Help Please!

[gumsugardrop]

Hey everyone I just made this account for this question so I apologize if formatting or anything else is wrong.

My friend got my brother a hermit crab irresponsibly but she only got one. I got another hermit crab because I currently only have a 10 gallon and I don’t want to overstock it (I’m hoping to get a larger one soon) but every time I get the original crab a friend she tries to steal their shells. She has plenty of her own shells and I know the new hermits shell is too heavy for her liking. I’ve tried to put them in the same water so they get used to each other’s scent and I’ve tried separating them and giving them shells but both won’t budge. I don’t know what to do and I am very upset that the original hermit crab doesn’t get along with any others that we introduce. Has anyone had this problem or other suggestions that could possibly help? Again apologies for the rushed writing I’ve just never heard of introductions being this hard.

[Wai]

I had a similar case with my hermit crab Europa, except that the bullying from several (not just one) other hermit crabs occured much later and not during the introductory phase. In the end I kept Europa in a separate tank for at least a week and when I introduced him back to the main tank with the others on a day where I could stay at home, I kept a close supervision for any threatening behaviour. The bullying did re-occur and I would repeat the isolation until the bullying subsided completely. This whole process took about three to four weeks I think.