Need A Hermit Substitute

[Donya]

I had a Clibanarius ransoni in my 5 gallon pico, but lost it recently to injures that occured in a molting (poor guy picked a really rotten spot to molt and got himself stuck between rocks...). I've left the system sit for a while because I wanted to make sure the molting issue wasn't a sign of worse things to come, but so far everything has been fine. The only exception is a buildup of uneaten meaty foods due to the clown goby's sloppy eating habbits. I also recently had success breeding marine Neritina species in that tank, so I'm not sure I want to go with another hermit in case it creates problems with the young snails. The LFS has recently gotten in some peppermint and camel shrimp. Would either of these make a good substitute while still being safe with pinhead-size snails?

 

[SkiFletch]

I actually might go a different route and get a couple nassarius snails. They're carrion eaters Whenever I feed, my two little guys pop out of the sand and cruise around looking for food that makes it down to them

 

[Donya]

Will Nassarius do ok on substrates other than sand? My pico has crushed coral/aragonite, and its not very deep. The conches do fine digging in it, but I'd read that Nassarius require sand to thrive.

 

[SkiFletch]

Oh, yeah they do, forgot you had CC . Without it, they probably wouldnt do too well. They're not big enough to push through the CC

 

[Donya]

What alternative would you recommend then? I'm happy to look at snails if one exists that would do the job, but other than Nassarius I havn't found any (that are available locally anyway). What do you think about the small shrimp idea?

 

[SkiFletch]

A shrimp would also be fine. Although I dont own any, I've seen skunk cleaners, blood shrimp, and pepperming shrimp go nuts when food is added to the tank.