HCA: Hermit Crab Association

How much prime would I add to an 8oz water bottle? I've heard that prime "disappears" after 48 hours and so it would be pointless to add it to the gallon of water I purchase and keep adding it every two days... what do you guys like to do? Also, is it normal for my PPs to not really swim in the water? I've observed them drink it and like climb on the edge and kinda dip a leg in but other than that, nothing. They never swim in the bowl or submerge. Is there possibly something wrong with my water?

IcedPineapple wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 18, 2019 8:48 pm

How much prime would I add to an 8oz water bottle? I've heard that prime "disappears" after 48 hours and so it would be pointless to add it to the gallon of water I purchase and keep adding it every two days... what do you guys like to do? Also, is it normal for my PPs to not really swim in the water? I've observed them drink it and like climb on the edge and kinda dip a leg in but other than that, nothing. They never swim in the bowl or submerge. Is there possibly something wrong with my water?

*spray bottle oops

Sorry I can't answer your Prime question.

But I have never seen my crabs 'swim' either! LOL!

It’s two drops of prime per gallon, so a single drop will cover you for an eight ounce bottle, a little bit goes a long way!

It doesn’t disappear, that’s only when using it to remove ammonia, which it really doesn’t do, what it actually does is bind the ammonia into a less harmful form for 24-48 hours, as a way to keep it on hold until you can change the water, that refers more to aquariums than crabs.

Also, some crabs like the water more than others, mine don’t submerge either, so its definitely not a concern if they don’t appear to use it as you’d expect them to, they know when to call it.

I have once or twice seen one of mine take a full dip.

Most crabs only stand at the edge of the water and get their claws wet. I have been experimenting with my saltwater pool for a few weeks now. After seeing Courtney Karr's bioactive presentation at Crab Con really got me thinking about the pools. I think she has some crazy activity in her pools from all species in that video. I really think there is more to the water than just adding pools because they need water. I figure I have enough room in my tank so I may as well experiment a little.

Here is a link to Courtney's presentation. She goes into a lot of fine details about different levels in the water. I'm still learning on that end but I'm getting there.

https://youtu.be/4ZvBcrxy8Ic

When I added a 5.5g tank inside my 75 with filters bubblers and air stone I saw my E swim for the first time. She has since done it often she seems to enjoy it quite a bit. She will spend hours in there before coming out. Before this I had bowls with no bubblers and all I noticed was toe dipping. I have been doing 25-50% water changes which I’m slowing down on hoping my water will cycle fully soon . But I know that is not an overnight process. My temp also stays around 75 F inside pools


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Mine would swim more often when I had the water dishes up against the side of the glass with the Ultratherm on it. I had to move the bowls back away from the heater due to ease of access.
When I upgrade I’ll definitely be decorating so I can put them where they can be heated, and eventually I plan on building a very large custom crabitat where I can incorporate two cycled aquariums with their own water heaters and filters.