HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello!
I have a 45 gal aquarium with my five PP's. I was looking to get some microfauna, such as Isopods. When I am gardening outside, I often see whole colonies of wild isopods. I was wondering if it would be safe to gather some and add them to my crabitat? I could isolate them, breed them out and when the population is stable add them? Does anybody have any experience with this? I also heard that they will eat harmful mites and such? (That would be helpful, as I do have harmful mites in the crabitat)

Also, I have spider wood in the aquarium, it started to seriously mold. I am worried that the mold won't go away. Would springtails eat the mold? I saw a site about this. I have been hesitant because I am worried about them overpopulating and them taking over the tank. (To which i could not remove as some of the decor is glued to the glass so I would not be able to deep-clean)

Thanks!

I personally would not take anything like isopods from the outside for my tanks. The reason being that you don't know what bacteria, germs, pesticides, etc that they may have that could hurt your crabbies. There are approved sellers on here that have captive isopods. My husband and I, and other people have gotten isopods from them. Idk if I'm allowed to drop names on here, so I won't. Check out the approved sellers pages and go from there. People have had great experiences with isopods!

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We’ve had members collect wild isopods without issues. Before adding them to the tank, however, you must breed them out for several generations to work out any pesticide residues from their systems.

Isopods and springtails will not eat mites but will compete with them.

Additionally, they will not eat mold but springtails do eat mold spores.


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JoeHermits wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 09, 2020 10:01 am

We’ve had members collect wild isopods without issues. Before adding them to the tank, however, you must breed them out for several generations to work out any pesticide residues from their systems.

Isopods and springtails will not eat mites but will compete with them.

Additionally, they will not eat mold but springtails do eat mold spores.


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Okay, I'll try that next time I'm outside. By several generations is that like a month or two?

You want those isopods to reproduce, and then their children to reproduce, and preferably their grandchildren, as well. I don't have a lot of experience with isopods so I can't really give you a good timeframe.

Different species of isopods reproduce at different rates. Check out MT Pet Emporium. She has a lot of different kinds and knowledge on them all. She's an approved seller and highly knowledgeable.

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Many of the stores that sell normal isopods started off with collecting them on their own.

Question... so to collect wild rolly pollies and put them into a crabitat were supposed to keep them in a container with what? Then we're supposed to keep them in there for how long? How do we know which ones are still infected if there is a bunch of them in there? Do the infected ones die off in the container? If they do won't the not infected ones eat the infected ones and become infected themselfs? Please check out " Rolly pollies" in the isopod section for I have some questions I need to be answered before getting rolly pollies.

Xenocrab wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 10, 2020 5:15 pm

She's an approved seller and highly knowledgeable.

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As far as Im aware, there's no approved sellers here on HCA? Maybe been confused with other groups, but we believe people can make an informed decision on what to buy without approving friends/themselves for 'approved sales'.