3 crabs in a 10 gallon

[Freckles24]

I have a medium, small, and teeny crab. According to the size chart on this website a 10 gallon is the perfect size for them. Why does everyone keep telling me it is overcrowded??

[Hermiearth]

Well- the chart is pretty outdated. The "new" rule of thumb is 1 per 5 gallons. To avoid aggression.


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[GotButterflies]

I have a medium, small, and teeny crab. According to the size chart on this website a 10 gallon is the perfect size for them. Why does everyone keep telling me it is overcrowded??

1 crab per 5 gallons is really more humane. To each's own. If it's working for you and you aren't having any issues, then you might be okay. If you start having issues with your crabs; then you will know you need to upgrade your tank size.

[soilentgringa]

Well- the chart is pretty outdated. The "new" rule of thumb is 1 per 5 gallons. To avoid aggression.


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The new rule of thumb according to who?

I am really going to have to ask people to stop telling folks that our care guides are outdated, especially when Wodesorel went through and redid all of them less than 3 years ago.

We get enough of that from other groups.

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[Hermiearth]

Well- the chart is pretty outdated. The "new" rule of thumb is 1 per 5 gallons. To avoid aggression.


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The new rule of thumb according to who?

I am really going to have to ask people to stop telling folks that our care guides are outdated, especially when Wodesorel went through and redid all of them less than 3 years ago.

We get enough of that from other groups.

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I have been told that 1 crab per 5 gallons is the way to go countless times by literally anyone on here. This forum is getting more and more hostile and I don't like it.


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[Freckles24]

There's so much conflicting info about keeping crabs!! it's so hard to keep it straight.. and I agree with hermiearth I have seen plenty of condescending remarks on different posts.

[soilentgringa]

Well- the chart is pretty outdated. The "new" rule of thumb is 1 per 5 gallons. To avoid aggression.


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The new rule of thumb according to who?

I am really going to have to ask people to stop telling folks that our care guides are outdated, especially when Wodesorel went through and redid all of them less than 3 years ago.

We get enough of that from other groups.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

I have been told that 1 crab per 5 gallons is the way to go countless times by literally anyone on here. This forum is getting more and more hostile and I don't like it.


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I think that it is very important to remember that you cannot determine someone's tone via text.

It is also important to keep in mind the philosophy that HCA was built on, by one of the current owners and longtime crabbers, which I will copy and paste below.

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[soilentgringa]

http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 6&t=109468

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[soilentgringa]

This was written by JediMasterThrash.

We do have updated care information now but the philosophy is the same as it has ever been.

(Please note that what has been written about bathing and molting, for instance, has been updated.)

Carol Ormes kept her tanks sanitized constantly; she was a biologist. Her crabs molted on gravel. They were purchased in 1976 and one is still alive today; one passed a couple of years ago. She let them roam her house. Obviously she did something right.

I have coordinated adoptions for jumbos that lived in open topped tanks with branches sticking out that were at least 10 years in captivity. One of mine is at least 10 and came from a tank with about 2 inches of eco earth and no lid.

Crabs. Are. Weird.

Yes, we have baseline suggestions to keep them alive. Millions die yearly at the result of the trade.

We are constantly striving to provide both up to date and practical care advice here.

"Just felt like posting an explaination for why there is no simple right or wrong to crab care. Why it's not a case of "do it this way or your crabs will die".

The reason is simply because environment is different for everyone. So what might be acceptable for one person might not work for another.

In general, the care I've laid out in the Care Sheet is the simplest, easiest-to-implement complete basic care that statistically will give you the best chance of success. But it by no means is always the best way for any one person or any one crabitat.

Temp & Humidity: If you live near the ocean in a middle latitude (i.e., florida, etc), the natural air conditions are already perfect for crabs. If you don't have de-humidifying air conditioning, you could let your crabs live in an open-air wire cage. If you maintain moist sand, the humidity at second level height may not need to be close to the perfect 75. If you maintain higher heat, it might make crabs more tolerant to lower humidity ranges. And FYI, the perfect 75/75 is just a reference average, not a perfect stable condition. In real life, temp and humidity vary as much as 25%/15o each day.

