Can a hermit crab live with goldfish? UPDATE: got snail. & Question...

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

I have 2 goldfish in a 50 gallon tank. They arent very big. I was wondering if I could add a hermit crab or two in with them. Wont the hermit crab eat the left over waste? Thanks.

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[Duckchick2011]

I don't know about a hermit crab...why not a pleco or catfish or a snail of some sort...those usually do the job as far as waste goes...

(a hermit crab might crab fins)

.....50 Gallons for 2 small Goldfish?! That's a bit excessive don't you think

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Quote:

Yes, I know! I used to have 2 bigger ones that grew out of their old tank. They eventually died and I got 3 more. One ended up dying and now I have the 2 other little ones.

 

[DancingHen]

I think hermit crabs need both water and dry land in there tank. Not sure they can live in just water with fish? I did have a small red crab of another type in my fish tank once, and it not only grabbed and ripped the fish fins, but occasionally ate the fish! Fish parts all over the tank! Maybe you should try cleaner shrimp? They are crustaceans too, and I have had a lot of luck with them living happily amongst fish in a tank.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

50 Gallons is actually perfect for goldfish. They may be small now, but if cared for properly they will grow HUGE! When it comes to goldfish, the bigger the tank the better especially since they are such messy fish.

Are you looking at terrestrial hermit crabs? If they are the ones in the tanks with fancy shells at the pet stores, then those would not be suited for life underwater. I'm actually not certain if there are freshwater hermit crabs, but there might be. I can't imagine they would be too easy to get a hold of as I've never seen them in Live Fish Stores.

Since goldfish are cold water fish, you have to be careful what you add with them. Goldfish do very well in room temp water or cooler, while many other fancy fish need water warmer than room temp. I would not add plecos as they grow really really big and you will end up having to increase your tank size just for the darned pleco! I do believe bristle nosed pleco stay on the smaller side, but I'm not sure how they would do with goldfish. Hopefully someone else can chime in and let you know for sure. Unfortunately most of the bottom feeders you see in pet stores are tropical and require a heater, so mixing with goldfish would mean one of the two species would not thrive. Your best bet would be to just feed a tiny, tiny bit of food. The gold fish are voracious eaters, but they are actually better off with less food. Any live animal you add to a tank to try to help with waste will only add to the waste issue really.

Since you have such a large tank, you could try an apple snail. They don't clean the tank, persay, but they will go along the bottom and eat up any extra food. They are pretty neat to watch and fairly low maintenance. Just don't plan on having live plants in a tank with an apple snail! When I had mine (They come in all sorts of cool colors) I actually got quite attached to them.

 

[DancingHen]

Snails would be cool.

 

[itsy]

Nope - no mix

If you do weekly partial water changes - there is no need for anything to clean up anything left behind. Plecos produce A TON of waste. They do not eat poo or waste and need to have supplimented food. They can not survive alone on tank algae. It's a common myth. Plecos are actually a very poor choice of tank mates for a goldfish or any slow moving fish or fish that likes to sleep on the bottom of the tank. Oftentimes, goldfish (fancy or common) will sleep on the bottom of the tank. Even though plecos aren't aggressive - they have been known to suck the slimecoat on other fish. Many years ago, before I became experienced with goldfish - I found one of my plecos sucking on one of my goldfishes' eyeballs

Not a good idea!

Weekly partial water changes are a great idea. Get a good water test kit. The test tube kits work better than the strip kits and are more accurate. Try to keep your nitrates at around ten parts or below.

 

[ranchhand]

sunny & the 5 egg layers :

I have 2 goldfish in a 50 gallon tank. They arent very big. I was wondering if I could add a hermit crab or two in with them. Wont the hermit crab eat the left over waste? Thanks.

Most hermit crabs are terrestial, based in a saltwater environment. Please do some research first.

 

[The Wolf Queen]

I used to have hermit crabs & they needed air. I used to have some small ones in a 10gal with sponges & a small pool for water with daily spraying. They thrived. There are under water ones but they are salt water crabs.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Thanks guys. I will proble go with snails then. I used to have 2 a while ago but they eventually died. I dont know what kind they were.... One was black and one was white.

Chickerdoodle13- I just googled apple snail and they are huge! How big were yours? The two snails I had were only about the size of a quarter. Also, did you ever have to feed your snails wafers from the pet store? When I had mine, the people at the pet store told me to feed them these special snail wafers. I did. But it seemed like the fish ate them before the snails even had a chance!

Thanks everyone for your input!