HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm guessing that brine shrimp are the easiest to produce, and pack a nutrient punch, and will stay alive in sea water. Brine shrimp are in the middle of the fry food sizes, with rotifers (zooplankton) and infusoria being the smallest, then brine shrimp, then crushed fish flake. Live food will also help then grow quicker, and will probably trigger their appetites as it more closely resembles what they would get in nature. Egg yolk can be used with baby fish, but they won't grow as quickly as with cultured food.

I'm sure there are ready-made product you could buy, but it will depend on what's available at your local fish store. Either powdered or hopefully frozen, to at least get you started until the brine shrimp hatch.

Wow this is so cool! It would be so neat for you if they made it! That picture of the tiny is so cute! It sure is super teeny tiny! Good luck!

wodesorel wrote:I'm guessing that brine shrimp are the easiest to produce, and pack a nutrient punch, and will stay alive in sea water. Brine shrimp are in the middle of the fry food sizes, with rotifers (zooplankton) and infusoria being the smallest, then brine shrimp, then crushed fish flake. Live food will also help then grow quicker, and will probably trigger their appetites as it more closely resembles what they would get in nature. Egg yolk can be used with baby fish, but they won't grow as quickly as with cultured food.

I'm sure there are ready-made product you could buy, but it will depend on what's available at your local fish store. Either powdered or hopefully frozen, to at least get you started until the brine shrimp hatch.

I went to the pet store yesterday again, but they didn't have any Artemia, it was sold out. So I have to see if I can find it somewhere else.

crabbyhappy wrote:Wow this is so cool! It would be so neat for you if they made it! That picture of the tiny is so cute! It sure is super teeny tiny! Good luck!

I really hope at least some of them do survive! I am so extremely happy over this already, and if they actually would make it I can not even immagine how happy I would be. ^^ But I know that they who has THCP had their babies surviving for ten days before all of them had died, so I don't want to be too full of dreams (but I can't help that I already am ).

By the way, I still haven't heard from the people on THCP. I really hope they got the message I sent, but maybe they didn't?


For all who is interested, the babies are all still alive! Not a single one has died in the past two days! :D:D And they recently became four days old.

For all who is interested, the babies are all still alive! Not a single one has died in the past two days! And they recently became four days old.

Absolutely AMAZING!!!! Congrats & keep up the good work! Have you gotten any sleep? LOL, I don't think I would be able to...

CrabbyIrene wrote:


Absolutely AMAZING!!!! Congrats & keep up the good work! Have you gotten any sleep? LOL, I don't think I would be able to...

Thanks! Haha, no, not really. ^^ But I am going to sleep now, I HAVE to! I've been awake for more than 27 hours now, so I'm pretty tired - but I still have a hard time getting into bed, since the hermit crab babies is the only thing I can think about.

how often do you change the water?
What do you feed them?
This is so interesting!!

CONGRATS!!! If they make it, I have teeny tiny shells I can give you. It's a pretty big if, though. I realize that. But four days!! Wow!

Crab Addict wrote:how often do you change the water?
What do you feed them?
This is so interesting!!

I change their water about every 3-4 hour, except when I'm asleep of course. But since I got the babies, I haven't had much sleep.
Right now I feed them with phytoplankton, but I try to find Artemia somewhere. ^^

wolfnipplechips wrote:CONGRATS!!! If they make it, I have teeny tiny shells I can give you. It's a pretty big if, though. I realize that. But four days!! Wow!

Thanks!! :D


Sadly two of them have died this evening. But it was actually expected, I mean, even if the conditions where absolutely perfect, some of them would still die. It's hard when you get attached to something this fragile. And it's stupid too, but I cant help it.
The others seem fine though, swimming backwards and "jumping" around in the water.

Tammy and Kirk has answered! But they couldn't give me any more information than was already published on their site.

SojMad wrote:Is it possible that hermit crabs mate underground?

Mine almost always went at it on the edge of a water dish, like in your pictures. Exhibitionists, I guess.
I had two different "couples" a few years ago and coincidentally, both involved C. rugosus, although one had a C. clypeatus mate. :roll:
As I recall, both females laid copious amounts of eggs, but one of them left them in random spots away from the water.

megs wrote: Mine almost always went at it on the edge of a water dish, like in your pictures. Exhibitionists, I guess.
I had two different "couples" a few years ago and coincidentally, both involved C. rugosus, although one had a C. clypeatus mate. :roll:
As I recall, both females laid copious amounts of eggs, but one of them left them in random spots away from the water.

Interesting! Maybe C. rugosus has easier to mate in captivity than other species. But can different species really mate with each other and produce fertile eggs?
How long were you able to keep the babies alive?


And the usual update of course ; All of the babies are still alive (except for the two who had died last time I wrote). Now they're 5½ days old. ^^

SojMad wrote:But can different species really mate with each other and produce fertile eggs?

No one knows for sure since no one has gone out and DNA tested suspicious looking hermit crabs where the ranges overlap. Going by visual ID alone leads us to believe it's a possibility with South Pacific species, but only the DNA can say for sure since hermits may have natural differences within the species. If we could find a way to breed them in captivity on demand then we'd be able to find out that way also, but that's much harder than the testing.

I have to admit, I'm madly waiting for your updates every day. This is so exciting!

wodesorel wrote: No one knows for sure since no one has gone out and DNA tested suspicious looking hermit crabs where the ranges overlap. Going by visual ID alone leads us to believe it's a possibility with South Pacific species, but only the DNA can say for sure since hermits may have natural differences within the species. If we could find a way to breed them in captivity on demand then we'd be able to find out that way also, but that's much harder than the testing.

I have to admit, I'm madly waiting for your updates every day. This is so exciting!

That is really interesting! But is it possible to DNA test hermit crabs without hurting them? How is the testing done?

Hihi, I'm glad to hear the updates are appreciated.

I took some pictures of them a few minutes ago, and also a video - not that they have grown anything, but still.. The video is blurry, but it's impossible for my camera to do it anything better than this. ^^

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laKTTuX190o

Here's two of the babies. I took them out of their regular jar just to get a better picture. After the photos were taken, they were of course put back with their siblings.


Here's the babies in one of the jars:

Congrats! I enjoy reading your updates, your doing a wonderful job!

I don't know if the mixed species couple's eggs were fertile or not, they were the ones that left the eggs all over the tank & not in the water. I didn't even know what they were at first until I started cleaning them up the first night. I used to have pictures of the eggs & of them canoodling, but that was several computers & a few moves ago so who knows what happened to the files.
The other pair did have some hatch, but they died like the first day or so. I was gone & never saw them alive.

tigermoon89 wrote:Congrats! I enjoy reading your updates, your doing a wonderful job!

Thanks!

megs wrote:I don't know if the mixed species couple's eggs were fertile or not, they were the ones that left the eggs all over the tank & not in the water. I didn't even know what they were at first until I started cleaning them up the first night. I used to have pictures of the eggs & of them canoodling, but that was several computers & a few moves ago so who knows what happened to the files.
The other pair did have some hatch, but they died like the first day or so. I was gone & never saw them alive.

Too bad you don't have the pictures, I would have loved to see them! Are the hermit crabs still alive from both couples? How many times did they produce eggs?
I'm sorry to hear you never had a chance to see the babies, they are so cute.