So I'm finding this situation pretty weird and I'm just not sure what to think anymore... I got 2 hermit crabs about 1 week ago, annoying story about these however! I ordered 2 scarlet hermits and what arrived was 2 halloween hermits, not great for my nano tank as I didn't want something so large. Talking to the fish store they assured me no, they are definitely scarlet hermits, they don't even stock halloween hermits, I'm mistaken and these colourings are due to the fact they are small. 1 argument later and I was told they will collect these, and they will replace them with the correct hermits and yes, I was indeed correct.
Anyway, I digress, I added both of the hermits to my tank roughly 1 week ago, I acclimated both slowly and everything seemed to be fine. 1 of them was very fast to wandering and the other didn't leave his shell for a good few hours. I could see his legs moving around so I figured no biggy and left him to get settled. He remained in the same position however for a good few days, never venturing from his shell just occasionally poking a leg out to touch the rock work and that's it. I did some research at this point to try and figure out what might be wrong and from what I've seen this is kinda normal? People are used to the crabs hiding away for a few days so fine, I was however more curious at this point so I moved him to the front of the tank on the sand bed. My thought process here was if he's dying I want to notice he's dead ASAP and move him out the tank.
So he sat at the front of the tank for a few days and I noticed the same behaviour, no movement in the sense of walking around but the odd poking out of a leg. At this point I started to think he's got to be hungry and moved him back to the rock work near a patch of algae so he can at least munch on something without needing to move. He's been there for 3 days now... He still hasn't wondered anywhere! The other hermit has been doing laps, I'm always seeing it somewhere new but this one simply refuses! I thought he'd died if I'm honest, for at least a day I hadn't seen his normal poke around so I just turned his shell over to take a look and placed him back down. He came straight out, did a stretch looked where he was, saw me and dived straight back in his shell...
I'm just at a loss, is this normal? Should I be concerned? I'm honestly questioning if I have a disabled crab or something and perhaps he can't walk? He's moving fast so I can't say I'm seeing signs of him being lethargic, he obviously must be eating to have survived this long and still have energy but is there anything I can or should do?
Anyway, I digress, I added both of the hermits to my tank roughly 1 week ago, I acclimated both slowly and everything seemed to be fine. 1 of them was very fast to wandering and the other didn't leave his shell for a good few hours. I could see his legs moving around so I figured no biggy and left him to get settled. He remained in the same position however for a good few days, never venturing from his shell just occasionally poking a leg out to touch the rock work and that's it. I did some research at this point to try and figure out what might be wrong and from what I've seen this is kinda normal? People are used to the crabs hiding away for a few days so fine, I was however more curious at this point so I moved him to the front of the tank on the sand bed. My thought process here was if he's dying I want to notice he's dead ASAP and move him out the tank.
So he sat at the front of the tank for a few days and I noticed the same behaviour, no movement in the sense of walking around but the odd poking out of a leg. At this point I started to think he's got to be hungry and moved him back to the rock work near a patch of algae so he can at least munch on something without needing to move. He's been there for 3 days now... He still hasn't wondered anywhere! The other hermit has been doing laps, I'm always seeing it somewhere new but this one simply refuses! I thought he'd died if I'm honest, for at least a day I hadn't seen his normal poke around so I just turned his shell over to take a look and placed him back down. He came straight out, did a stretch looked where he was, saw me and dived straight back in his shell...
I'm just at a loss, is this normal? Should I be concerned? I'm honestly questioning if I have a disabled crab or something and perhaps he can't walk? He's moving fast so I can't say I'm seeing signs of him being lethargic, he obviously must be eating to have survived this long and still have energy but is there anything I can or should do?