Substrate & Molting: You only need a digable substrate if you want your crabs to molt in the main tank. Once your crabs and stable and destressed, you could "micro-manage" your crabs. You could let them live in shallow (safe) bark or gravel. You could bathe them every week, and always keep up to date on every crabs molting stage. Once you notice them become premolt, they could be moved to a special molting chamber. The more common method these days, self-bathing and main-tank molting, was something I pioneered 4 years ago because I was lazy, not because it was the only way ^_^ They could have other shelters or beds of moss/leaves to hide in, rather than bury in sand.

Water & Food: If you have well water, it probably isn't treated with chloramines, and a regular dechlorinator (or letting it sit) would work. While city water needs chloramines and heavy metals removed. There is no evidence at all (search for my previous posts) that aloe, stress coat, or slime coat is bad for hermits. Commercial foods are forumlated to contain the correct complete diet. Some work went into them, and won't kill your crabs. The only issue is that some add preservatives, and certain metal compounds that, while OK for mammal foods, aren't for crabs. But as long as a commercial food doesn't contain those, it should be alright. And there's no concrete evidence to say that the minute quantities of the chemicals in commercial foods are actually harmful. And it also might depend on species too. For instance, I have evidence from my own experiments that copper sulfate may affect Ecuadorian molts, but PPs might be unaffected. So if you only have PPs, they may be hardier to some ingredients than more fragile crabs. Also, inland species of crabs like PPs and Brevimanus may not require saltwater, even if they still like.

Painted Shells: Dyed shells pose no risk of flaking. And there's never been any evidence than flaked paint has harmed crabs. Crabs will tend not to like them for natural reasons, but there's never been any evidence of a painted shell doing harm to a crab (except if the crab is placed into the shell before the paint/dye has cured, in which case there has been evidence). Some paint may contain harmful ingredients, but that doesn't mean the crab eats it. Crabs encounter countless harmful substances everyday in the wild. They have natural instincts on what to eat, and what not to, and vary their diet purposfully to prevent overdosing on anything bad.

The point of this post is just to remind everything that there's still very little we know for absolute certain about crabs. Most of it is just best practices. And the best practices tend to turn upside down every few years anyway. I still of course only "recommend" what's in the care sheet. But doing something else doesn't mean you're going to kill your crabs. In fact, you might find a better way!"

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[Kermie16]

Hey Freckles24! Honestly if ur crew are happily getting along, I would leave it at that. Everyone's situation is different just like each crab is different. One thing may not work for one crabber where it works for another. As GB said above, you will know when your hermies need an upgraded tank. I started with 3 in a 10g tank as well and it worked for us for a good bit. Then it seemed like they kept molting and getting bigger so we moved up to a 20 g and added a couple of more hermies. As long as the hermies are healthy and happy, then all is good ^_^


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[aussieJJDude]

Everyone had there own little take on hermit care. The most popular is the 5 per gallon, however I don't agree with that as you could have a tall tank, which crabs aren't helicopters. I personally like to go with a 1ft^2 per crab, which normally a 55g tank for example will house 4-5 crabs... and a 75g will around 6 and a 90g will be the same as a 75g...
However the site recommends a crab per gallon and if they are fine stick with that.

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[GotButterflies]

Everyone had there own little take on hermit care. The most popular is the 5 per gallon, however I don't agree with that as you could have a tall tank, which crabs aren't helicopters. I personally like to go with a 1ft^2 per crab, which normally a 55g tank for example will house 4-5 crabs... and a 75g will around 6 and a 90g will be the same as a 75g...
However the site recommends a crab per gallon and if they are fine stick with that.

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Edit: I think you mean 1 per 5 gallon lol