hermits

[skinson]

Does anyone else have a problem with their hermit crabs eating purple coraline? I have one little devil that eats it at every opportunity..
Dave

 

[reefman23]

What kind of hermit is it? I dont think I have ever heard of that before... interesting.

Jesse

 

[skinson]

I'm sorry I don't know? They have little white rings on the end of their legs, The one that does the most damage has one huge claw and one small one. Guess what? he's going to a friend....LOL
dave

 

[skipm]

I have never heard of hermits eating coralline before either.

 

[skinson]

What about eating sponges or mushrooms? Cuss these little bleeders are all over my new piece of mushroom coral that has some sponges on the rock as well.

 

[skipm]

Since you said the coral was new I would suspect that the sponges may have been exposed to air at some point which kills them due to air trapped inside of their tissues, I think the hermits may be cleaning the dead sponge material away.

 

[skinson]

Nice one! Thanks for that. They appear to have stopped going on the mushrooms now.
Dave

 

[viktor25]

my hermit crab just ate one of my SHRIMP!!! is that normal??

 

[tabblet15]

what kind of shrimp? sounds like the shrimp died then the hermits were just caught cleaning up. Hermits are too clumsy and slow to attack and kill a shrimp IMO. Try to stick with dwarf blue legged hermits or scarlett reef hermits, they are reef safe.