Some people wonder why people waste their money on snails and hermit crabs. They are great little additions to any saltwater tank. They are inexpensive and they will help you clean up your aquarium in a hurry and as long as you have them, you wont need to do all the work yourself. You can usually purchase a hermit crab for around one dollar and you can purchase snails for around two dollars. You will want to purchase one snail and one hermit crab per gallon of water. The snails and hermit crabs are also very easy to keep alive. You don’t need to add supplements and you wont need to feed them as much as you will fish.
Snails and hermit crabs are very hardy. As long as you keep the temperature and the salinity at the right levels you will not have any problems keeping them alive. They will also help to establish your fish tank and keep your fish alive. They will sift through the sand and eat uneaten fish food which might otherwise cause your water levels to sky rocket. Before you know it your nitrate and ammonia levels could be through the roof. With a lot of hermit crabs and snails crawling around they will help eat all of the uneaten food and debris off of your sand.
The hermit crabs and snails will also help to keep your live rock free from algae. Most people purchase supplements to add color to their live rock. Imagine what would happen if their live rock was suddenly covered in green algae instead of purple algae which people pay for. The hermit crabs and snails will eat all the algae off of the rock and they will get inside the rock to clean it also. They are one method of purchasing a little extra help for your saltwater tank.
Hermit crabs and snails are called the clean up crew. They definitely help to clean up your fish tank. They will eat the green hair algae off of the rock. You can purchase different crabs which eat different types of algae. For example, you can purchase the Emerald Mithrax Crab which will strictly eat all of the bubble algae off of your live rock. Some of these hermit crabs and snails will also keep the algae from placing itself on your coral, which will kill the coral. Often times the algae will break off of the live rock and get stuck on tentacles of anemones. If you had hermit crabs there would be less of a chance that the algae would end up on your coral.
The snails will keep your power head clean and your glass clean as well as the rest of the tank. You can purchase a lot of small snails or a lot of big snails. The more snails that you buy, the less work you will have to do. As you can see, snails and hermit crabs are worth purchasing. If you purchase them when you are setting up your tank they will help clean your tank from the beginning. They will also help to establish your beneficial bacteria colony before you place your first fish into your saltwater aquarium. For a little bit of money, you can have little creatures who will help you clean up your saltwater fish tank.
