HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hey there. I apologize if this question has been answered, I went searching through the forum and couldn't find much concrete information. And there seems to be some mixed information online.

I was wondering if anyone had a list of safe species to add to a hermit crab tank. mt pet emporium recommended against white dwarves, and also said that porcellio isopods and porcellionides both breed very fast, and are not recommended unless you have something else to feed them to. However, some mentioned that their hermit crabs ate slower breeding species before they could populate. The isopod care guide on here indicates that if I have a breeding colony of isopods in their own container, wait for them to populate, and then add a group of them to the tank, they should be able to start a population in the tank without being eaten up first. So I think I'll try that. Armadillidium isopods are the only ones I've heard mentioned by name in hermit crab tanks.

I guess I'm just wondering what all my options are for species, and what people's experience has been with specific species of isopods cohabitating with crabs. If you keep isopods with your crabs, what species do you have? Have you had population problems with that species? Does it breed fast or slow? Does it burrow? How well do they clean the tank? Do your crabs enjoy hunting them down?

If there is another thread I missed with this information, feel free to send a link my way. I'd appreciate any input.

quite ps: I'm seeing a lot of people here having trouble with overpopulation of isopods that leads to their crabs dying?? Maybe this is why you're supposed to keep slower breeding isopods? Hearing everyone's negative experiences makes me hesitant to add them to a crabitat. Anyone know how I could safeguard against this result? People seem to have had such different experiences.

I've added an unidentified Porcellio sp. in the past, and noted very little changes besides isopod species ratio in the tank. They still hid just as frequent as the Armadillidium sp. i had within the tank. So I think its entirely up to personal decision. True, faster species are likely to evade the crabs, but I can speak that a determined crab will hunt down a Porcellio given the chance.

As for breeding so much that it kills the crabs... As nicely as possible, I fail to believe what they're saying is true. They're simply correlating two events (isopod numbers and crab death) that have very little crossover.

Assuming the isopods eat all of the food, then the tank has hit plague proportions and it would certainly be obvious that there is a high abundance. So it's a reflection of the owner for not being diligent on their tank, and a sign that they aren't properly playing attention to their pets. If the owner suggested the isopod killed a moulter, its also a sign that the crabs were kept in sub-standard conditions, as isopod species generally don't dig more than a couple of inches down. So likely the substrate is too shallow, which once again, reflects on the owner rather than the isopod. (My 2 cents)

Generally, all tropical isopod commonly sold as a clean up crew for reptiles are fine to add. However, isopods caught locally can be used, providing that you're aware of potential risks and cautious of iridovirus (which has neither been proven/disproven to infect hermit crabs, but due to their relative close relations, obviously best avoided).

this response was really helpful, thank you so much. I think that you may be right. what you brought up about substrate depth occurred to me as well, reading the stories. and I didn't really understand how isopods could cause disaster in a tank, if all else was right.

Would papaya isopods (Cubaris murina) be good to add? I have a 40gal tank and it says they don’t breed super quickly, does anyone else have these ones?


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