Lonely Crab

[moongirl14]

Hello!
I am hoping to get some advice today. I am a fairly new crab owner and I want to make sure I am doing the right thing. However, no one around me seems to have very accurate information. I have adopted 5 crabs about 3 months ago. As of today 4 have buried. One I caught early and moved into an isolation tank. However, shortly after another 3 buried somewhere in the tank. I hope they did not go down to eat each other My concern however is that these four crabs have been down for over a month now and my last crab has been alone all this time. One day about two weeks ago one of the other crabs came up, but then quickly buried again. I believe they must all be molting as they are now in a habitat with deep soil/sand, unlike the one in the pet store. Although I am a bit concerned for my buried crabs as they are quite small and I did not believe molting would take this long, my main concern is the crab who has not buried. Is it okay for him to be alone for this long? I don't want to purchase another crab as my tank is not big enough and I don't currently have the money to purchase a bigger tank. But I also don't want poor Picaso to continue being all alone. I'm not sure what to do!

[hayhay528]

the lonely crab will be just fine! mine, which are small/medium crabs, usually take 1-2 months for a molt, and sometimes they just decide to go for digs and i dont see them for weeks - i assume they come up at night for food and what not though.
i find that my smaller crabs really "come out of their shells" when my E is down molting (E's are very fast and have thicker bodies than the PP's so i assume my little crabs try to stay out of his way when he is up).

another thing i want to mention is you proabbly dont want to interfere with the molts and seperate them in ISO's, UNLESS you do not have a tank where you can provide deep enough sand. they recommend 3 times your largest crab in sand but i just go with one foot in my tank (first because i have an e, and second because i find they often molt in groups and it makes me less worried)
i have 5 crabs, used to have 6, and i have never had any aggression problems or anyone get attacked while molting. i personally think it would cause more stress on them to put them in the ISO during a time like that where its already probably a bit stressful for them. just provide enough sand and PLENTY of animal and plant proteins for them daily and the small crabs will take care of the molting themselves!

[GotButterflies]

Hello Moongirl! Welcome to the HCA!

How many inches of substrate do you have? The HCA recommends a minimum of 6" or three times the height of your largest crab (whichever is deeper wins). The substrate should also be sandcastle consistency.

How big is your tank? How many crabs do you have? I personally like 1 crab per 5 gallons for small to medium sized crabs. If both of those conditions are being met, then you have nothing to worry about. Relax. It is easy to worry when you are new to crabbing! Crabs dig down to chill, destress, and to molt. The time that it takes for all of these things depend on the individual crab. Make sure you provide plenty of calcium and protein.

If you would like to fill this out, we can check the aspects of your tank to make sure everything well
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=46102

In the meantime, check out the care guides, they are extremely informative. We are here for you! Your other crab will not be lonely - they are able to communicate with each other even though they are under the sand!