HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello all!

This is my first post. Since my boyfriend brought me home my first hermit crab last week from the seaside, I have devoured everything there is to read on the internet in regards to what this little guy needs. He's now in a 16 gallon tank hopefully recovering from the trauma of living in one of those boardwalk stores - he promptly ate a bunch of coconut, took a bath, changed shells, and buried himself as soon as he was moved in (in that order) and he hasn't come up for four days now. Fingers crossed he's acclimatizing/molting and is happy down there!

My question is - I live by the sea (well, Long Island Sound) and the seawater he first bathed himself in I collected there myself (I simply filtered it). We have a good friend who owns a pet/aquarium supplies store nearby, so I have access to IO etc, but I wonder if there is any consensus on using natural seawater? If anybody does this regularly, how do you treat it?

And of course, we have some friends lined up for him but I'm holding off until he surfaces again.

Thanks for your thoughts!

The big issue with sea water collected at the shoreline is pollution. It can get pretty bad, and there's no way to filter that out or really know if it's present just by looking. The commercially sold natural sea water is collected offshore and usually several hundred feet down to try to prevent pollution issues. (They do this for major aquariums that are coastal, and then tap the same lines to sell the water as well.) It's also heavily filtered to remove unwanted living things.

Thanks for your input, wodesorel. Pollution was a concern to me so I actually checked the NRDC beach pollution website online beforehand and chose the beach with the lowest pollution profile in my area, then went out along the pier hoping the water would be even cleaner out there!

I wouldn't chance it, honestly. Instant Ocean and Prime are inexpensive and last a long time.