HCA: Hermit Crab Association

(if this isn't the right area for this thread please feel free to move it)
I'm collecting the finishing touches for the 10g, which are basically the bigger, deeper water dishes and places for them to climb/hide. With the water dishes, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for me to look at? What did you guys use in your 10g's?My hermit crabs are medium sized if that helps. And for hiding/climbing, I was interested in fake plants. I see that people use the plants as a way for crabs to get out of the water dishes- how do you anchor the plants so they don't fall down when the crab starts climbing? Do you glue them somewhere? And what about for them to climb on the sides of the tanks, what do you do with the plants then?
Thanks!


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Set-ups are so much fun (and are never really finished )! Although 10g tanks have a relatively small footprint, 20Lx10W, you still want to have pools that are large enough for a crab to submerge in so square or rectangular clear plastic storage containers are your best bet. It's easiest to sink the pools into the substrate at one end of the tank, side by side. To make cleaning easier, double up the pools: sink two containers, place a layer of marbles (or pebbles) in the bottom of each, then place another container on top -- that's the one you'll be filling and it's a snap to lift out, clean and replace without having to redig a hole! Check out your local dollar store: you can usually pick up a 4- or 6-pack of suitable containers.

I have a 29g (30Lx12W) and use containers that are 6Lx4Wx3.5H but you'll want something a bit smaller, maybe 4x4x3.5:


Many of us installed corner guards when the crabitat was first under construction: they are pieces of L-shaped heavy plastic into which you drill small holes to accommodate plastic zipties and then use aquarium silicon to attach to the tank walls just under the inner lip -- plants, vines and fish net can then be attached to the corner guards via zipties. This is an option to keep in mind, perhaps when you upgrade to a larger tank. You can see how the fish net is suspended from a corner guard in the picture below:


If you buy a reptile vine at PetSmart/Petco, it will come with a suction cup to hold it to the tank wall...only my large crab, Big Enzo, has been able to fully detach one of these vines. To pick up plants and vines on the cheap, scout out Goodwill, Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul and other local thrift shops; of course, "bargain" vines won't have suction cups so buy a pack or two at Walmart -- you'll want ones that either have a hole through the "nipple" or ones that have a slot made to hold the wire for hanging strings of lights. Plants that have plastic stems that can be sunk into the substrate are also excellent: the top of the plant/flower gives the crabs something to climb on and hide under.

Other good climbing options are small branches from trees untreated with pesticides (check the Safe/Unsafe Foods lists as many types of wood are included), cholla and fish net -- the latter can be fastened to the tank walls with suction cups or can be draped over a branch.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for your reply, I think I'm still confused on the doubling up for water dishes, though. If you're placing another container over the one that's sunk into the sand for easier cleaning, what's the purpose of the pebbles in the first dish? Wouldn't it make more sense for them to go into the dish that you'll be lifting out for cleaning, so the crabs can have something to grab on to? If I'm understanding your post wrong I apologize, my head is very fuzzy at the moment. And how did you get your craft mesh to bend to make a ramp like that? I have leftover craft mesh from when I was making a divider for the bettas, but it likes to straighten itself out.

About how deep do you push the plastic stems for the plants into the substrate? I want to do that but I think I'd be worried about one of the crabs trying to eat the plastic while they were underground.

The purpose of the marbles/pebbles between the containers is to prevent them from sticking together, thereby allowing the top one to be lifted out easily. In the container pool itself, it is, indeed, helpful (and pretty) to have a layer of pebbles, perhaps a few scallop-like shells, and even a small aquarium plant to give the crabs traction. Re the craft mesh ramps: I drilled two holes through the lip of the top container, bent the craft mesh over the lip, then attached the mesh with zipties through the mesh and holes in the lip of the container.

Go ahead and push the plant stem down as far as it will go. Don't worry about crabs eating plastic -- they'll pinch bits off but won't eat it as they are very good at discerning what is edible and what isn't. They'll pinch and eat bits of cocofiber mat, cork, egg shell, even thin shells, but won't eat cloth (silk flowers) or plastic.

Thanks for the tips! Last night I got some Tupperware that are 4" X 4", and 3 inches deep like you suggested. I created the water bowls like you suggested, using a total of four containers. The first picture shows how the ramp and the pebbles look, and the second shows the two bowls. Do you see anything that might be a concern for the crabs? Would they have any trouble getting out of the bowl?


