BLue Legged Hermit crabs

[cis2711]

I skimmed through a book on saltwater inverts today at work and it said that blue legged hermit crabs can disturb corals and even steal food from them and possibly have a fatal effect on them! I have four blue legged hermit crabs so far. It also said that there should be only one per 10 gallons of water! Should I return three of them? Do blue legged hermit crabs have the ability to harm featehr dusters and corals? If so I don't want them in my 10 gallon! I'd rather have quite a few nice corals and feathers dusters along with some fish that dont disturb corals! Is there a reference for these fish here on TRT?

[Jnicho]

I have a few in my tanks...the only problem I've had with them is they sometimes knock things off rocks, otherwise they seem pretty harmless. I have had hermits that would attack and kill snails for their shell. I make sure to have some empty shells available for them, but the blue legs I have currently don't seem to take on healthy snails.

[jph]

my blue legged hermits only seem to fight amongst themselves the bigger ones will pull the small ones out of their shells, only to find out that they don't fit in the freshly stolen residence.

the peppermint shrimps are the food thieves in my tank.


J.