# Shore crabs, hermit crabs and barnacles!



## TheTyro (May 23, 2010)

And lets not forget the adorable sea snails...

Video of my newest 8 legged buddies. The majority will be going back to the beach and I have to buy a lot of stuff to get a proper setup for the long term. My little sister is the one talking in the background (to me) for the most part... Watch in 480, quality is better.

[YOUTUBE]lXg8X3xFebs[/YOUTUBE]


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## H. laoticus (May 23, 2010)

Your little sister sounds adorable 
It's great to be able to share your interests with your loved ones.


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## Scythemantis (May 23, 2010)

I know they don't "do" much but I adore barnacles, my dream is to keep some nice big chunks like that in a tank with nothing else! My biologist friend said they can thrive off a solution of egg yolk, but couldn't give specifics.


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## TheTyro (May 23, 2010)

H. laoticus- Yeah she's awesome! Sometimes she asks me to go spider and bug hunting, she loves animals. A little hyper sometimes though...I try to keep her busy! I love having her as my adventure buddy.

Scythemantis- Thats pretty cool, I wouldn't have thought they'd eat something like that! I only have these guys on a big shell.

And I moved them to a larger tank, got seaweed and more sand and some other things. I am not sure if I need a pump or something in there, I imagine I do to simulate the and currents. I gotta scour the shed for my dads old aquarium stuff.
Anyone else have any experience caring for shore crabs? Any advice is appreciated.


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## Violet (May 23, 2010)

TheTyro said:


> ...I am not sure if I need a pump or something in there, I imagine I do to simulate the and currents. I gotta scour the shed for my dads old aquarium stuff.
> Anyone else have any experience caring for shore crabs? Any advice is appreciated.


You're going to need a marine fish tank to keep these in the long term. Wich means proper filtration, water quality and lighting. 

Perhaps start off with just the crabs. In a “Fish only” tank, Meaning no Coral or live rock. I would imagine seaweeds and barnacles will be difficult to keep sucsessfully, but you could always try this later, once you have more experience.

What ever you decide to do, put alot of research into it. There are many, many websites dedicated to keeping marine fish and salt water tanks. 

Check these links out to get an Idea of whats involved.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/startinganaquarium/a/aafosystem.htm

http://www.thetipsbank.com/marine.htm

I’ve been looking into keeping a marine invertebrate tank for a while now, but I dont realy have the space, time or funds to do so. 

Let me know how yours turns out!


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## TheTyro (May 23, 2010)

Violet said:


> You're going to need a marine fish tank to keep these in the long term. Wich means proper filtration, water quality and lighting.
> 
> Perhaps start off with just the crabs. In a “Fish only” tank, Meaning no Coral or live rock. I would imagine seaweeds and barnacles will be difficult to keep sucsessfully, but you could always try this later, once you have more experience.
> 
> ...


I was looking at the first website you linked yesterday, it's nice and detailed for sure. I found a pump and filter that should work for what I'm doing.

They are in a bigger tank now, with more things from their habitat. I'll try and get video if things work out.

I'm trying to simulate the intertidal zone where these particular species of crabs and barnacle were living. I found a few guides on caring for the shore crabs found here specifically and it seems they can tolerate a lot of different conditions. They were living right by a freshwater outlet too, so they deal with rain, they hang out under rocks at low tide and eat algae for the most part. Finding detailed information about native animals is proving to be most difficult but I think i've got some good foundation information. Only time and me checking things out will tell. They seem happy so far. 

I have no idea about the sea weed, the kind I collected was also living at the intertidal zone, it's used to being in the sun, under water, etc. I'll find out!


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## Violet (May 24, 2010)

Rember that everything you put into that tank, weather it be rocks, sand or even water will be coverd in microscopic invertebrates, algae and crustaceans, some of wich will not survive in a captive environment. When these do die off and decompose they will lead to very poor water quality.

No matter how large your filter is, it will need time to mature and get a good growth of beneficial water cleaning bacteria. The less large creatures (Such as crabs or fish) you have in your tank the less waste they will produce and the cleaner your water will be. 

Have a look at this article on cycling and read up on the Nitrogen cycle.

http://fishinsects.suite101.com/article.cfm/cycling_a_new_marine_aquarium


I would love to see some photos of your whole set up. Once its all in order


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## TheTyro (May 24, 2010)

Alright, thanks! I'll go pick up a water testing kit soon, it'll be pretty neat figuring it all out. 

I imagine it definitely wont be easy or else everyone would be doing it!

*off to read some more*


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