Companion For Gnome?

[POPPIT]

Hi all...I have not long lost my crab Gynaveeve during her molt and i have another crab, male called Gnome who came up from his molt missing 2 legs on his big claw side...I moved him to the glass tank where Gynaveeve was already buried so he has been alone for 4weeks (my other crab is still buried in the plastic tank)...he is a bit disatvantaged because of his disability and since finding him on his back naked(managed to assist him getting back in his shell)he has changed shells very often and usually leaves his shell somewhere and crawls naked across the tank to a new shell...I have had to flip his shell over a couple of times as he seems unable to do it himself and gets stuck on his shells back or in the first instance his naked back...I am however concerned about his lack of companionship and thought i would get a new crab as he is the only one in that tank...I am very worried about him being vulnerable in his current state with his disability and his habit of streaking during a shell change and wouldn't want a new crab to attack him...he is a pretty small crab and his current shell (his original shell)is probably less then an inch in size...I know they are social creatures and want him to be happy....i would be looking at a similar sized crab to him if i got one...What are your thoughts or experiences?

[emmac350]

I'd recommend not getting anyone new right away, and definitely not a similarly-sized crab. If they're the same size then crabs will fight more than if they're so different in size that they can't use the same shell. Big and tiny crabs get along better than ones the same size, at least in my tank.

[POPPIT]

Oh i never thought about that i was only thinking about bigger picking on smaller but that makes more sense that they would fight for each others shells....Different size would probably not see each other as competition either...Thanks for that info Emmac!