Hermit crab the killer!

[Anonymous]

My hermit crab killed my turbo snail last night I guess his old home was too small, he needed a bigger one.
Will my dwarf hermits do the same thing to my smaller snails? How often do crabs move from one shell to another? What are the signs? Do I really need crabs?

 

[Dollarz81]

What type of hermit killed the snail?

IMO blueleg hermits are the safest I have. They only fight each other for shells. I put a few extra empty shells and they always go after those. Some people say that red leg scarlet are reef safe, but they are bigger and IMO more able to kill snails.

I kinda wish my hermits would kill my turbo snails, they are a pain at knocking all my corals over.

 

[djconn]

Hmm...thats interesting Dollarz. My hermits are the only things that knock over my corals. The turbos stay on the glass and on the sand for the most part.

But yes, my hermits seem to like attacking my snails. I had at one time probably 5 turbos in my 20 and they all eventually got killed. I ran the tank for about 1 year without any and I just recently picked up a few to put back into the tank. I have only blue leg hermits and so far they've left this new batch of snails alone. I would simply suggest getting really small hermits so the turbos have a better chance of survival. Smaller hermits don't seem to knock over my corals as much either. Not sure how often they switch shells. Hope that helps.