HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I don't really see any tank journals, but I guess that's because tanks don't need to be restart / opportunity doesn't arise for crabitats compared to shrimp tanks. Anyway, I'll start my documented journey from not knowing much other than they burrow, to eventually adopting some. Below are what I have right now / planning on getting / planning on doing. Looking for some feedback on things to improve, particularly before I start to actually put stuff into the tat. I'll be sticking the heat tape to the tank today, and insulation if time permits. I live by myself, so hauling the tank to my basement apartment was a struggle already. I may just wait until the weekend to get help to move the tank onto the stand so I don't break the heater insulation that I so carefully chose!

A couple things for recommendations:
- I currently rent, and looking to move in 3-4 years. If there's anything I could do now that will make the transition later easier, I'm all ears.
- I don't know what kind of crabs I'll be adopting, but I've been perusing Kijiji (Canadian Craigslist), and recommending them to HCA


Water
Containers for salt/fresh water with crafting mesh (2" x 5"x x 5"), triple stacked for leaks and easy replace [is this deep enough / big enough? I'm thinking about getting something deeper in case the crabs are actually larger…]
Instant ocean
Seachem prime
[If changing to a larger water container, I may add my hang-on-back breeding boxes to make water changes easier. A little worried about flooding, but I can ensure any tubes are secured to / from the box and water container]

Food
Feeding container: (TBD)
Shrimp spinach tabs (ebita)
Egg shells
Experimental Plant matter: Java moss, guppy grass, Phoenix moss, hornwort
Schedule TBD

Decor
Hiding spots: 3" wide pvc pipe 5" long; small flower pots; pleco cave; DIY coconuts (TBD)
Climbing: 2x cholla wood 5" long; 1x teddy cholla; 2 cholla branches; DIY hamster wheel (TBD); natural fiber twine knitted and netted to make a climbing ladder, hammock, ceiling climbing net to grab on, and moss net
Plants: bromelia (need to quarantine), cat grass (to be started), air plant (need to quarantine)

Shells
Turbo and moon, various sizes (see photos)

Photos:
(1) everything minus the heater, tank and insulation
(2) bromelia and air plants I plan to eventually add to the tank. Currently under grow light next to shrimp tank. I'll move the bromelia into the hydroponics cup later to put into the substrat
(3) knitted twine
(4) assortment of cholla wood. After I got them, I realized how small they were relative to the tank.
(5) "hammock" currently made from DIY net guide


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Edit: a few comments about DIY sliding glass top. You want to get glass that's not too snug. There's a gap of 1-2 mm between the glass and corner moulding that makes it impossible to get into the place. I got 4 mm glass; you'll need to widen the moulding so the bottom glass panel will slide better. I used a knitting needle to widen it. PSA: glass is sharp. I'll be smoothing the glass edge after I get heat tape and insulation on.

Lessons learned: get 3mm glass, not 4 mm or it'll be really tight. Wear cut resistant gloves, or carry lots of bandages.

I was going to ask what the glass pieces are - they are part of the lid?

I too got small Cholla wood pieces without realizing how small they were - but that's okay! You can hook them together with plastic zip ties, or just stick them in the sub like a tee-pee for the crabs to climb.

Do you plan to use sand as well as EE for your sub? Many of us find it holds the shape better than just EE alone.

curlysister wrote:I was going to ask what the glass pieces are - they are part of the lid?

I too got small Cholla wood pieces without realizing how small they were - but that's okay! You can hook them together with plastic zip ties, or just stick them in the sub like a tee-pee for the crabs to climb.

Do you plan to use sand as well as EE for your sub? Many of us find it holds the shape better than just EE alone.

The glass will be used for a sliding glass lid.

I like teepee idea. Will definitely that!

I'll be mixing in King Play Sand. I wanted to do a 5:1 ratio, and confirmed that I will use 7 bags of sand in one of my questions on the forum earlier!

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if the pvc pipe is for them to hide and climb in you might want to add mesh on the inside (and maybe outside) so they are less likely to slip and slide. Great job researching!

Oliviet#1 wrote:if the pvc pipe is for them to hide and climb in you might want to add mesh on the inside (and maybe outside) so they are less likely to slip and slide. Great job researching!

That's a great idea! I'll try making a net that goes around the pipe to see if it can be tight enough... Probably with some sand papered section s and grooves...

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I finished putting on the heat tape on back and side and insulated it as per motorCrab / Fleabag's guide.

Using THG heat tape instead of ultratherm, the electrical cord sticks out from the side as opposed to the bottom. When you put the side heater on, you'll need to cut a bit of the insulation from the back piece if you want it to still cover the corner.

Next up: Substrate!

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Light is now mounted (T5HO full spectrum) with sliding glass lids. From the mishap posted earlier, I grinded down enough from the side to fit inside the corner moulding by taking away the corners. Still ended up too tight to slide inside the track, but I'll live with it.

7 bags of sand purchased, to be dumped into the tank once I read up on how to moisten eco earth.




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Looks awesome. Love the hanging light, almost looks like an aquarium!

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Great job !

I can't wait to see more!

Mixing Substrate was very difficult. If you've seen my other posts.. I miscalculated how much eco earth I needed, thinking needing 3 bricks referred to 3 packages. I mixed 7 bags of sand in for a ration of 1.3:5 eco earth:sand. Extra Substrate will be removed to a tote until I get to making an iso.
The light suspension was changed from 3 lb twine to 10lb picture wire. I thought I could hang other things too, ie that temperature controller. Currently seeing if the controller/heater works!

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Latest update, I found a guy selling driftwood for cheap, so bought 5 large pieces. My old 30gal was out of commission, but I brought that out for tlc. With the 5 that I bought with 2 old pieces, I doused it and gave a good swirl in hydrogen peroxide, and currently in the oven to kill anything else.

With all that extra sand from my previous post, I could start up a 30 gal for more crabs, or do aquatic plants only for their vegetarian diet needs.

My temperature controller is currently being adjusted. I have a second remote temperature/humidity probe, so that's the screenshot of the data logging. My remote probe was calibrated against a laboratory temperature/humidity datalogger, so I'm just using my remote to calibrate against the datalogger.

Edit: I don't mean to have a gloves in every tank picture... It's just convenient haha.



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After removing extra sand and baking all the driftwood, this is where I'm at in the set-up.

I didn't wet the sand yet because I don't want to saturate the substrate too much. With just 2 water containers, humidity only went up to 63% on average overnight. Just now, I added a container of sphagnum moss and driftwood to see how this will affect the humidity. I'm thinking it will take a while to actually increase as the driftwood ended up pretty dry. In the mean time, making more nets with cotton twine!

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If the sand is dry, no matter what you do you'll find it difficult to have high humidity. Try wetting the sand to get a good idea on humidity levels.

As long as you do a little at a time, you should be fine

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That’s going to be an amazing home for some crabbies! Great work! Love it.


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