new prospective hermit crab keeper

[fabricdragon]

Hi, i am new but apparently know a few of you from Facebook.
i only ever had one hermit crab as a kid, poor thing. i only knew what i was told about it, which i now know was completely WRONG so of course it died very soon after i got it. that was... um... well more than 30 years ago.

anyway, i keep fish, and long ago found out that BIGGER is BETTER for aquariums, i figure the same thing for hermit crabs, so i was planning on starting with a 20 or 40 or so, or i might just drag out another 55 which is what i keep my fish tanks at for consistency.

i was HOPING to build a filtered salt water pool using nano reef equipment on one side (with a ramp or etc for them) and a dry/land side with a fountain and fresh water? but i havent finalized anything, because i am not in a hurry...

i currently have two ten gallons that can be made into temporary/acclimation/isolation tanks as they are not in use at all right now.

i have coconut fiber because i keep orchids. i can get sand.. my friend was saying it needs to be really deep? like deeper than the bottom of an Exo Terra terrarium (i use those for terrariums without critters)

i am fabricdragon all over the internet. i am disabled, sell jewelry at shows and online, and while i am generally a newbie i have friends who are experts in almost anything....

so.. um.. hi
kirsten (aka fabricdragon)

What is the volume of your main tank?
as stated, dont have one yet. have a ten gallon i can use

How many hermit crabs do you currently have? How big are they?
zero. but i bet if i post in my neighborhood that i can take in any i will be buried. sigh. we have a lot fo "down the shore" folks and they sell hermit crabs there.

How long have you had the hermit crab(s) that you are concerned about?
dont have one

What substrate or combination of substrates are you using? How deep is it?
dont have, but was thinking coconut fiber?

[emmac350]

Wow, starting out with a 55g tank is pretty awesome! Let's see. Your crabs will need both salt and fresh water, both deep enough for them to submerge. How big were you planning on making the pool? They don't need to be able to swim or anything, but then again I've never tried my crabs with that much water so maybe someone who has a deep pool can correct me.

I use coconut fiber without sand, so you don't need sand unless you really want it. I'd recommend a minimum of 6" of fiber at least in some areas for the crabs to dig. You could have some areas shallower, but your crabs need to dig down and have room to maneuver until they like their area to molt in.

A 55 gallon tank can hold a lot of hermit crabs so you could probably take in quite a few. Depending on size, of course, but your tank would be able to support probably at least 10 crabs, very likely more (I have a 30g tall and had 10 tiny to medium-sized crabs in it at its highest levels).

[fabricdragon]

nod. turns out i may end up doing education and outreach at a reptile expo, so i am trying to learn as fast as i can. i am setting up a ten gallon as a "demo tank" showing a simplified hermit crab set up. (you know, as opposed to what people tell you to make for them)

still debating what set up i want "for me" between a big exo terra , the 55, or apparently i can get a 75 for not much right now... partly its because i want "my" tank to be pretty... and low maintenece so ... debate, debate

turns out a lot of the gear for orchids and for building terrariums is going to come in handy
oh. followed you on tumblr. i am fabricdragon all over

what kind of hermit crabs are they? they look like cherries? not PP?