should i get rid of my hermits?

[m3rma1d]

ok, i've posted before about my lue-legged hermits, ganging up and eatng my snails...well i bought this LOVELY 3 pound LR the other day, and i got it cos it had this HONKIN' featherduster on it...as soon as i put it in the tank, the hermits ate the featherduster....and now i only have ONE freeking snail left! i just looked in and they were eating yet another one (hey those babies are 2 bucks a pop, y'know?)
my scarlet reef hermit never eats anything bad...he's a good guy. we like him, but MAN i've about had it with these blue-legged...i don't remember them being so violent in my old tank...should i just get rid of them & get mroe snails? my LFS (jerks) MIGHT trade me snails for hermits, as they are the same price....

[asmith]

I am also in the process of remvoing all hermits from my tank. Blue legs are the most aggressive of them all. Scarlets are much more peaceful, but they will pick off an occasional snail as well. I would definately recommend removing your hermits and replacing them with snails.

Andrew

[MontanaRocknReefer]

I returned all my blue legged hermits back to the LFS for store credit and now have only snails(5 varieties) and three of them are multiplying really good! Johnny

[OodleyBoodely]

I started off with blue-leggs and scarlets and the same thing happened in my tank. I ended up with one huge fat blue-leg and no snails or scarlets. I got rid of him and bought snails again and only 4 scarlets. I like the scarlets. They are much less predatory, but, I only keep a few for interest, the snails are the main workforce. Watch out for crabs, too, they are just as bad as hermits. Emeralds, Salleys, Arrows-all are opportunistic and have been know to kill and eat not only snails, but small fish, too.

[hooked]

ACK, I got 4 blue legged hermits that have not done anything bad as of yet. I have only a few snails in the tank but they never get picked on from what I can tell.

[beach bum]

I just found one that survived 5+ weeks at hyposalinity (1.009)!
(blue-leg)

[sally]

I would never want the blue-legs because of their aggressivness. On the other hand, the scarlets are very peaceful. I keep several scarlets in my bangaii breeder tank to eat the food that falls to the floor. They have never bothered the fry or the snails. They are great janitors.