There's gonna be a fight!

[mool]

Back story: I have 6 crabs in a 55 gallon tank two are XL-to-Jumbo sized and two are emerging Larges. The new Larges were solid Mediums a few months ago when I first rescued them, but they've done nothing but molt and grow since I put them into the tank.

One of my Jumbos pretty much stays in the same shell all the time. It's been in that shell for a good 2 years. The other regularly switches between three shells. Two are large polished tapestry turbos, one with a band and one without; he's modified both of these shells to fit his eyestalks. The 3rd is a plain unpolished Intercostalis turbo; this is his least favorite but he does wear it occasionally and it's the one he's wearing.

Welllll, one of the emerging Larges took one of the other shells. It's too big, but he's proudly wearing it and cruising the tank. I'm afraid there's going to be trouble... I'm tempted to put the shell taker into my other tank, along with his recently abandoned Babylonia to prevent a possible fight.

I probably have 100 shells in that tank, but those three are off limits to other crabs; until now.

What would you do???

[mool]

Also, the "thief" is missing the functionality of his BP. He molted some many times that he came up earlier in the fall w/o a BP at all and immediately went back down to molt and now has a BP, but it's deformed and non-functional.

[GotButterflies]

I would probably buy a few more shells, (because new ones are always interesting), make sure all of my existing shells stay clean on a steady basis, and play the waiting game. I wouldn't separate them, but I would watch them closely. Good luck!


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[mool]

So far they seem to be co-existing normally, but the Jumbo did change into the other tapestry. I can put in another shell order and probably will, but it will need to be shipped.

It's been interesting and a bit nerve wracking watching this new dynamic.

[GotButterflies]

Hopefully they will continue to coexist peacefully


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[Rawrgeous]

All you really can do is keep an eye on them. I was worried when one of mine took a shell that my largest had just switched out of. She had been in it since I adopted her. They had her for 3 years, and she had been in that particular shell for at least 1 of them. Even with several available it took her 4 months to decide to change. It was a VERY tight squeeze, so she really had no choice. As soon as she did my medium took it right away, and boy was I stressed...But to date, no issues yet sooo...hopefully this will be the same case for these guys? I suppose it wouldn't be a terrible idea to get a few more shells too though, just in case. :/ Good luck!!

[mool]

Thanks for the encouragement! If something looks like it's about to go down, I'm going to take the shell stealer out and put him into the other tank. My 40B is pretty full with 7 tiny-to-small crabs, but they are all so vastly different size wise than the occupants of the other tank, I don't think there will be a problem.

[Rawrgeous]

Fingers crossed all goes well!

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