HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I recently had some crabs get in a squabble over shells. My medium crab has ended up in the smallest shell in the tank and it looks like he lost one leg, although he still has both pinchers and is mobile.

I have put some new shells that are his size into the tank after this. I did dip the shells in their freshwater to smell like them but my crab still chooses to stay in the small shell. It's so tiny he can't even retract completely into it.

Would you recommend iso until he changes into another shell? Or can he stay in the main tank with the others?

Just FYI: My tank temp is 82 consistently, and humidity is 80 - 85%. It's a 20 gal with 3 PPs, but the largest is molting at the moment.

Unless there is further aggression there's no reason to stress him out by moving and isolating him. He will change when he's ready! If you can, post a photo of the shells you're offering and we can double check they are kinds that hermits like. (I'd normally link you to our shell guide but the pictures are out of commission right now.)

Based on what you described, I personally would not iso.

I do recommend first boiling new shells in dechlorinated fresh water, and then dipping them in dechlorinated marine saltwater. This tends to increase shell changes.

It is not necessary to dip new shells in the freshwater of the tank, only new crabs.

Good luck!

I know two of the shells are green turbos. One is slightly larger than the other. The other is a light colored turbo shaped shell, but I can't remember what it's called... Plus there's another which is not something common for the PPs, but I tried it just to see what they think. The other shells are all a little too big for poor Fiji...

wodesorel wrote:Unless there is further aggression there's no reason to stress him out by moving and isolating him. He will change when he's ready! If you can, post a photo of the shells you're offering and we can double check they are kinds that hermits like. (I'd normally link you to our shell guide but the pictures are out of commission right now.)

OMG... I just linked the shell guide for some else. Completely forgot the pics were down.

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Megg45 wrote:I know two of the shells are green turbos. One is slightly larger than the other. The other is a light colored turbo shaped shell, but I can't remember what it's called... Plus there's another which is not something common for the PPs, but I tried it just to see what they think. The other shells are all a little too big for poor Fiji...

I think you have an excuse to go shell shopping! I would offer more size options in the green turbos and possibly different round shaped smooth opening shells. You can find them cheaply on Ebay or Etsy.

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