He seemed fine, no exo nearby, didn't seem freshly molted, though the big pincher was perhaps a bit more of a light lavender than purple color. Otherwise he seemed hardened up and responsive. But later that evening a bully crab in the main tank took hold of him, flipped him over, and wouldn't let go. The little guy seemed really scared, I tried misting and touching bully crab's shell but he was serious, so I plopped the bully crab in the water (he dropped the little guy just as I was about to get them both in the water) and then I ISOd the little guy. The ISOd crab seems fine--has been climbing and eating lots of calcium-rich foods and walking on the hamster wheel and digging all week, so I'm ready to try him back in the big tank again, but here's my question: What time of day would you move the ISOd crab back? Before everyone in the big tank gets up so the little guy can find his way around without being accosted, even if it means waking him up to make the transfer? Or would you wait until the little guy wakes up on his own and move him over (with a quick freshwater dip in the big tank pool) and watch to see what happens with the resident crabs and bully crab, especially?Best time of day to relocate?
Best time of day to relocate?
So...there's probably not a right or wrong way to do this, but I'm interested in your opinion...a sort of "what would you do" question. Here's the setup: I have a little guy in ISO that I encountered when changing and moving my saltwater pool last week. I haven't seen him for months and I found him down very near the bottom (I'd actually thought he was a PPS casualty since he'd been MIA so long). Yay! He seemed fine, no exo nearby, didn't seem freshly molted, though the big pincher was perhaps a bit more of a light lavender than purple color. Otherwise he seemed hardened up and responsive. But later that evening a bully crab in the main tank took hold of him, flipped him over, and wouldn't let go. The little guy seemed really scared, I tried misting and touching bully crab's shell but he was serious, so I plopped the bully crab in the water (he dropped the little guy just as I was about to get them both in the water) and then I ISOd the little guy. The ISOd crab seems fine--has been climbing and eating lots of calcium-rich foods and walking on the hamster wheel and digging all week, so I'm ready to try him back in the big tank again, but here's my question: What time of day would you move the ISOd crab back? Before everyone in the big tank gets up so the little guy can find his way around without being accosted, even if it means waking him up to make the transfer? Or would you wait until the little guy wakes up on his own and move him over (with a quick freshwater dip in the big tank pool) and watch to see what happens with the resident crabs and bully crab, especially?
He seemed fine, no exo nearby, didn't seem freshly molted, though the big pincher was perhaps a bit more of a light lavender than purple color. Otherwise he seemed hardened up and responsive. But later that evening a bully crab in the main tank took hold of him, flipped him over, and wouldn't let go. The little guy seemed really scared, I tried misting and touching bully crab's shell but he was serious, so I plopped the bully crab in the water (he dropped the little guy just as I was about to get them both in the water) and then I ISOd the little guy. The ISOd crab seems fine--has been climbing and eating lots of calcium-rich foods and walking on the hamster wheel and digging all week, so I'm ready to try him back in the big tank again, but here's my question: What time of day would you move the ISOd crab back? Before everyone in the big tank gets up so the little guy can find his way around without being accosted, even if it means waking him up to make the transfer? Or would you wait until the little guy wakes up on his own and move him over (with a quick freshwater dip in the big tank pool) and watch to see what happens with the resident crabs and bully crab, especially?Re: Best time of day to relocate?
I am quite new to crabbing, but when my crabs come up from molting or destressing and when I got 2 new crabs, I put about 1 inch of salt water in a container and gave them all a bath together. This way they met on neutral ground and everyone would now smell the same. This has worked for me. Good luck. Anyone else have some suggestions?