HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Yesterday evening I got a new crab. She's pretty big, and now the biggest of my 7 in my 49g tank. This morning I took her out to get a good look at her and make sure she's healthy and such, then I put her back in. She came face to face with another one of my crabs and they waved their antennae at each other for a bit, then new girl climbed on top of old girl while old girl waved her legs in the air all defensively like regular crabs do when you reach for them. One of them started making those weird noises but I couldn't tell which one it was. When new girl finally left, old girl lay with her legs out for a couple minutes before going back to normal. I got pictures and a video of the whole thing. It just confused me as I've never seen anything like this before. https://vimeo.com/201451190


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I believe that the fight was your new girl establishing dominance over your old girl. They are normally harmless but I would keep an eye on them just in case.

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Hi ChobbyChobby, from what I can see on the video new girl just used old girl as a step ladder...Mine do it if they are in the way

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Seems like a "feeler fight" to me. It's pretty normal. As long as they don't try to "rock" each other out of their shells, or actively try to reach into each others shell there usually isn't much to worry about.