I need a Question on Snails Answered for Me!

[MontanaRocknReefer]

Hi everyone!! It just seems that all the aquarium web sites that sell inverts(clean-up crews)reccommend far more snails and even hermit crabs that you really need.
I know during brown diatom blooms you want to get rid of the awful looking stuff as soon as possible but buying more snails and hermit than necessary is not doing justice to the inverts. After the diatoms are consumed alot of the snails die because of lack of food and they have to run the gauntlet as far as hermit crabs are concerned.
I had about 70 snails in my 80 gallon reef tank and now have about 20-25 left and my tank is super clean of algae but in the process I have alot of empty snail shells on the substrate which I know some will be used by the hermits for new homes but I was just concerned about the loss of snail life.
Do these stores really need to tell beginners that they need this many snails and hermits when it is not necessary? I have about 10 hermit crabs(different types) and that is plenty in my 80 gallon tank. If I have another reef tank there will be no hermit crabs except maybe a red scarlet hermit crab or two. I know we need to read and educate ourselves as far as what we need to put in our reefs but it seems LFS and web sites can show a little more passion for these inverts as well. I may be way of base here but it really did bother me and wondered what you other aquarist think about this topic?
Just a concerned reefer who loves this hobby and all the inhabitants that we have in our aquariums. Johnny

[ 05-18-2001: Message edited by: MontanaRocknReefer ]

[FishDaddy]

Johnny,
I found out the hard way that hermits are NOT the best critters for clean up crews. I bought a couple dozen Blue Legs when I first started my 55 and they soon became a roving wolf pack of blue-legged Huns, attacking and eating every snail they could! I now have a couple of Scarlet Reef Hermits that have never bothered my snails but that's all. My snails do the job and live much longer!
Dr. Ron Shimek wrote an excellent article on the topic and I agree with him wholeheartedly: http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish/li...=&RecordNo=166
HTH,
Dick

Ok Ok I dont mean to throw salt on any wounds but for anyone that reads this reply. NOOOOOO HEEEERRRRRRMMMIIIIIITTTTT CCCRAAAAABBBBB is reef safe. I dont care if its scarlet, left claw, right claw, blue legged, blue legged stripped, pink neon legged, or where the swedish flag on its shell. Hermits by nature are oppurtunistic feeders meaning THEY KILL SNAILS may it be for the snails shell or just tank boredom who knows. All I do know is any cleaning kit out there with hermits included should be avioded. For everything prohermit fans say about them I can think of 6 negative things. I have 5 different species of snails in a tank i just set up and have had NOOOOO algea problems.I guess hermits are cool if you dont mind replenishing your snail population monthly.....
- just a thought-

[tim deuel]

I agree 100% with you. I got one of the "clean-up crews" from a mail order place, and they had 40 hermits(10 scarlets, 30 left hand) and 20 turbo(the real big ones)snails assigned to the 50 gal. size reef tank. I'm ignorant,I know, I've been out of the hobby for 5 or 6 years, so I figure these guys must know what they're talking about. Well 3 months later I'm down to 4 snails, 1 scarlet, and too many left-handed hermit to be healthy for my tank. I'm pretty sure most the snails starved to death, and the scarlets got killed by the other hermits. The stores really should be more correct about the number of animals you need. Its a shame to see so many die, not to mention the lost money. Well, Live and Learn, the next tank will be different.

[Doug1]

Just MHO but hermits are vastly overated, I agree that most of them are omnivorous snail killers that most tanks can do with out. I would rather use a wide variety of snail species and shrimp and bristleworms as scavengers. IME certain snails seem to suffer high attrition rates and need to be replentished from time to time while others will breed in captivity . I think a wide variety of species is a good thing as different ones target different food sources

[tdwyatt]

...or where the swedish flag on its shell...

Hey Bud, where can I get these???

btw, I agree on the hermits, I still have (2 years later) a few of the hermit mix I threw in with the live rock while I was originally curing it, but they are still either part of the opportunistic feeders or they are slowly helping decimate the snail population. I have seen my bird wrasse take a snail of 2 off the glass on occasion, as well as a hitchhiker crab attack a live moving snail, but the snails in the prop system all live much longer lives than any of the snails in th main display tank, and there are no predators outside a sally lightfoot and an emerald crab in the prop system, Hmmmmm, no shells on the substrate in the prop system either....Hmmmmmmm