HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I don't know about hermits specifically, but isn't him wanting to eat at all a very good sign? Animals that given up on life often stops eating.

Hope it works out for you.

Wow, thanks for the links. Cool, unusual tats!

hermieluv1 wrote:They managed all right but I had to put a layer of stones around so they didn't have to struggle to get up on it!

Don't they need the exercise tho?

Anybody that have tried to put a fan inside the tank, just adding airflow over something that is kept wet/moist? That would in theory be quite effective. (don't ask me how to make a spinning death-machine crab-safe tho!)

More ventilation and more heating to compensate?

Now, I know that most tats for hermits are void of real plant-life and that the reason none seams to build planted tanks for crabs is that they tend to wreck anything you put in there. My question is why? Is this normal eating behavior or something else? Maybe they go bananas on the interior instead...

I'm also thinking about modifying my filter. I will be using 2.5 gal aquariums as pools in my 75gal, both of which shall be filtered. I'm entertaining the idea of modding the filter where the water drops back down, to make a little running stream area over each pool. That way they have an area for ...

Very crafty. Key to good solutions often hide in the selection of materials. The ability to see different and creative uses for materials and things they was not originally intended for. Good work.

I haven't been at it long, but I wonder if the in-tank heater might be a problem. We all use side-mounted under tank heaters (people who have reptiles use them under the tank...hermits, needing at least 6" of sand/substrate, can't have all that heat under them or they will cook and the sand will dr...

A biological filter commonly found in those power-filters is really just surface-area where the ba cteria that does all the work can live. If you "feed" those with oxygenated water they will thrive. Getting a colony of this guys healthy is what is called "cycling" a tank. I wouldn't be surprised if ...

Borrowing this thread for a quick Q: Anyone done, or thought of doing, a combined filter/waterfall? My thinking is that if you are lifting water to create a flow you might just as well run some of it through a filter. The waterfall-dude at LizardLandscapes uses a power filter much like the ones you ...

No one has really studied molting crabs in the wild since it's impossible to track individuals and it's hard to locate where they dig to molt. We have no idea how far down they can get when there is no bottom to stop them, but you're right in that it's likely to be deep both for protection from oth...

I have no experience either, but if I was to buy a pump for a waterfall I would be real sure to get one that could adjust the flow/lift-height pretty exactly. I would look for a fountain-pump. You want lift, not high flow I think.

Ah, nothing beats worrying about things thats really based on preconcieved notions about the nature of things! :oops: Of course the water temp (surface at least) in the tropics usually are about the same temp as ambient. It's probably just as often a few degrees warmer than air… My only excuse is ba...

Well, it would be pretty small differences. Not like we are talking about cold water like in cold to the touch, only cool relative the ambient temp in the tat. A few degrees below that or so... And trying to keep artificial differances in temperature for sure would take more energy. You would consta...