HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi Everyone!
Sorry for being so inactive, school has been consuming my time at the moment. We have had tests in every class. Middle School is hard!
But I have a problem in my tank. I have a ton of fruit flies infesting my food dish. I don’t even have fruit in there! I put a container of Dawn and vinegar covered in foil with holes so they fly in there and die, up on a pedestal where my crabs can’t reach in my tank. It hasn’t worked. Will they hurt my crabs? I know I can’t wait until winter because my crabs tank will be warm anyway. I’m out of ideas.


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Ok, so what may be more helpful and safer for crabbies is this tried n true method. Take an empty water bottle. Cut it in half, flip the part u drink from upside down and insert into the bottom part of the bottle, and instead of using dawn, just use apple cider vinegar it works better than the dawn n vinegar and its safer. They fly in and cant fly out this way.

as for the flies... theyre pretty normal and annoying, bout all u can do i guess. good luck!

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Ok thanks.


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I also put honey in my apple cider vinegar to make it smell really sweet. Also i haven't ever cut my bottle in half ...i just took the cap off and dug it in the sub a litte or propped it up so it couldn't spill. Adding a bit of honey on the inside of the neck and opening to really attract when I was down to the last few.

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Thanks


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I am having the same problem with fruit flies also, they seem extra bad this year and have found their way into my tank too.
To help get it under control I've stopped feeding fresh foods and feeding smaller potions of dried foods and replacing after 1-3 days, instead of my usual once a week (probably the culprit of my infestation).
Also have vinegar traps set up around the house and one on top of the tank.

Just Jay wrote:I also put honey in my apple cider vinegar to make it smell really sweet. Also i haven't ever cut my bottle in half ...i just took the cap off and dug it in the sub a litte or propped it up so it couldn't spill. Adding a bit of honey on the inside of the neck and opening to really attract when I was down to the last few.

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I invert the top to make it more difficult for them to fly out. In my experience, its more efficient. I should edit tho, i cut the top third of the bottle in half.. oops

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If they don't go after the vinegar then they aren't fruit flies, they are fungus gnats.

My recipe for fruit flies is 50/50 water and apple cider vinegar, one drop of dishsoap and a pinch of honey or sugar. Change when there are 25 or more drowned flies as they seem to loose interest when there are too many of their dead brethren in it. Use for at least 5 days to catch them as they hatch out, and if there are a lot have multiple bowls.

wodesorel wrote:If they don't go after the vinegar then they aren't fruit flies, they are fungus gnats.

My recipe for fruit flies is 50/50 water and apple cider vinegar, one drop of dishsoap and a pinch of honey or sugar. Change when there are 25 or more drowned flies as they seem to loose interest when there are too many of their dead brethren in it. Use for at least 5 days to catch them as they hatch out, and if there are a lot have multiple bowls.

How do we catch fungus gnats?

I've read that cutting a potato in half, putting it cut side down, and changing it daily will bait the larvae.

For plants that have fungus gnats they sell yellow sticky pads because they are attracted to the color yellow, but those are not safe in crab tanks.

Honestly, I live with them. They don't go traveling and they just sort of exist. Those, the springtails and the beneficial mites that took up residence in all my tropical tanks do a bang up job on cleanup and mold control so I just look the other way and pretend they aren't there. Going on 8 years and it works for me.

wodesorel wrote:I've read that cutting a potato in half, putting it cut side down, and changing it daily will bait the larvae.

For plants that have fungus gnats they sell yellow sticky pads because they are attracted to the color yellow, but those are not safe in crab tanks.

Honestly, I live with them. They don't go traveling and they just sort of exist. Those, the springtails and the beneficial mites that took up residence in all my tropical tanks do a bang up job on cleanup and mold control so I just look the other way and pretend they aren't there. Going on 8 years and it works for me.

The problem with the potato is it will "catch" your pill bugs/isopods too if you have them LOL couldn't resist!!

Thanks guys, I’m feeding mostly eggshells and oats, stuff like that. I’ll stay away from fruit until winter when they aren’t arounf


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