail's. A solution to this problem is to buy an assortment of shells that your hermit crab could choose. However there is no guarantee this will work. I personally have had dozens of snails killed by hermit crabs.

Sam Reef
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90 Gallon FOWLR Marine System
20 Gallon Reef
10 Gallon Reef
20 Gallon Freshwater Planted Aquarium

 

[fait15]

My hermit crab is an Electric blue leg and is very cool to watch.I have a few shells in there for him but i guess they arent his size yet so ill get a few more. All of my fish are very small,the largest is 2 inches in size so im not sure how my tank is over stocked.The 2 scallops i added in are for cleaning since ive been told they dont live long anyway,and since they were a great buy at 4 bucks a piece i got them.I am thinking about getting another tank for SW,looking at a 85g.You guys think its too soon to get another tank that size since im 2-3 months experience??Also what fish or inverts eat starfish??so i know for future reference.

 

[KimandRob]

The best thing to do is keep an eye on your snails, sometimes they fall off the glass or the rocks. I usually turn them over as soon as possible, if not the crab has a free shot an easy meal. I've never seen a crab attack a snail but I have seen one take his shell after the snail got stuck upside down for a while.