hermit crab massacre!

[nycreef]

hi all. i just bought some new snails , all different kinds. as soon as i dropped them in, the massacre started. i have one hermit crab all about 1 1/2 inches of him. this hermit started attacking each snail. ripping each one to shreds then moving on to the next, even after the tank was fed! i put my hand in to exile him to the sump with no avail, he ran in a rock. finally i caught him this morning, the one clawed monster. sent him straight to jail with the rest of my convicts. see , the sump comes in handy when things get out of hand. ahh, peace and balance again..hope he will have enough to eat down the for the rest of his life..

[ShirleyM]

That's terrible! What kind of crab is he?

should I get rid of my blue-leggeds before I put in the new snails I'm getting this week?
Thanks,
Shirley

[nycreef]

im not sure what type exactly , but hes black with a big round circleish shell with a single deadly claw. from what ive been reading, ive had it with the hremit crabs, seems like the nerrite and the baha are the best. make sure you feed the tank before you put them in and make sure the lights are out and pitch black. not that that helped me any, but what the heck..

[Allyson]

Hi Shirley,

As with most everything it seems to depend on the individual critter. I have 2 blue legged & 2 brown legged hermits that I put in my tank in December & haven't had any acts of carnage (well maybe if a snail gets turned over & stays that way for a while...but then the hermits aren't the only ones attacking at that point)