HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I was thinking of getting some hermit crabs me the kids and I. I am a fish keeping nerd and had some high hopes for ideas with some materials I have on hand.

What about a 20 gallon high built into a palidarium. The top part completely covered by egg crate with pvc pipes as columns and sitting on egg crate the bottom for weight distribution. Add a mesh over the top layer (land area) and then a large shallowish tub of substrate for hermit crabs. With water dish, toys, food. And in the back side have an internal filter with water trickling down rocks through the mesh into the water which would reach almost to the land egg crate. I thinking this would be good because of humidity control and for no ammonia. Is there anything wrong with this kind of setup? Would the main water supply best be fresh or saltwater if it is ok?

The problem with hermits is that they need a lot of substrate space in order to support the crabs when they molt. Think of your sand/EE mix as the water in a fish tank - once your per gallons is filled, the tank is maxed out. In the case of fish its because they're being poisoned by their own waste, but in the case of hermits it's because they'll start running into each other underground and eating each other when they molt.

A 20 high can support 3 to 4 average sized hermits for several years, when it's half full of substrate. Start taking that substrate space away, and the numbers the tank can support will start dropping. 6 inches of substrate depth is the minimum recommended for even a small crab, and it needs to be deeper as the crabs get larger. A tank can support smaller crabs with less substrate, but those small crabs will not be staying small for long and can reach medium in 2 years and large in under 4 years.

Ahhh ok that makes a lot of sense! I am starting to undeRstand more about hermit crabs now. The pieces are coming together. I will abandon that idea. So, in this case, a tank with more bottom surface area would be more ideal.

You got it. I personally don't care for narrow tanks partly because of the loss of floor space.

You'll probably never be happy with your tank size. Lol I have a 125 and want either a bigger one or a second 125.

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Haha, I will have to find the biggest tank I can then! And somewhere to put it :S

Floor space dictates the number, but they are known as 'tree crabs' in their native range for a reason! They will climb and use every upper inch that you can give them access to. It's often a trade off between molting space and climbing space, sadly.