HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My son currently has 2 crabs in a 10-gallon. Thinking of setting up a bioactive tank for them in a 20 long. How "bioactive" can I get? Meaning... I'll put in the sand/ee mix, that's fine. And, I'll throw in isopods and springtails. Besides climbing stuff and decorations, do I need to put anything else for the "bioactive" to work? Do I need to feed it biodegradeable materials, like leaf? Or, will crab poop be enough?

And, do I need to worry about the little bio bugs getting out? Can they, and will they, climb up the glass?

Any pros/cons/tips are greatly appreciated.

Hello I would recommend just isopods for sure! As far as leaf litter, make it oak leaf litter that will be beneficial for the crabs too and a little moss for them to hide in. They will eat the crab poop for sure As far as springtails, I've never had those in my 'tat. I wouldn't do both, they would compete with each other. The isopods could get eaten by the crabs. Both pests require humidity to survive, so don't worry about them getting out of the tank...they will die if they do. Isopods will not climb glass, I don't know about the springtails. Isopods are fun to watch. I love watching mine. The isopods eat food too.

Thanks. I might just give it a whirl.

You are welcome! I have isopods and crabs in my 100g and 75g - The isopods clean up all of the crab poop!

It will be interesting to see how the competition of resources have a affect on the springtail and isopods populations... If you have the resources to do so, I would recommend. I know that in the dart frogger world, they do use springtails as a clean up crew.
As the tank matures, it will also develop bacteria colonies that will assist in the process.

Would one want to regularly add more leaf litter to maintain isopods & springtails? I'd expect a collony would crash if the food source were depleted.

LadyJinglyJones wrote:Would one want to regularly add more leaf litter to maintain isopods & springtails? I'd expect a collony would crash if the food source were depleted.

I would think that eventually over time the "excess" colonies will die off, and you'll have just enough to support to waste produced in the tank... unless you DO feed the leaf litter, to keep the colony numbers higher than needed.

For my future isopods I plan on (granted I'm establishing a breeding colony separate from the crab tank first) using a mixture of dried maple, birch, fireweed, and crabapple leaves thrown on the substrate. These are listed on the isopod caresheet on here as favorites for them. I am getting all of these from Alaska Hermit (I have 2/4, waiting for more of the other two to get back in stock.) My crabs seem to enjoy me throwing dried burning bush leaves down too (the PPs eat it all) so that's an option.

I had to look up fireweed - and realized theres a lot of it around here and I can collect seed & grow some this year! Excited.

My tank has been bioactive for well over a year now and is primarily isopods. They have gotten to the point where I will need to remove some, but I'm waiting for spring since it is still pretty cold here. Once your colony is going strong you will definitely need to add more leaf litter. In the winter when I cannot gather any I use terrarium moss (I think there are a few different sources, like Zoomed). They do a fantastic job of cleaning up the crabitat. Poop literally disappears within 24 hours. I've never had escapees from my tank.

In my crabitats I have plenty of leaf litter in them, but crab poo is always gone in the morning when I go in there, so I know my isopods are doing their jobs! I usually see a handful of babies by the food. I will occasionally see crab poo in the shell shop, but nothing like I used to. In addition to no crab poo, the isopods are fun to watch!

GotButterflies wrote:You are welcome! I have isopods and crabs in my 100g and 75g - The isopods clean up all of the crab poop!

Even in the moss pits?

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KayedeeLove<3 wrote:

GotButterflies wrote:You are welcome! I have isopods and crabs in my 100g and 75g - The isopods clean up all of the crab poop!

Even in the moss pits?

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Yes mam! The isopods live between the moss pits and leaf litter. I keep my moss directly on my sub, so it's a little different for me. If the moss pits are easily accessible it should be eaten.


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