HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I finally decided to clear out the rolly pollies out of my tank. They have just bred like crazy and I haven’t seen some of my crabs in months and I’m worried they buried down and ate them while they were molting. Maybe they were just so annoyed those things have been everywhere they are hiding. Hoping I’ll see them all again soon. I’ve gotten like probably 98% out of the tank at this point. Anyways... I wish I could send the video I took while I was clearing out the chollo wood. Hundreds!! And that was just that.. probably just as many in all the other hideaways I had. I don’t know if I’d have time to sell them.. but contemplating it. Just have to pay shipping from 46062. It’s so hot right I don’t know if it would be safe even overnighting them. They’re all the same breed and the originals were from my friends yard.. so may just release them. Thoughts?

girlwfreckles wrote:I finally decided to clear out the rolly pollies out of my tank. They have just bred like crazy and I haven’t seen some of my crabs in months and I’m worried they buried down and ate them while they were molting. Maybe they were just so annoyed those things have been everywhere they are hiding. Hoping I’ll see them all again soon. I’ve gotten like probably 98% out of the tank at this point. Anyways... I wish I could send the video I took while I was clearing out the chollo wood. Hundreds!! And that was just that.. probably just as many in all the other hideaways I had. I don’t know if I’d have time to sell them.. but contemplating it. Just have to pay shipping from 46062. It’s so hot right I don’t know if it would be safe even overnighting them. They’re all the same breed and the originals were from my friends yard.. so may just release them. Thoughts?

Same thing in my tank. It's out of control. One of my hermits never came up. And all 3 are down now. I fear the worst. This was the most horrible idea to put these things in. How did you ever get rid of them. I had it under control removing the excess ones but now that they are basically alone with the crabs down its getting crazy again I have a 75 gallon tank I can't even imagine a way to catch a whole bunch at once.

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Oh gosh, yeah I only have a 30. I took like a really huge tub. And the smaller tub that I started breeding them with which I hadn’t been using anymore. Set up the smaller tub for them to be back in. I took each thing that they hid in and shook it out one at a time into the big tub , used a small paint brush and brushed them off the wood and stuck it inside the cholla wood. Then I poured them into smaller tub after I was pretty sure I got them each time. Then moved onto the next thing. I still have the cholla wood in the big tub because I know I didn’t get them all. I’ve banged it a few times today and got more out. I did that until I literally only had my bubblers left in the tank. You can rattle the extra shells to tell if they’re in there. They supposedly only bury less than an inch down so I slowly just scooped off the top layer of sand mix and just kept scooping any strays. The only thing I’ve put back now is food, shells, that bone thing and one tunnel piece of wood. And I’ve checked like twice today and brushed off any that have gone back to the wood and under the cuttle bone thing into the small tub. At this point I think I’ve gotten about 98% of them. I’m fearing the worse too and my favorite HC isn’t the one that is up right now so only time will tell I guess if they’re still alive. I’ll probably wait a really excessive amount of time like 6 months and if they’re still nothing then I’ll dig up the remainder. One of mine already did die buried but he had left a tunnel and the only thing left was like the two big pinchers so I don’t know if that was the other crabs or the isopods. But he was one I got from another store and never seemed that healthy so I assumed he had died from something else and they ate him then. Hoping yours aren’t dead either!!

When I had isopods I need them in a tank alone for the aspect of having them as pets instead of cleaners. I just put 5 in my tank not to breed, just because it’s fun seeing the same ones every now and then

I would be concerned about the hermit crabs becoming stressed since burrowing is usually a sign.

Well I was right... 3 out of 4 are dead. The first two I'm pretty sure from the isopod INFESTATION. The last one from stress of maybe the springtails or the springtails? Because I got out all of the isopods. This last one hurt, she was my favorite.. and the only one who had been comfortable and spent enough time outside of tank with us for me to see her gender. Very sad. Tomorrow I'm going to completely clean out tank. New substrate everything, soak all wood, etc. Then get my big guy who has survived some new friends once I'm sure I'm close to be springtail free.

SERIOUSLY, DON'T GET ISOPODS.. OR ATLEAST DON'T PUT MORE THAN A COUPLE IN YOUR TANK AT A TIME!!!!

I've been there and done that! It's not funny, but I'll never have isopods in my tanks again! I had a bacterial bloom and lost them all, plus one crab. I personally wouldn't recommend them in tanks at all, but only based on my experience, which is very similar to yours.

If you want to catch them all at once here's what you do: Get a large piece of rotting drift wood or sheet of bark (preferably damp, but not dripping) and put it in the tank. Wait a few days to a week then take it out. If it's done right then it would make the perfect habitat for the isopods and will be crawling with them. If there are so many they don't all fit on it then just do it again until you get them all out.

FJrocks003 wrote:If you want to catch them all at once here's what you do: Get a large piece of rotting drift wood or sheet of bark (preferably damp, but not dripping) and put it in the tank. Wait a few days to a week then take it out. If it's done right then it would make the perfect habitat for the isopods and will be crawling with them. If there are so many they don't all fit on it then just do it again until you get them all out.

I've been doing that on smaller scale. I've dumped so many but they keep breeding and it goes up again. I'm definitely getting a bigger piece to do this. I've had it. 2 crabs left. I want them to be ok.

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Hey everyone one of my crabs came up after a long molt. Which is great news that the isopods didn't drive him to death some how. He's healthy and colorful. I'm still missing the one but who knows now. I put the large piece of bark in the tank a few days ago. I'm waiting the week. To start banging the isopods out. Fingers crossed it works for me.

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I put 2 damp pieces of cork bark in the tank and its working. I've banged it out 2 times. There are still alot more to get but its definitely a huge difference the crabs seem happier too. I'm gonna bang again tomorrow while I know I won't get every one. I have a solution to mass amounts of them. My husband and I decided to redo the entire tank after the. Holidays. Then they will all be gone for good. Fresh everything

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