spec. gravity for hermit crabs

[rica5tully]

I have a small tank with two clownfish.

Amonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 5
Ph- 8.3

Yesterday I put a hermit crab in there and then realized that my specific gravity is only 1.022. Is that O.K. for a hermit crab? Will he survive even though the specific gravity is not 1.025?

It's a new tank and there's only a little algae growing on my rocks. Do I need to feed him somehow?

Thanks!

 

[fishfreek]

He will be fine.

At the minimum I hope you did a slow acclomation just incase the SG of the water he came from was differnt thatn the SG of your tank. But most of the items in our tank are not that sensitive to SG levels that being having a .03 difference will cause them serious harm.

 

[OrionGirl]

Yes, he should survive the lower sp just fine. Usually, the initial iintroduction to the tank is the testing r ground--if not slowly acclimated, they can have problems. However, not all LFS maintain their fish in the 1.025 sp, since a lower sp will help reduce parasitic infections. You may want to watch closely for ammonia and nitrites--inverts are very sensitive to these things. You will want to feed him sparingly--he will scavenge what the fish don't get, but in a smaller system with 2 pigs like clowns tend to be, make sure enough makes it down for him to consume--shrimp or algae pellets would be fine as well.

 

[rica5tully]

molting

Thanks for your help. Now I have another question.

Yesterday my hermit crab molted. He seems to be fine and is crawling around like usual and I took out his old "legs."

I don't have any other shells in there for him to use if he needs them. When do I need to get him a bigger shell? How do I know how big it should be?

Thanks!

 

[OrionGirl]

Within the next week or so, I would add 3-4 different size shells. Hermits tend to be weird about switching shells--they like a variety, and what looks like a better size might not be what the silly thing wants. Many LFS, as well as hobby/craft stores sell shells. Make sure they haven't been treated--no dealers or anything--and it will work. Heck, if you have empty FW snail shells around, from mystery snails or such--they can work. We have one hermit who has been in a bright yellow shell for a while now--goffy thing!

HTH

 

[JohnMemorialHS]

Originally posted by OrionGirl
However, not all LFS maintain their fish in the 1.025 sp, since a lower sp will help reduce parasitic infections.

That is true, the fish store I work at keeps our fish tanks at 1.015 and coral tanks at 1.020. But a lot of times the salinity is higher than that, but that's our goal S.G.