Should I stop worrying?

[erikleeson]

A couple days ago I got Gilbert, a small E that I thought would befriend Garth, my first and very lonely E. I put Gilbert in and I saw them have feeler wars. I thought everything was fine until minutes later, I heard loud chirping. I saw Garth rocking Gilbert back and forth. I separated them. Gilbert usually stays high up were Garth doesn't try and get him.

I got a bunch of shells and added them in. Garth immediately checked em out. He ended up exchanging his old tiny beat up shell for a beautiful clean babylon shell. I got it all on tape and have a replica of his new shell for comparison. Check the attachments and the link for the video.

But my question is, should I stop worrying about Gilbert? Garth is in a new shell, so do you think Gilbert is safe?

Well actually, as Garth was exploring in his new shell, Gilbert went into the "forbidden cave" and Garth went in and I looked in and saw the crabs chasing eachother. Nothing really happened, I ISO'd Garth and right now GIlbert looks really frightened. He's running all over the place and is now sitting behind the cave in a corner.

What should I do? I bathed them together but I don't see much change.
Garth Changing shells http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIeETaywhvY

[wizkidsmom]

Sometimes hermies try to be the alpha of the tank. It could be a shell war that you stopped - which is good. Always have extra shells in the tank. Periodically rinse the empty shells in salt water to make them interesting again.

If nothing happened in the 'forbidden cave', then they both can be in the same tank together.

[erikleeson]

Well Garth changed shells three times today, and he's an E. He went from his old shell to his white shell to a new shell to his white shell again. He's ISO'd now, but how can you tell if its an alpha crab thing or a shell war?

[wizkidsmom]

Alpha war is not as violent. If you have plenty of shells for them to pick from, you shouldn't have any shell fights - shouldn't is highlighted.

Hermies would rather die than give up their shell. They will fight to the end.

[erikleeson]

Well I'm worried because I have plenty of shells and Garth tried on 6 in one day. So he's clearly unhappy with his selection. I keep changing it up but he still changes. I read somewhere that was like

Hermit crabs can seem a little aggressive when introducing new crabs to the enclosure, you may see "feeler wars" or "pushing contests" you may think this is fighting however it is completely normal. If you hear loud chirping when introducing crabs. There may be a shell fight going on. Its best to separate the attacker immediately as the shell fights results can be fatal

I recognized this at one point when I introduced van Persie to the tat. him and herman kept fighting. I'd find myself always ISOing herman. It went on for months, until one day I let them duke it out and nothing happened but they stopped fighting!

Its confusing!
Any other ideas?
As we know I'm on a strict schedule for keeping my crabs cause my parents divorce. And whenever I come here there seems to be nothing wrong, but near the end of the feeding, I hear stridulating and Garth climbing on top Gilbert. SO I seperate them. As far as I'm concerned, this goes on when I'm not around to. SO maybe I should stop worrying if GIlbert can defend himself?