Hermit crab’s new home?

[LandLockedJones]

Hey there,

So I recently added a pretty cool little Halloween hermit to my 40 gallon. My first crabs. It is a murder, but that’s beside the point. Unless your a trochus snail.

So, it seems to have abandoned its shell, to take up residence under a coral frag plug that is not attached to my rock work.

I’m not terribly worried about the coral being harmed. I was wondering if I should move the frag and see if he goes back to his shell? Would exposing it to the fish in the tank be a death sentence? I can’t actually tell how big it is.

Or should I assume the shell was abandoned because it outgrew it and swap the shell with a larger one and see if it moves in? The shell is sitting right next to it currently.

Not exactly an emergency, but any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Definitely offer it some larger shells, and don’t expose it if it doesn’t have a shell - especially if it just recently molted or is about to.

That said, I’d suggest double checking if the hermit actually left the shell, or you’re just seeing its molt.

 

[Reefer911]

My Halloween hermit recently molted and for a while I thought it was dead because it wasn’t moving for days. And then when I saw the molt, I thought for sure it was dead. When I picked up his shell I couldn’t see the crab inside. I put it in the sand and a little while later I saw that it had moved. It’s now looking as good as ever

 

[LandLockedJones]

I see this is why I decided to ask. It makes sense, but I didn’t even consider that he may be molting. I have a few extra shells so I’ll stack them up nearby and see what happens.

Thank you for the replies!