HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Okay so I would explain the circumstance in which I came to own this guy but it's a looong story. So any way I have him and 14 other small to medium heermies, one large muberry(purchased with him), and another only slightly smaller jumbo living in a 75 gallon tank I just got now my birthday is on monday and I'm DEF planning on getting a bigger food bowl at least 20 shells for the two big guys (the mulberry already found his new shell and it's on of my favs I've been waitting for a hermies to pick to live in for a while now.), and a larger salt water pool. But anyway I want to know this guy is like litterally seriously MASSIVE!!!!. His bigger pincher is AT LEAST the size of a guys thumb he's HUGE. So earlier today I saw him come out and come up to the food bowl and a=one of my other pps of course smaller was in there and as he made is way up into the food bowl he started shoving the other one out of the way and i need to know if he was being food aggressive of if it's just cause of his sheer massiveness and the way hermit crabs always hang over the side of the dish to eat. Any help?

Crabs tend to just walk over whatever is in their way and I can see how a big guy wouldn't really know his size when another crab is next to him. I wouldn't start to think he's being aggressive unless you repeatedly see him going out of his way to shove other crabs when he's by the food.

well just after i posted this the same crab came back to try to get food and he stood over the bowl and when he tried to j=go around he would shove him back... I finally just grabbed a second bowl that is a bit igger and put it in the cage too soo i mean he can't block two bowls at once right? so hope fully it will get better.

That was a good idea. I do have some crabs that like to sit in the bowl while they eat, while others like to sit on the edge. Hopefully you won't have any more trouble with your pushy guy with the two bowls! Another thing I wanted to mention was I've sometimes had newer crabs that were a little pushy with the food until they figured out there was always going to be plenty of food in their new home and they didn't need to panic about it. So hopefully he'll calm down eventually.

I have several big guys, and I changed to feeding in multiple shells then one main dish. It's not like they were guarding the food, but they certainly don't like to share! It was a major problem since when one big guy finished and moved out another would move in, and the smaller crabs never seemed to get a turn. So I went and bought a pack of large lion paw clam shells from the craft store, and now there are two for fresh fruits and two for dried proteins spread out across the tank. The big guys have to run between dishes and the little ones get food easily now.

That's what I do...multiple food bowls; it's comical to watch the big guys guarding a dish, and a little fellow sneaking behind his back to eat from another dish... More exercise for everyone...

I have a few food aggressive crabs, I think it's common in most animals, especially ones that live in groups. They have to make sure they get their share. I usually just let them be, they wait their turn. But multiple food bowls is an even better idea.

I was just worried because he is litterally soooo massivly large. But thank you ^_^