Cold Water Hermit Crabs

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wrs

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I was wondering what type of care would be needed to house these animals? Theyre very small hermit crabs from a beach in Maine. Would hermit crabs need live rock, or anything special?
 
yup all saltwater tanks cold or tropical need live rock :)

wait also i have heard of some people instead of getting chillers they mod refrigerator chillers intio their aquarium :) cheaper... but u need som1 with the brains 2 do it
 
This morning the crabs were fine, but I get home from the store with the live rock, and theyre all dead! I think the water tehy were in wasnt the best. It was a small ammount in a small holding bucket, and one must have died and poluted it. But I still want to continue on with the inverts! I did just buy all new stuff for them too.


Another question before I do my second attempt. the store said that we wouldnt need this high tech filter, just something basic because its just crabs, what type of filter would you all recomend? I was thinking DSB, buit because its a small tank they will be in, that wouldnt leave much room for water. then i was thinking Berlin because I read that just with live rock. What would be best for the crabs? They will be in a nano 6 gallon btw.
 
wait your keeping cold water crabs cold water right? i dont think they can convert???????? how do you keep it cold, any type of cheap filter works for crabs they arent too picky and i mean no filter is cheap but dont spend alot on a really good filter if they dont need it.
 
the cold water ones I had died, but the store has other types of crabs, and they dont use heaters, though I am guessing a blue leg hermit crab is tropical though. Though the water in the tank is 76 degress, that could be because its like 100 outside though, lol.

So far I have 1 lb. of live rock, and that stuff must be heavy because its not alot at all.
 
Depending on the density of the LR it will very in volume; e.g.: Fiji LR is quite porous and so you get 'more' (volume) then if you were to buy LR from Africa, witch in contrast is very dense and you don't get alot (volume) for your money.

The hermit crab you collected should be alright in anything from 12C to 29C, if you make sure you collect from rock pools! When the tied goes out they are isolated from the main sea the water prams fluctuate so much (temp and salinity rise and oxygen depletes). To keep them in a 6 gallon a small internal filter with the media remover and replaced with carbon of LR rubble, then with a 1" of sand and some LR you should be fine. Try and keep the tank out of the light and for top off mark a line on the water level when full and fill to that line.
 
Thanks for the info! I believer the store ones are from tide pools as well, they just keep them in a tank with sand, thats it, nothing else.

I think the LR I got yesturday was figi, they had some Crabiean when I called, but when I went they didnt have any. Is it okay to mix LR types?
 
It will be fine to mix types, even better some will say. When you next go ask the guy in the LFS if you can get the peices you want out yourself, this way you can get a good idea to how heavy they are. My LFS lets me 'play' around in there LR holding tank for hours selecting "just the right bit for the job"

Glad I could help :D
 
lol. I doubt the people where I go would, but I think it would be best. They had some nice peices I didnt get yesturday, and one I got, don't really like it much. But one has little worm things on it, so that one was nice,
 

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