HCA: Hermit Crab Association

One of my new crabs - calling him Brutus - has an interesting behavior I can't figure out. When ever he comes in contact with other crabs he gets very touchy feely. He has went so far as to pick another guy up. He is one of the larger guys (still small), and has already changed shells at least once. It was wild watching him roam all over the tank this morning and each and every crab he came to he stopped and interacted with. Most of the other guys just stood there. Some retracted into their shells (one falling off rock they were on).Do you think he is just really friendly or is this what aggressive PPs do?

It sounds like it might be a case of aggression because hermitcrabs typically don't treat each other as anything more than rocks preferring to climb over each other as if they weren't even there.For a hermitcrab to pick another one up and shake it is a very aggressive act and shouldn't be tolerated so I would suggest keeping a constant watch for the next few days and if Brutus keeps up his macho man antics you may have to separate him from the others.