Hermit Crabs

[cuticom]

So far I havnt been able to find any good sites on the marine hermit crabs. So I just had a few questions.

If they were in a tank without coral could I use a filter like a normal freshwater tank? or would they still need live rock etc?

What exactly do hermit crabs need, and what size tank should they have?

I really adore hermit crabs, my Mum has a hangup about land hermit crabs, but for some reason no problem with marine ones. So the plan would be for just a tank for a hermit crab rather then fish and coral.

Any extra info is greatly appreciated
Emma

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

They spend most of the day just grazing off the live rock picking off bits here and there. I'd say you need some LR to keep them succesfully although they will scavenge the odd bit of flakefood here and there

 

[tmreynolds]

I'm no expert on hermit crabs, but like the post above, mine spend alot of time grazing on the LR.

 

[cuticom]

Okies, but could I still use an internal power filter instead ofb a powerhead? for some crazy reason the filters are cheaper then the powerheads.

What tank size do they need? I wanted to try a nano which would be about 6 litres, would a crab need more room then that?

Gah forgot to ask, do they need a heater?

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

You could use a power filter instead of a powerhead but TBH power filters take up more room especially in a small tank like the one your thinking of setting up.

Also you get more boom for the buck out of a powerhead as they kick out more water movement that the same sized powerfilter.

Personally i'd go for a mini powerhead and the LR will do your filtering for you, there wont be much today with just one hermit crab to take care of

Yep they will need a heater, most of us keep our tanks in the 78-81 range

 

[cuticom]

Okies, have been trawling though sites and from what I can tell a single hermit should do fine in the size tank I'm planning.

So so far the list of what I need is

marine salt (well obviously)- about $8 for 1.3kg
small 150l/ph powerhead/filter- about $10 (a filter is $3 cheaper)
500g of live rock- $15 a kg
about 1-2kg sand $5-10
hydrometer- $8
Thermometer- $2
Test kits- $40-60

The tank I have already and its 6 litres or 1.5g, I just need to plan some type of lid for it to minimise water evaporation. Do the hermit crabs need extra shells like land hermits? I also have a 25w heater already which'll have to do, I cant get hold of anything smaller.


Is there anything I've forgotten?
Lol I know its odd, I just like the way salt water aquariums work, and I like hermits LOL.

One last question do you need to cycle a salt water tank with ammonia like a freshwater or does the liverock do it?


Thanks
Emma

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

The live rock will cycle the tank for you

Are you using RO Water?
What lighting will you be using?

I'm guessing there aint going to be any corals? so any lighting should do really

Yep you'll have to provide your hermit with some bigger shells to grow into also

You might want to start a thread in the nano section for some more specialised help

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, you could even get one of the BIG hermits like Lynden used to have . One thing you'll want to be careful of... Feeding too much. You can foul up water quality really quick in a tank that small if you feed too much.

 

[cuticom]

Nope no corals. Also no RO water. I've been trying to find a supply but absolutely no one knows what the heck your talking about, I'm going to try it on our own tank water, we collect it ourselves so theirs no chemicals etc in it.

I'm not sure on lighting, the tanks an acrylic tank not a glass one so I can't get a hood to fit it, the last time I used it i simply used one of the desk lamps over the top. It worked out fine then.

Okies so adding to that list is shells. Can I use shells that are sold for alnd hermit crabs/ or do they need a special shell?

Emma

 

[n3ont3tra]

I think they should be okay with any shell, as long as it is not a painted shell.

 

[hubbard_shark]

any marine shells will do. best bet is do what I do, and go to ur LFS and ask for some empty snail/hermit shells. they'll be happy to give them to u for free since they do no good for them. i have about 10 empty shells in my tank of various sizes that are waiting to be new homes

 

[puddle_inc]

saltwaterfish.com/net (i forget)
and tropicalocean.com/net (forgot that also)

those are both really nice saltwater sites. hope that helps

 

[cuticom]

Sadly our shops dont do that, you can buy hermit crabs shells at about 25c each tho

 

[Donya]

I'm going to try it on our own tank water, we collect it ourselves so theirs no chemicals etc in it.

Where/how are you collecting the water?

 

[cuticom]

The few times it rains every year, we catch it in the gutters where its then piped down to our 4 tanks, its run through a few filters, to remove anything overly harmful like any leaves caught in the gutters at the time. Theres no added chemicals at all.