HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So a little while ago I posted a thread about introducing my old and lonely (4 years alone!!) OG crab (Lazarus) to another pretty sad little guy (Beetleguise) in my 20gal tank and was looking for some advice. I was worried that years of isolation may have left them aggressive but to my delight both crabs got along very well immediately (lots of feeler fights and push wars and climbing all over one another and fighting for best spot in the tank AKA OG crab shoving the new guy off of climbing surfaces) and are very happy.

Today I just got a 10gal complete with furnishings and three little friends. And when I say little I mean little, not quite teenies, but still in 3/4th" open shells with room to spare. My plan is to eventually get a 50gal and have everyone live together but I'm a little bit worried about the size difference. Lazarus and Beetleguise are both in D-shells with a 1 1/8th" opening and fill them out well. They're BIG, the biggest crabs I've ever owned and the biggest I've ever encountered in real life outside of the hands of a really well seasoned crabber. I introduced L to one of the small crabs before and he immediately got handsy. There was no chirping and the small guy didn't retreat into his shell so that's a good sign but L was also a little rough and I decided to keep the back of his shell pinched in my fingers so I could moderate the interaction because I think he could really hurt a small crab.

Any tips or advice on working with this size difference? I was really looking forward to being able to create a nice little pack for myself but I didn't realize how small these crabs were until I picked them up (rescues). Would it be worth waiting a year or so and seeing if after a few molts they'll be a better size to live with the big boys? I've killed enough crabs in the past by being ignorant of the proper handling and I definitely do not ever want to be responsible for a dead crab again

In my experience I find there's more often issues between crabs of similar size than ones of very different sizes. I've kept teeny all the way up to jumbo together and the bigger guys never bothered with the littles too much. Occasionally they'd flick them out of the food dish or maybe bowl them over (does any crab ever really understand the concept of going around? ) a few times.

When introducing crabs of any size together for the first time, I find it really helps cut back on grabby/pushy first meetings to give them a dunk in the freshwater dish beforehand. This will make the new crabs smell more familiar to the others. There may still be some feeler fights or shoving matches but these are very normal dominance displays and are usually resolved quickly with no injuries.

I have a almost jumbo crab and I keep them with smalls, mediums, and really really tiny crabs so it should work out for you

This is the funniest thing I have seen in my nearly 1 year of crabbing. Usually there are no issues whatsoever but when I saw this I laughed til I cried.

My biggest E SITTING on my smallest E. Lol

Edit: this is also the jerk that I caught flipping her into a hole. Lol he is king of the tank.

I've seem that pic a few times now but I still giggle when you share it!

I just laughed myself stupid again when I saw it. My husband just shook his head. He knew it was hermit crab related. He has began tuning it out unless it is about his favorite crab.