New hermit crab aggression?

[Kellykoala333]

Hi,

So I’ve had my two crabs for about 3 weeks now and so far they had been getting along just fine. Last night I upgraded them from a 10 gallon to a 20 gallon so they have plenty of room for all their stuff and more room to walk. I also added about 6 new shells to their tank. I know they recommend 5 per each but I have been waiting for my orders of shells to come in from eBay.

I got the crabs both from the same place, at the same time. Usually my hermie Concha just hides most of the day and night but comes out late at night to eat and stuff.

My other hermie cha cha is usually more alert day and night just kinda hangs out a lot.

Cha cha changed into a new shell for a bit to try it on, but when I came back Cha cha was back in her old shell and Concha was checking out the shell she was previously in. (I didnt stay to see if he kicked her out of the shell or is she didn’t like it)

Concha became a bit aggressive towards Cha cha, he kicked her and knocked her on her back, tried to make himself appear bigger and kinda liked almost like he was trying to come out of his shell a bit? (But never fully came out but stuck more of his head out more than I’ve seen before)

I could tell cha cha did not like this behavior she kinda shrunk back into her shell for a bit and tried to move away from Concha.

I’ve noticed Concha is quite bigger than Cha cha (I couldn’t tell before because he was always in his shell) so I’m worried he may hurt her? Usually he’s been very docile until this happened (at least that I’ve seen)

I was planning on getting a couple more friends for them before this happened but now I’m worried Concha may be a bully!

Is this something I need to worry about? I dipped them both in freshwater and Concha seemed to chill out a bit.

I’m really hoping it’s not some weird type of mating behavior, but it seemed aggressive to me.

Do you think this is just because of the new shells I put out?

If anyone could give advice on what to do to make sure the peace is kept and let me know if I should later on introduce new hermit crabs to the space or not introduce any at all? Cha cha seems lonely.

Thanks!

K

[Kellykoala333]

Here are some photos of them for reference! The red one that’s bigger is Concha.


The smaller one in the pink shell is Cha Cha, she came in the pink shell, I’ve been trying to get her to change to a new natural shell.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[myllkti]

Idk if this is a reach but maybe he was just walking over her if it was just a one time thing and he’s so much bigger? They use each other as step stools every once in a while lol. Have there been any more issues?

[Kellykoala333]

They seem ok now! I was worried after I saw the initial behavior, but so far they seem like they kind of do their own thing in the terrarium. Maybe it was just a one time thing!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk