HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I might be getting 2 es tommorow and I was wondering could I keep 2 in a twenty gallon long and what other things do I need to to there tank ? I don't want to put them in my 55 gallon with my pp es can have aggressive behavior towards other crabs I heard.

I have 1 E and 2 tiny PP in a 10 gallon tank. I was scared to put two species together for the same reason as you. But Colorado doesn't really sell E's; it was a fluke my son ended up with this kind from the mall and then the seller disappeared.
You can go read the other thread I started under New Members, all about the E's. viewtopic.php?f=28&t=108735

I found that once my temperature in the tank was up to about 78, the hermie started getting more active in the day as well as the night. For a long time I only had one sticker heater on the back of the tank and it's pretty cold here so hermie seemed to always be underground. I added a second sticker heater, a bigger one, and Master Roshi is much much more content now.

Then I noticed he filled the water dishes with sand all the time so I got a deeper dish for the salt water and he splashes it all around so I have to refill daily. He really, really, really likes to dig. There are tunnels everywhere. It's like gopher holes. When i had the smaller water dish, he'd tunnel under it and knock it over on the way up. So, your substrate has to be at least 6-8 inches deep.

Hope that helps!

You can, many - including myself - recommend larger tanks for the exotics as they completely different and require space. And a lot of it.

I like to recommend larger tanks for Es just because they are so active, climbing and digging. Deep substrate is a must. E care sheet.

As far as Es with PPs. Some crabbers have had issues, others haven't had any. Some crabbers have had issues even with E only tanks. There doesn't seem to be any definite answers as to why.

Es can be aggressive but I have found its usually towards other es. But that is my own personal experience with my own es. It's a dominance thing most of the time. Keeping eachother in the correct line up in the pecking order. Es are very active so I agree that they need more space to move, and dig and climb. I have also noticed that there heat and humidity must always be on point, either one drops to much and they slow down fast. Pps are much more hardy then es. But es have a lot of personality. Good luck on whatever you decide they are a lot of fun!

rainbow_crab wrote: It's a dominance thing most of the time. Keeping eachother in the correct line up in the pecking order.

I just want to point out when I say some crabbers have problems with Es, I mean true aggression problems not normal dominance displays. Dominance displays are totally normal in all species and rarely results in anyone getting hurt.

Also, some have just had trouble keeping them - a lot of unexplained deaths.

Just to clarify what I was talking about for anyone reading.

key words were most of the time I have had a bad attack from one e to the other resulting in death. But it's mostly dominance displays. And I agree with mysterious deaths, I know when I first started keeping them they weren't doing well due to pps, environment changes, the humidity wasn't as high as I keep it now, and my heat fluctuated as well. Now that all those things are pretty much set to great temps and humidity, I have still had bad molts, or a random death from time to time.

I wasn't trying to argue with you. Your post just made me realize I wasn't very clear with what I meant.

I wasn't trying to argue either was just clarifying as well. It's been mostly dominant behavior, with rare "real aggression ". Sorry if it came off rudely. Wasn't trying to be. Ive been working 13 hr shifts along with moving into our new house this week so I was trying to quickly relay my thoughts so sorry I've been rushing and stressing about everything wasn't trying to come off as a butt head.

You didn't. I was worried I had come off as a butt head. It's hard to pick up on the tone of a post.