hermit crab luck?

wayner

wayner

Member
I had a hermit crab when i first opened my tank and did not have much luck with it. Reason being is I dont think my tank was up and running long enough and i didnt not have much in the sand for him to eat. So the hermit crab kept coming out of his shell and i would always find him upside down the next morning, he eventually died even after i bought him a bigger shell. I just bought another one being I need to start adding some type of CUC to my tank and I thought this I would give these guys another gamble. Reason why I didnt go with any shrimp or anything is because I now have a beautiful trigger in my tank :) So how many of you guys keep hermit crabs in your tank and have luck with them?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by wayner http:///forum/thread/381738/hermit-crab-luck#post_3326941
I had a hermit crab when i first opened my tank and did not have much luck with it. Reason being is I dont think my tank was up and running long enough and i didnt not have much in the sand for him to eat. So the hermit crab kept coming out of his shell and i would always find him upside down the next morning, he eventually died even after i bought him a bigger shell. I just bought another one being I need to start adding some type of CUC to my tank and I thought this I would give these guys another gamble. Reason why I didnt go with any shrimp or anything is because I now have a beautiful trigger in my tank :) So how many of you guys keep hermit crabs in your tank and have luck with them?

I love hermit crabs and I have about 80 in my 90g, I don't care much for snails. I never owned a trigger so I don't know if they eat them, but I THINK they do.. But I'm sure one little tiny hermit in a 75g is kind of funny for a CUC.
Wayner you have to have an algae bloom by now, so it should have plenty to eat. They love brown algae.
They are sensitive to nitrates or ammonia, so do a water test and make sure all is well.
 
wayner

wayner

Member
okay, yes if he does good I am definitly going to get more. This guy is just a tester. The trigger already started picking at him but that was before he ate, I just fed him and he seems to be leaving him alone now.
 
wayner

wayner

Member
wow I dont understand... This crab came out of his shell too.... I didnt catch it in time and he is already half eaten by the trigger.
 
wayner

wayner

Member
I definitely am not. The part I dont understand is why every time i put a hermit crab in my tank he comes out of his shell.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
whats causing the ammonia? Thats the worst thing in your tank.
 
wayner

wayner

Member
Not sure, tank is still considered a new tank and i have no CUC(if that has anything to do with my ammonia)
just thought i would upload recent pic
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
ok, you might consider doing a water change to get that ammonia out of there and then keep monitoring it.
I beleive what happens is those fish are pretty good sized so thier waste is also pretty good sized. when it breaks down it creates more ammonia than a small clownfish for instance.
So your biological filtration isn't keeping up with the amount of waste your fish are producing.
So...
A.) You don't have enough Live rock to allow the proper amount of bacteria to colonize
B.) You have too many fish in the tank
C.) more mechanical filtration is needed
or likley D.) a combination of A,B & C
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
yup.two big fish, too new of a tank. at least thats the most viable theory right now. If you could tell us a little more about how much LR you have, and how established was it? as for mechanicle filtration...skimmer and carbon would be the quickest imidiate results. Have you looked into scrubbers? I used to run one and they are about the most effective single peice of filtration outside of LR. You can make yourself one for under $50 from home depot. I recomend a scubber for beginers, since they are extremly forgiving. The more inept you are (ie overfeeding/over stocking) the harder and more effective they work. I myself dont run a scrubber anymore becuase I switched to skimmers. The water looks better, but the system overall is more inpure.
And deffinatly get a CuC. snails and hermits. they are cheep. get about a dozen total. say 4 hermates and 8 snails. thats a good mix for a new tank of your size, with your stock.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
oh and one more cool thing about scrubbers on new tanks. They are pod factories! OMG its amazing how big a differance it made when I went to skimmer. I used to have thousands of pods crawling around, now I dont see any. ever.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
+1 on the scrubbers. Although the Skimmer is a bit more plug and play so might be better suited for begginers IMO
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
You guys really like those scrubbers, huh?
Wayner if I remember correctly this is a 75G tank correct? How much rock have you added to the system? I know before you didn't have very much and you're running HOB filters. I agree with doing a water change and keep doing regular water changes. If you're having ammonia troubles then I don't think your tank has enough bacteria yet to handle the bio load that's in there. I say fill that baby up with some more rock. It sounds like you've made quite a few changes since before. Your tank is probably still in the midst of it's first real cycle.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/381738/hermit-crab-luck#post_3327394
You guys really like those scrubbers, huh?
Whats not to like. probably the cheapest thing i have in the whole system, made it myself so it's self gratiying, makes more pods than several mandarins could eat, eats phos and trates like a fat guy eats donuts, keeps PH stable, weekly removal of the nutrients it's absorbed so it doesnt go back into the system, easy to clean (5 minutes once a week)
I can't hardly say enough good things about it. its the single most awesome piece of equipment on my tank.
 
wayner

wayner

Member
Thx for the replies, I think im going to look into buying some dry base rock, then adding some good bacteria to the tank. Also I need to look into skimmers. I dont really know much about them and havent had time to look tonight being swamp with college work. But tomaro im off to the lfs to get some BR and bacteria.
I would get hermit crabs but everytime I do they come out of their shell.
 
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