Hermit Crab Care For a Beginner

[ramundo]

Hi, I'm planning on getting some marine hermit crabs and need help with basic setup and care. I have no experience with saltwater aquariums but do have some with freshwater, so I'm looking for advice on general saltwater aquarium keeping as much as hermit crab keeping. I haven't decided on a species, but I'm likely to go with the blue legged hermit crab, as it seems to be a commonly kept species.

This is what I have gathered from my research so far, please let me know if I've been mistaken in something. Sinking pellets do well for them as far as food is concerned, although most people seem to keep hermit crabs along with their fish and/or other animals in a large aquarium as a sort of cleanup crew, so pellets would normally just be a supplement. I do not plan to keep fish or any other creatures with them in the near future, so please keep that in mind. Now to setup a saltwater aquarium, I gathered that live rock or live sand is needed. It seems that these contain organisms that would keep water quality in check similar to what plants do in freshwater tanks?

Now for my questions.

1. If I'm keeping say 3 to 5 small hermit crabs, what size aquarium would be the minimum?
2. Is a filter or other kind of hardware absolutely necessary even with live rock/sand in place? I am trying to keep the aquarium as low tech as possible.
3. What is needed as far as lighting goes?
4. Can you please explain to me more about live rock/sand? What types of organisms exactly do they contain and what exactly do they do in the aquarium?
5. There's a cycling process that is needed when setting up a freshwater tank, and it seems there is one as well for saltwater tanks. Can you please give me some info on this?

Any other tips and info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[saltyphish]

Hi, I'm planning on getting some marine hermit crabs and need help with basic setup and care. I have no experience with saltwater aquariums but do have some with freshwater, so I'm looking for advice on general saltwater aquarium keeping as much as hermit crab keeping. I haven't decided on a species, but I'm likely to go with the blue legged hermit crab, as it seems to be a commonly kept species.

This is what I have gathered from my research so far, please let me know if I've been mistaken in something. Sinking pellets do well for them as far as food is concerned, although most people seem to keep hermit crabs along with their fish and/or other animals in a large aquarium as a sort of cleanup crew, so pellets would normally just be a supplement. I do not plan to keep fish or any other creatures with them in the near future, so please keep that in mind. Now to setup a saltwater aquarium, I gathered that live rock or live sand is needed. It seems that these contain organisms that would keep water quality in check similar to what plants do in freshwater tanks?

Now for my questions.

1. If I'm keeping say 3 to 5 small hermit crabs, what size aquarium would be the minimum?I would say a 10 gallon would be good for that
2. Is a filter or other kind of hardware absolutely necessary even with live rock/sand in place? I am trying to keep the aquarium as low tech as possible. Either a hang on back filter or some sort of powerhead for water movement.
3. What is needed as far as lighting goes?Hermit Crabs is all you want? A cheap light fixture would work just something to light up the tank for you. The light would be for you not the crabs.
4. Can you please explain to me more about live rock/sand? What types of organisms exactly do they contain and what exactly do they do in the aquarium? Liverock is rock that is porous rock that provides a good place for the beneficial bacteria to grow. The bacteria helps get rid of ammonia and nitrites and turns it into nitrates. Livesand is the same concept just sand. Either would typically add other surprise critters otherwise known as hitchhikers. Most use 1 lb of rock per 1 gal tank size
5. There's a cycling process that is needed when setting up a freshwater tank, and it seems there is one as well for saltwater tanks. Can you please give me some info on this?All tanks need to cycle. For saltwater it starts out with a ammonia source such as a piece of raw shrimp rotting in the tank until you get a reading for ammonia. I always shoot for 2 ppm and keep it there. In a few weeks you should begin to get a nitrite reading. This means there is good bacteria in your water breaking down the ammonia and turning it into nitrite. A few more weeks later you will start showing nitrates in your tank. This is the end product of the cycle which is removed by water changes or other means. When you show 0 ppm ammonia and 0 ppm nitrite and they stay at 0 for a couple weeks with no spikes your cycle is complete. Ammonia and nitrite are bad for fish inverts and corals. Nitrates unless high are harmless to fish and inverts and most corals.

Any other tips and info would be greatly appreciated.
Take a minute and read this link.http://reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/

Thanks!

 

[ramundo]

Thank you very much for your response, it was of great help!

 

[laineyg6]

Quick question. I have an awesome hermit that I've had for over a year and I found him in his shell on the kitchen counter (where my tank is). Not sure how long he's been there, so I threw him in some water. I think I already know the answer to this, but is it possible that he might revive? I'm so bummed. Not sure what kind of hermit he is/was, but he's definitely different than the "standard" stuff you can get (scarlet, blue leg, zebra leg, red leg).