Marine hermit crabs?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 21, 2005 9:50 am

Does anyone know how to care for marine hermit crabs? Such as what they eat, what kind of set up they need, how they molt, and that kind of stuff? I am interested in getting one, I went to the library today and spent the whole time staring at this adorable little guy in their huge fish tank. Also could I have a tank with just hermit crabs? Or should I put some kinda fish in there too?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 2:02 am

Hey! I did some searching for you and I found a great website! http://www.liveaquaria.comIf you click on crabs, it will take you to pics and a list of the kind of crabs you are talking about along with a chart of required temps, food, and weather they are easy to care for or not...Lots of them eat algea and such in a saltwater tank...so it would be my guess to set up a BIG saltwater tank and have other fishies and such...good luck, and I hope that helps!Jessica

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 8:39 am

Hey Rocker,I had a marine hermit crab for a long time. Here's what I wrote to Ringo recently..."My hermit crab, Speedy Gonzales, was taken from the beach by accident by a little girl I used to know. She had been collecting shells on the beach and two of the tiny shells ended up having crabs in them. With her allowance money she bought a fish bowl, gravel, and marine salt and created a little habitat for them. One died within a week. She quickly lost interest in the other one and I inherited it. She had never named it, so I named "him" Speedy Gonzales because I was amazed at how fast he would move.I had him in that one fish bowl for years, but as he grew I bought him a bigger bowl. These were the low, flat bowls. It had aquarium gravel that I'd slope up on one side creating a small "beach" to put his food. I had one rock that he could climb on and lots of shells.To clean it out, I'd mix up a gallon of Instant Ocean with a few drops of dechlorinating solution. I'd take Speedy out and set him on the kitchen counter. I'd take all the shells out and put them in a bowl. I'd take out the rock and put it on the counter with Speedy. I'd rinse the shells with hot water from the tap, swirling then dumping three times. I'd do the same with the gravel, swirling as I ran the warm/hot water in, then dumping out as much water as I could; repeat twice. Using the salt water I'd just made up, I'd rinse the shells, then dump the rinsing salt water into the gravel. I usually added more salt water to the gravel. This was mixed with the gravel, then poured out as much as possible. I'd then fill the bowl with the rest of the salt water. Create the "beach", add the rock, add the shells. Move the bowl back to it's shelf and then add Speedy to it, usually putting him under the water. This whole process took about 15 minutes to do. At first Speedy would walk around the counter top while I was doing this. I thought this was fun for him. But after I'd had him for about 4 years, he crawled off the counter and fell to the floor. He lost a leg. I thought he would die. I put him back in his bowl after I finished cleaning it out. He didn't move for several days. Finally he started moving again, and he regrew his leg in the next molt. After that, if he started to move around the counter I would scare him back into his shell. I didn't want him to fall again.I tried to clean him out once a week, but was a little lazy about it. Frequently, it was every two weeks, some times as long as 3 or 4 weeks between cleanings. The dirtier his bowl, the less he'd move around. I found that by putting him under the water after I cleaned it, he could figure out it was clean, then he'd start moving around more. I figured hermit crabs are tidal scavengers, so can live in a broad variety of environments. This was my justification for being a little neglectful.Food: I had a flat shell that I'd put fish flakes on. I'd take it out, wash it, dry it, put it on the little beach area, put fish flakes on it, then set Speedy in front of it. Some times he'd eat, sometimes he wouldn't. I'd do this every other day or so. Once a week (or when I cleaned the bowl) I'd add a pile of hermit crab meal to the fish flakes. I found that when he refused to eat, up to two weeks, it was a sign that he was about to molt. He would just molt in the water. I'd find his exoskeleton floating. I'd take it out and throw it away.Now, I did all this without researching anything. I just guessed. He was alone, but he did grow from smaller than a dime to bigger than a quarter during the eleven years I had him. I didn't take him out and play with him, but I enjoyed watching him cruise around his bowl and eat. When he died I figured that was that. When I had called the aquarium in Corpus Christi to ask about care and life span, one thing they told me was that they thought marine hermit crabs live about 9 years. So, in that respect Speedy out lived his expected lifespan. After a few months without him, I missed him. That's when I got into land crabs. There is a lot more known about them and how to keep them. Maybe there is a lot to keeping marine crabs, but I don't know about it.I'm enjoying my land crabs, but Speedy was a hoot. I don't know about having them be underwater all the time. I mean you see them in tidal pools all the time. They must like to come up some times. Other fish? Salt water tanks are a lot of work to take care of. If you are interested in doing that, go for it. But I didn't bother and Speedy seemed fine.That's my story. Let me know if you've anymore questions."LKL

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:02 am

Wow, that is impressive. How big was the tank? Do you know where I could buy marine hermit crabs at a store? And also, did you have any kind of air pump or filtration or was it just a bowl of water?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:36 am

How interesting! I'm really impressed that Speedy lived that long. I'm not having much luck getting my land hermits to live that long, and I had no idea a marine crab could be kept for such a long time with fairly simple conditions!I had a wild-caught salamander once and we ended up having him for something like 14 years. A few years after he died, I bought another one from a pet store, but he didn't do so well and died after a year or two. Sal (the first one) was great. When I was little I used to take him out and let him roam in the wet grass after it rained, and I'd fill up the baby pool for him, and my mom would thaw out a small piece of hamburger or chicken or whatever we were having for dinner and he'd snatch it out of our fingers. I'm kind of getting off track here but Speedy's story brought back happy memories.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 10:31 am

I didn't have an airpump. That was the purpose of sloping the gravel into a beach. Speedy could come up for air if he wanted. No air pump. No filtration. It was just a bowl of water. Was this the best thing? Probably not, but this is what I did and Speedy thrived. It seemed fine. I'm not sure how big the bowl was, but it held about a gallon of water. I don't know where you could buy one. Once I was at a fish store and saw a tiny fiddler crab. I asked the fish store guy if he thought I could add it as a playmate for my hermit crab. His opinion was that they would fight to the kill. I resisted the temtation.