HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi, I’m gonna be a hermit crab owner soon, and I have a 20 gallon tank high. I am thinking about getting two teeny or small PP, and one teeny or small E. Do you guys think that is a good idea? I think Es are cute! How many inches of substrate is good? I was thinking maybe 8 or 9 inches? My tank is only 16” tall so I don’t want to take up too much space. I also heard Es are a little harder to take care of than PPs, and they like different shells (D shaped and O shaped). If there is anything I’m missing or that might need correcting please let me know! Thanks! (Ps this is a post mainly about Ecuadorian crab info)

Have you checked out the Care Sheets? There are ones for basics as well as for the different species.

As I have said just recently in the chat, exotic crabs should have at least one other species buddy, and they don't appreciate being crowded over with any other species of crabs, meaning that you shouldn't put a max amount of crabs that your tank could handle, they need enough room to dig for proper molting. I recommend at least ten inches of substrate, which eventually will need to be maxed out at the normal twelve inches once the crabs become big enough.

They also need a lot of varied proteins and calcium, without the proper diet they are more likely to get into fights.

Here is the care guide I found up on this forum.
https://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/p ... 20&t=92454

The HCA recommends substrate be either six inches or three times three height of the largest crab, whichever’s deeper.

This applies for all species, so eight or nine inches should be fine.

Some people prefer to make it deeper for their Ecuadorians, but it’s really up to you.


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Should I wait to get an Ecuadorian until I can fit it’s needs in a bigger tank?

Oliviet#1 wrote:Should I wait to get an Ecuadorian until I can fit it’s needs in a bigger tank?

Yes


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hey soilentgringa, how did you come up with your profile name?

It is recommended to give E's 10 gallons of space per crab. With purples you could probably go down to around 5 gallons of space per crab. That would be for medium sized crabs. Larger sizes you would want to give them more space. Also keep in mind eventually they will grow and you will need to upgrade to a larger tank.