Thin-Striped Hermit Crabs

[christyj3]

Hello all! Not sure if this is the right forum for this topic, but my boyfriend accidentally brought home some shells from the beach that he thought were empty. There turned out to be thin-striped hermit crabs living in them once he got them home! We've quarantined properly and cycled their new home adequately. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations as to what fish/corals would be okay to add to our new tank. We've researched this species of hermit crab thoroughly and found that they are one of the more large crustaceans and that they are aggressive.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hello all! Not sure if this is the right forum for this topic, but my boyfriend accidentally brought home some shells from the beach that he thought were empty. There turned out to be thin-striped hermit crabs living in them once he got them home! We've quarantined properly and cycled their new home adequately. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations as to what fish/corals would be okay to add to our new tank. We've researched this species of hermit crab thoroughly and found that they are one of the more large crustaceans and that they are aggressive.

Probably not a good idea to keep them with any fish or coral you want to stay alive... at least based on your description

 

[christyj3]

Probably not a good idea to keep them with any fish or coral you want to stay alive... at least based on your description

Thank you for the advice. As I was reading online about them it said I needed fish that are either bigger than my crabs or faster than them. I wasn't sure if it was even okay to add fish in with them due to their aggressive nature. I didn't want the fish to have any unnecessary stress being in the tank with my hermits. Since the hermits came from the ocean, I wanted to try to give them a home close to where they actually lived in the wild. I really appreciate the help! I get attached very quickly to pets, so I definitely don't want to put anything in my tank that I know isn't going to be there a while. Since we've had them, they haven't shown much aggression toward each other, so I figured it was worth a shot to ask experienced reefers what they thought about adding other livestock to the tank.

 

[bcruz19]

I have some of these guys! They grow pretty fast and like to trample and tear up any micro algae or coral that I’ve tried putting in there (my mistake). I agree with not adding fish with them. Make sure to add a lot of different weight/size shells for them. I am not sure if this is a normal thing but I had the larger one force the smaller crab out of their shell. I was present so I was able to give the shell back to him and he’s doing fine. They keep their tank spotless of algae and they do fine with chaeto. They’re little chaotic things but I love them

 

[christyj3]

I have some of these guys! They grow pretty fast and like to trample and tear up any micro algae or coral that I’ve tried putting in there (my mistake). I agree with not adding fish with them. Make sure to add a lot of different weight/size shells for them. I am not sure if this is a normal thing but I had the larger one force the smaller crab out of their shell. I was present so I was able to give the shell back to him and he’s doing fine. They keep their tank spotless of algae and they do fine with chaeto. They’re little chaotic things but I love them

Yay!!! I'm so happy to meet someone else with the same species! I currently have two tank setups for them. I have a 10 gallon with four VERY small ones and a 55 gallon for my four large ones. Eventually going to purchase a much larger tank for them once the small ones grow. They've been getting along fine and I haven't seen them force each other out of their shells. I do keep quite a few different sized shells in the tanks at all times and I switch a few out for new ones once and a while. My small ones actually molted for the first time since I've had them just yesterday! I appreciate your advice!

 

[crabbyhermit]

We brought home some stow away thin stripes in June... we loved watching them grow and interact so much that our obsession grew. We've added other breeds of hermit crabs, and a couple weeks ago, added clown fish and coral. The crabs killed the coral, but the clowns are thriving!

 

[Wrothgar]

So I've had my thin striped hermit crab for 1 year and like 7 months now in the exact same manner and situation and is the whole reason I started this hobby! He's never messed with anyone I've got two clowns and two skunk cleaners in mine. They've gotten along just fine he's actually more sedentary and being active only or just up at night, sifts through sand and tucks in. Very nice self moving shell showpiece. That's my experience.

 

[C4ctus99]

Stumbled across this thread looking up breeding hermit crabs somehow and that’s exactly how my aquarium started! My little guy is now huge and pretty chill (except when he smells good he gets really excited and can tear stuff up trying to find it sometimes). When I first got some liverock with coralline he picked at it for a couple of days then left it alone so maybe coral will be okay with him but if not he may live the rest of his life in a sump

tankmates in a 20g long:
Mocha clown (got him TINY like <1”)
Black misbar clown (1/4” larger than other)
Emerald crab
Some sort of serpent star
Trochus snail
BTA

had him with a diamond goby at one point and no issues

how’s your guy doing now?

 

[myluck]

I have some of these guys! They grow pretty fast and like to trample and tear up any micro algae or coral that I’ve tried putting in there (my mistake). I agree with not adding fish with them. Make sure to add a lot of different weight/size shells for them. I am not sure if this is a normal thing but I had the larger one force the smaller crab out of their shell. I was present so I was able to give the shell back to him and he’s doing fine. They keep their tank spotless of algae and they do fine with chaeto. They’re little chaotic things but I love them

Hello I’m searching the internet for some answers. My kids picked up shells on the beach last week in Galveston and low and behold there’s thin striped hermit crabs in them. They keep crawling out of the water on the climbing sticks and sleeping out of the water. Everything I found says they should be in water but they prefer not to be. Any and everything I can find out would be great as the pet store was not much help. I bought a heater and have water temp 76 I bought live rock and sand and salt water, frozen food for them and an aquarium filter along with new shells and refractometer. Anything else I need?

 

[WheatToast]

Hello I’m searching the internet for some answers. My kids picked up shells on the beach last week in Galveston and lo and behold there’s thin striped hermit crabs in them. They keep crawling out of the water on the climbing sticks and sleeping out of the water. Everything I found says they should be in water but they prefer not to be. Any and everything I can find out would be great as the pet store was not much help. I bought a heater and have water temp 76 I bought live rock and sand and salt water, frozen food for them and an aquarium filter along with new shells and refractometer. Anything else I need?

Do you have any pictures of these crabs? I am starting to think that they may be terrestrial hermit crabs.

 

[Wrothgar]

Hello I’m searching the internet for some answers. My kids picked up shells on the beach last week in Galveston and low and behold there’s thin striped hermit crabs in them. They keep crawling out of the water on the climbing sticks and sleeping out of the water. Everything I found says they should be in water but they prefer not to be. Any and everything I can find out would be great as the pet store was not much help. I bought a heater and have water temp 76 I bought live rock and sand and salt water, frozen food for them and an aquarium filter along with new shells and refractometer. Anything else I need?

Waters on the cool side, can I ask your parameters? Really just salinity pH and ammonia would be the place to start. Is this a brand new tank?