HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I also have a crabitat at home. I repurposed a 20 gallon fish tank for my sons birthday last year. He received two medium sized hermit crabs. Matthew named one crab and he allowed my daughter, Brooke, to name the other.

Matthew named his hermit crab "HERMIE":


Brooke named her hermit crab "Princess America". However, shortly after coming home, she buried herself in the sand and six months later was making quite a smell. "She" was replaced with "Princess America (Deux)":

As the school year began, I emptied my school fish tank so that it could be moved from home to my office. In the process of carrying it to my car, the glass cracked on the side. I had planned on throwing the tank away. Then I came up with the idea of joining the 20 gallon and 29 gallon tanks into one long tank.

The plan took quite a bit of research but came together quickly. I removed the silicone caulking on one end of each tank. Then I placed them on their side and shattered the glass with a hammer and screw driver. Once I had cut away all of the broken glass and silicone, I washed the tanks. Because the tanks are different sizes, I built a base for the 20 gallon tank which makes it level with the 29 gallon tank.

I bought an inexpensive piece of plexiglass from home depot and used a heat gun to bend it. This bridges the gap between the two tanks height. If I were to do it again, I would not have made it visible from the outside.




Lastly, I used one tube of clear aquarium silicone to bind it all together. Once the silicone had dried for 2 days, added the sand/coconut fiber substrate, decorations, water, food, and ceramic heat lamp. I am considering painting the back of the glass like my office tank. I also want to add some vegetation.

Here is the finished product (without the heat lamp):

We added three new hermit crabs to the newly enlarged tank after keeping them in a separate tank for 2 weeks. Because two of the newbie's have the same color shell (with subtle differences), the kids decided to name each one after themselves.

This is "Matthew":


This is "Brooke":


Brooke lost her first tooth the day we named the new hermit crabs so our last new addition was named "Tooth Fairy":

Here is a photo of our new/sick hermie crabitat. It is a small 10 gallon tank from Walmart. I attach a heating pad to the wall by the rock, but it was not on for the photo.

Lol, omg I was wondering if joining 2 tanks together was ever possible & if it would work for the hermit crabs..Amazing!!! btw I love your sons crabs & the shells!!

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Very interesting. Personally, I like it a lot. A couple of members have actually gotten tanks, knocked the glass out at the bottom, and stuck them on top of another tank. I know Kuza has one, and I remember seeing one post of a 100 gallon tank with a custom added topper to it. Your iso tank is very nice, too

Neat! Cute crabs too.