local hermits reef safe?

[Jrsydevi1]

The little neighbor girl brought over a plastic cup with some sea-water and 7 or 8 tiny little hermit crabs that she collected at the local (NJ) beach..

Her mom told her that they will die if kept in the little cup of water, so she wants me to save them by releasing them into my reef... hmmm...

What are the chances that they would be a benign addition to the reef? They certainly aren't the most attractive things.. but do you think they would cause any harm?

I'm gonna put them in a bigger container, drip some tank water in, and give em an airstone until I decide what to do with 'em..

What do you guys think?

 

[fishfarmer]

I put a hermit collected from Cape Cod into my reef last summer. It was a light color with two similar sized claws. My similar sized left hand hermit went over to it and beat the pants off him, literally. New hermit was scurrying around looking for a new shell, found one. Next day though new hermit was dead.

I gave some to my boss who has a couple of FO tanks, one survived a year and the other is still alive.

[ August 30, 2001: Message edited by: fishfarmer ]

[ August 30, 2001: Message edited by: fishfarmer ]

 

[Anonymous]

Depends on the hermit, most need to be able to get out of the water.