HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I am redoing our water pools and I would love to see photos of how you have constructed yours! Both fresh and salt water, ladders, rocks, etc.

If you have a photo, would you post it here? It would help me decide how to change ours up!

Thanks in advance!

I'm interested in seeing this too! Great idea. Thanks for asking and hoping you'll get some responses!

Interested. New crabber here. My wife and I are about to build a 125 gallon tat and am looking to make infinity pool systems using 3+ gallon containers and smaller 1+ gallon containers and will be implementing a waterfall to keep the water flowing. It works perfect in my head . I would like to (eventually) have a self-sufficient bio set-up so I am starting with baby-steps.

Mine is really basic compared to some hardcore ones i’ve come across. Simple air pump system from Walmart cost me under $20. Added some mesh to use as a ramp and zip tied them through a hole in the container and added rocks. My dad drilled a small hole into the lid of the tank to wire the tube through. I’m curious to see some other pools as well.



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Here's mine.
Freshwater is a small tupperware container (ladder made out of mesh, has pothos in it) and far right, saltwater pool - glass siliconed in, access by rocks to submerge.

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Here are the water pools in my 100 gallon tank


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viewtopic.php?f=39&t=120667

Here's a link to the cycled water pools i made last year out of 2.5 gallon aquariums. My crabs love them!

It’s hard to tell in these pics but they are deep enough for the crabs to submerge. Although I will be getting something deeper sometime. As well as hopefully finding at least a 75 gallon tank.



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Thanks for this post and thanks to those of you who posted their pool setups. When I set my tank up the "in" thing to do was recess the pools into the substrate. My pools are at ground level. Is that not a thing anymore? Also, my pools are virtually empty compared to y'alls. The fresh pool has two river stones that hold down the bubble stone. The salt pool has two river stones in it. The stones are loose, not glued down.

So do the crabs spend time under water in both the Fresh and Salt water pools? I’m setting up my new habitat and thought I might as well piggy back a question on this thread.

They do need to be able to fully submerge. I rarely see my underwater. Mostly they sit on the edge and daintily dip their toes in.

My crabs get in both pools, but probably spend more time in the freshwater...and yes, they will submerge completely sometimes! I have clear containers so that I can see them still when they’re completely under, I love watching them in the water!

Here’s my pool/moss pit set up on the freshwater side. I used drawer organizers, with the smaller one set inside the larger one. Those are Marimo Moss Balls in there...the crabs like to sit on top of them, lol.


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Wow it’s so funny different crabs can prefer different pools more. Mine prefer the saltwater.

(Water pools are dirty because they like to kick eco earth in while drinking)
but I do see them drinking from both.


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crabbycasey wrote:My crabs get in both pools, but probably spend more time in the freshwater...and yes, they will submerge completely sometimes! I have clear containers so that I can see them still when they’re completely under, I love watching them in the water!

Here’s my pool/moss pit set up on the freshwater side. I used drawer organizers, with the smaller one set inside the larger one. Those are Marimo Moss Balls in there...the crabs like to sit on top of them, lol.


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Just wanted to say your tank looks awesome! Love that pool set up and the idea of using drawer organizers!!


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PinkyNTwinkie33 wrote: Just wanted to say your tank looks awesome! Love that pool set up and the idea of using drawer organizers!!


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Thank you! It worked really nicely since they’re made for stacking like that! The larger one acts as a place holder for when I pull the pools out to change the water. Also, that’s where I did my moss pit (helps with spillover too)...in the extra space of the bottom, larger organizer. I knew what I wanted and when I walked by them on the shelf at Walmart, I knew they’d work perfectly!


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