Should the HCA include a "Special Marine Hermie Forum?&

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 9:54 am

Just my opinion, but I would like to see it as a completely seperate forum. HCA has traditionally been a land hermit crab forum. It could get confusing for new crabbers that don't know that there is a difference between land & marine hermits. Since both types of crabs require much different care, this could end in disaster, and cause much confusion. My vote is "no".

Post by **JediMasterThrash** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:51 pm

I think that if the discussion was completely contained within the sub-forum, it wouldn't cause confusion. We wouldn't, for instance, add marine crab caresheets alongside the regular ones in the links on the right. I agree, that could easily cause confusion. But if the marine care sheets are only posted as sticky's in the marine forum, and the marine forum clearly state's this is for discussion of marine hermit crabs, not land hermit crabs, it might work.

I do see where you're coming from. I remember many many times that people have come here and posted a picture of a marine hermit crab, and few people recognized that it wasn't a land hermit crab. Also, I think that in some pet stores, they've (rarely) made a mistake and treated the land hermit crabs like marine ones (placed them in an aquarium! I heard it happened once), and very often I see placards under the LHC tank that show a picture and list of species name of a marine crab instead. And caresheets might be wrong too.

But, considering that this confusion happens anyway, it might be a good idea to create the forum as an information repository to help make it easier for crabbers to know and tell the difference between marine and land crabs in the future. Maybe create a sticky intro thread that mentions how to tell the difference, and lists what the differences are.

At this point, it doesn't seem like there's enough people to keep a full stand-alone forum going. But there's enough to support a sub-forum on HCA. If the sub-forum grows, eventually it might warrant branching off to it's own full site.

Well, those are my thoughts.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:21 pm

I know a lot of people who own marine hermit crabs and have visited this website. I think there are a lot more people with marine hermies than you think. Also, I have just completed a care sheet for a popular species of marine hermit crabs if anyone is interested.

Hermit_of_Hermit_Crabs · Post by **Hermit_of_Hermit_Crabs** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 1:39 pm

I voted no because we are talking about a entirely different type of genre here. I believe it would be good to create a seperate website for marine hermit crabs, but I don't think it would be wise to mix land hermit crabs and marine hermit crabs on the same forum.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:40 pm

I think its a great idea, I've always wanted marine hermits in a species only tank, but gave up since the only information I could find was how good they were as a clean up crew, nothing about tank size, feeding etc.

Christa · Post by **Christa** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 8:05 pm

sorejoints wrote:i think this is an awesome idea. especially since HCA is just that- hermit crab association. it has never been specified as to land or marine.

From the "historic" perspective..

The HCA was originally LHCOA, ala Land Hermit Crab Owners Association but we did a poll and shortened it to Hermit Crab Association. The idea was that if, in the future, we wanted to get into marine hermies we were not adverse to it. After all, a hermie is a hermie is a hermie, all are adorable and all in need of proper care.

Considering that there are 800 species of marine hermies and only 17 LHC's (and even that number is probably inflated) it seems to be a little odd to exclude marine crabs from our mission.

There might be logistical problems though as far as starting a new forum, and we have to keep in mind that it means our home page would grow even longer and there would be more to scroll through.

It really is amazing to me that marine hermies aren't held in high esteem by marine aquarium enthusiasts. They are so efficient, beautiful and comical!" Hooray for the lowly tank-cleaning marine hermit crab!!!

hc!
Christa

OIF_VET · Post by **OIF_VET** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:01 am

Christa wrote:After all, a hermie is a hermie is a hermie, all are adorable and all in need of proper care.

Considering that there are 800 species of marine hermies and only 17 LHC's (and even that number is probably inflated) it seems to be a little odd to exclude marine crabs from our mission.

Thank You Christa. Your Opininion paralels my own. Whether they be Marine or Terrestrial(Land) a Hermie is still a Hermie.
With that Said, I can also see the Opinions of other Valued Members giving a "No" Vote, and posting why they feel that the "Marine Hermie" should not be included here.

brad873 · Post by **brad873** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:01 am

it would be best to have a commpleetly new forum for mareen crabs, with maybee a link to it on the home page, but even though there are over 800 types, you should just work on the most commonly kept ones and answer questions on exotic ones when they are asked. like i sead i would love to help out, and maybee have people who spesiliz in the local types. puttin it on this site would make it seem like one of those sections that isnt very interestin and people would just bypass it, but if it had its own forum people would take more interest

Christa · Post by **Christa** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:52 am

Christa wrote:There might be logistical problems though as far as starting a new forum, and we have to keep in mind that it means our home page would grow even longer and there would be more to scroll through.