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Thatll work just fine

As @amart24 said, those will be fine -- that's exactly how many crabbers set up their pools and their crabs use the ramps and pools regularly. My 4 PPs love their pools ever since I added bubblers last January but, to be honest, only one of them actually uses the ramps for ingress/egress and that's my large guy, Big Enzo -- the others just throw a leg over the edge of the pool and pull themselves in/out or use the plants and vines by the pools.

I love your crab's name, Crabinski! And tonight everything finally came for me to set up the 10g, so I had fun with that. Can you guys take a look at it and tell me if there's anything else I need to add, or change?

I have a small piece of cholla I'll add in later, and thermo/hygro is still in temp tank, but what's your opinion on it right now?


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Nice job! It always surprises me at how much can fit into a 10g with a bit of imagination and planning. The suspended shell shop and moss pit are what I did when I had a 10g, along with the cocohut. The crabs will really appreciate the net and greenery for climbing (and hiding) and the anticipated cholla will aid as a means of accessing the second level features. The only suggestion I have is to add a piece of netting along the glass behind the pools -- the crabs will have another way in/out of the pools and more climbing space.

WOW, VERY nice use of space-I think it looks amazing!

Thanks! The layout of the tank is all due to this site. I read a ton of posts about how to set up the crabitat the best, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I added another piece of netting behind the pools and insulated the UTH, it wasn't quite reaching the temp I was looking for. Can't take the cholla out of the temporary tank yet, maybe I'll go by Hobby Lobby tomorrow to look at the cholla they have there. Now all that's left to do is to wait for the crabs to resurface from their destressing/molting, and it'll be perfect .

Edit: that coconut hut isn't true coconut I think, maybe you can see in the pictures that it has a weird shine to it. Neither PetSmart or PetCo had a true coconut hut, which was weird. Does anyone know about this particular hut, and if it is safe for the crabs?

Is it the plastic one? I can't tell in the pics.

That's the fake plastic cocohut--- Iv'e used it in my tank before without any problems.

I just joined this site after having spent too many hours looking at tank setups. I would love to make some aesthetic improvements to our crabitat and am wondering about the corner guards a few of you mentioned. Where do I get those? Are they a specialty item for glass aquariums or are you repurposing some other common item? Thank you!

ReluctantCrabber50 wrote:I just joined this site after having spent too many hours looking at tank setups. I would love to make some aesthetic improvements to our crabitat and am wondering about the corner guards a few of you mentioned. Where do I get those? Are they a specialty item for glass aquariums or are you repurposing some other common item? Thank you!

Welcome aboard! We are, indeed, repurposing another item to create corner guards. They are constructed from L-shaped clear plastic corner guards, usually found in the wallpaper section at Home Depot/Lowe's, sold in 4' and 8' lengths.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Trimaco-1-1- ... /100118843

I have corner guards along the top of the sides and back of the 29g but other crabbers install one on the front side, too. To construct a corner guard, you'll need aquarium silicon, a drill, Exacto knife (tin snips or a heavy-duty pair of scissors), tape measure, a Sharpie and plastic zipties. Then:
1. Carefully measure the inside of the wall on which the corner guard is to be placed, just under the inner lip, and cut the plastic to the desired length.
2. Hold the plastic piece so that it's a "reverse-L", use the Sharpie to mark off the points at which you want to drill holes large enough to accommodate a plastic ziptie, about 1.5" apart.
3. Drill out the holes.
4. Using aquarium silicon, attach the undrilled side of the "reverse-L" just under the inner lip of the tank so that the drilled side juts out into the tank, creating a little ledge.
5. Allow to "cure" for about 48 hours or until the smell of the silicon has thoroughly dissipated. The corner guards are now ready to hold up whatever needs to be held -- fish net, vines, etc. -- all you need to do is thread a ziptie through one of the holes, then through the object to be held, then close the ziptie and Voila!

The only caveat is that the crabs cannot be in the tank when corner guards are being installed due to the silicon fumes. That said, if your crabs can be relocated for 48 hours, perhaps into a smaller ISO tank, you can do the installation on your current tank. If relocating the crabs isn't possible, just wait until your next upgrade and do the installation when prepping the new tank.

Hope this helps .