Reef Discussion

[chimaera]

Unless the vermetid get really bad, think I will give the six line a miss. I would rather keep my army of stomatella at the moment, and the acro crabs, and the baby snails ...

 

[NiCd]

Maybe just super glue a couple each week, shouldn't take too long to get them in check ?

I actually like them, just another cool little thing in the eco system, for the most part they are just helping your water clarity :)

 

[chimaera]

Yeah I might try, or just keep breaking them off when I see them. I don't mind a few, but they are everywhere and their webs are ugly. The ones near my zoas cover the whole zoa rock and piss them off, so those are the ones I focus on eradicating.

 

[Agent M]

Naw don't be mean to the hermits - I like them. I just point and laugh at anyone that adds them to the tank without realising that they eat anything they can pick up and put in their mouth :D

 

[Kharn]

Naw don't be mean to the hermits - I like them. I just point and laugh at anyone that adds them to the tank without realising that they eat anything they can pick up and put in their mouth :D

You remind me of a comment on YouTube to one of my videos where my largest smashing stomatopod (The Juggernaut - O.scyllarus - Peacock) takes it to a very large Hermit crab (shell about the size of 2 tennis balls...

Poster: "I find this incredibly sad. do you know how old the hermit is to be that size? to have survived its pelagic beginnings to grow and grow, only to be given to a pet as 'kill sport'. I love mantis shrimp, and have kept them myself in the past, so i know from personal experience that they will hapilly eat frozen food. If you really need to give it something live, feed a feeder crayfish that has lived for only a short time and breed en masse."

Me: "But how much life did that hermit crab destroy & consume to get this large...?"

 

[NiCd]

Its funny these ethical debates seem pop up every now and again and people always seem to feel strongly one way or another.

Whenever i see them this clip always comes to mind

 

[Agent M]

Putting a hermit crab in your tank is like getting a dog and complaining when it craps on your lawn. :p

Kharn I am a walking contradiction so it may surprise you to know that I fed a huge burrowing cricket to my scorpion and watched them battle it out - in the end she couldn't take him as he was too strong so I did let him go - and the thing is I only fed it to her because the cricket gave me the creeps and I didn't want to go to sleep knowing it was in my garden somewhere!

 

[chimaera]

Just thought I would share an interesting snippet on these, via reefkeeping.com

Fortunately, some fish such as Copperband butterfly fish, seem to eat them, and some hermit crabs will eat them as well. Eating these worm snails may well be the only truly beneficial effect of hermit crabs in aquaria.

My vermetids are still all over the place - I do now and then break them off (fully gouging the worm from the rock), but have started to concentrate on just the problem/ugly ones (eg sticking out of my beautiful acans). The ones under rock overhangs can stay where htey are I guess.