Very New Crabber

[saranita]

Ok so last week I bought 2 hermit crabs from a kiosk in the mall, painted shells little plastic carrier home, pretty much everything wrong.. Now I've got a 15 gallon tank with almost everything they need (I'm working on it) but anyway, one died when I moved them. So I went in and bought two more, one slightly larger than the others. I cought the two new guys confronting eachother but couldnt tell if they were fighting, so I isolated the big guy for a bit and everything was fine when I put him back, an hour or two later theyr at it again, only problem is, I'm starting to think its the little guy picking on the big guy.. I don't know if I should worry or how to tell if something is wrong, He's been shell shopping so I don't know if that has something to do with it. Plz Help. If one of them hurts my very little one that I bought originally I'm going to be VERY upset!

[CrabbyJo]

Saranita,
whenever purchasing new crabs, it is always in their best interest to isolate them from your original crabs for at least a week or two in a separate tank. First, this gives them time to begin to understand they won't be competing for food or space or shells. It also stresses your new crabs when you add someone new, and the stress is higher if the new crabs don't understand they don't have to fight for resources. It helps the new crab to destress without the worry of other crabs as well.
But also, it keeps your original crabs safe just in case the new crab is carrying mites or another illness that he could pass on to the other crabs. It's just a good practice all the way around.

Hopefully you have plenty of shells for your new crab to choose from to help minimize him harassing the other crab, but even then it may not help, he may just get it in his head that he wants to try on THAT shell.
Crabs have a "pecking order" and just have to establish who is the dominant one. Keep an eye on them when this occurs, and only break it up if you see big pincer action (pinching!) going on, or about to. They should establish things pretty quickly, and again, just make sure you have plenty of shells.

It sounds like perhaps the one that died was suffering from PPS and there probably was nothing much you could have done about it. Darn those stupid mall kiosks. >[

Did you read the crab care section to make sure you didn't miss anything for your new setup? It can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to stabilizing humidity and temperature!

Good luck with your crabs!

[saranita]

I have a bunch of shells and i'm in the process of trying to find everything for the tank (my city doesn't have much options and I'm not ready to turn to the internet quite yet.
I have temp and humidity under control but only have a [lousy] plastic thing for isolation and don't want to torture them when the main tank is huge so iunno,
I watched them a bit last night and the possible "fighting" stopped so I'm thinking everything is ok as far as I can tell but if you have more tips plz share!

(note: edited by Crabbyjo to change language)

[CrabbyJo]

Keep in mind, we have young children who are members of our forum, and we prefer clean language.

If you don't yet have a decent iso, and you really find a need to separate your crabs such as a surface molter, fighting, etc., you can try using something like the glass from a picture frame to section off part of the main tank for the iso, or an open cd case that the crabs cannot climb over.

It sounds like your crabs may have gotten used to each other and established who gets to be boss, though.

[saranita]

Sorry about the language! I was distracted while posting and didn't notice. But now I'm mad at the vendor, she told me these crabs don't need salt water only fresh.
According to this and other websites that is untrue and that kind of hermit crab doesn't exist right?

[emmac350]

All crabs need salt water. They drink it and use it in their shell water to keep the water from messing with their abdomens (otherwise, their abdomens would take in too much water, much like we do when we're in a bath or swimming pool for too long). If they aren't given salt water (not a salt water product marketed for hermit crabs, but a salt water aquarium salt water mix) they will have to recycle their own urine to make up for the lack of salt. Pretty gross, huh? Don't listen to the mall kiosk owner - they're out perpetuating the myth that crabs are "really easy to care for - they don't need anything" pets that will only live a few weeks, maybe a few months at best. I've only been crabbing for a year (today's my anniversary of crabbing!) but salt water is a must regardless of species.