I think I have a fix for that problem, a modification called Subforums. It would allow us to have another level of forums under what we have now. So we could have maybe a little blurb that says "Marine Hermit Crabs" and you click on that and it takes you to another forum with various marine hermie care info.

As a heads' up, I might be testing the subforums function, so if you see a forum pop up that you can't access, or pop up and disappear, or look like gibberish or whatever, it's just me ironing out the kinks.

hc!
Christa

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:12 pm

That is a good idea. It would stop confusion but what main forum would that sub- forum be under?

mrbonzai211 · Post by **mrbonzai211** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:47 pm

Again I want to say no. I wish I could keep voting that way over and over just for the simple fact that hermit crabs are NEVER the center and main focus of salt water tank. They are cleaners and add ons. No one buys a salt water aquarium specifically to have aquatic hermit crabs. Marine hermit crabs are not a specialty on this forum. If you are serious about this issue you would be best served to go to an aquarium forum because they have more of a specialiality. If you want to talk about marine hermit crabs I can point you to another forum (http://www.fishforums.net/ under the marine inverts section), but I honestly don't think this topic is appropriate to the forum because they are an aquarium topic and not a crabitat topic.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:01 pm

He has a point

matter of fact that is why I did not get them in the first place because I think a full blown Salt Tank would be more worth it.

With that said...There could be something over in the links or FAQ's telling the difference between Land hermits and Marine for newbies sake .

That is not to say I completely changed my mind but Mrbonzai211 does have a point...

mrbonzai211 · Post by **mrbonzai211** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 8:49 pm

Coming from someone with experience, marine hermit crabs are really no different to an aquatic snail as far as care and maintenance go.

Post by **JediMasterThrash** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:00 pm

I definitely see your point Mr. Bonzai.

My view is that it isn't about whether the care, requirements, or behavior is similar or not. It's just that a lot of land hermit crab owners fall in love with hermit crabs in general, and desire to learn more about, if not sometime own, marine hermit crabs.

It's the common interest, that LHC owners are also interested in marine hermit crabs, that would be a possible reason to add a sub-forum to include information about them. In fact, even pointing us to good aquarium websites and forums would be good posts to include (well, except the rule about links...)

A while ago I toyed with the idea of adding marine hermit crabs to my large saltwater pool in my tank. I eventually determined that it probably wouldn't work well. But I had read about another member trying it, and posted aobut how the marine crabs would crawl out of the water at night and eat from the food bowl.

My goal now is to eventually build up enough money and wall-space for a nice marine aquarium (and maybe pay someone to help me maintain it! LOL), and then have marine hermit crabs, as well as some other fish and animals whose sole purpose is to create waste for my crabs to eat

If there's enough people that really think it shouldn't be a sub-forum on the HCA, then I can concede to them. My passive view is just that I think they're really cute and want to have a tank of MHCs some day

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:06 pm

I think it's a good idea. That way if people want information they have it. I don't really see how you can judge worthiness of animals, they all need proper care, this is one of the objectives of this site, to open people's eyes to the fact that hermies aren't a throw away pet and that they need proper care. If a small marine section helps people better care for their marine hermies, even if marine hermies are scavengers (just like LHC's) and algae control technicians and not the "main attraction" in a marine tank then the forum will still have achieved its objective. This forum is not just about crabitats either, it's about feeding, behaviour, clothing, all aspects of hermit crab care. Because we focus mainly on LAND hermit crabs isn't a reason to exclude marine hermies. The poll clearly show that people are, for the most part interested in the topic.
Personally if I had the money I would seriously consider setting up a marine invert tank, they have one at the Aqualab at my school and it is absolutely amazing the little guys they have running around in there.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Should the HCA include a "Special Marine Hermie Forum?&

Should the HCA include a "Special Marine Hermie Forum"?