Helpful Hermit Crab Basics

See the August 19, 2009 entry “Unusual Pets: Hermit Crabs” for an introduction to these fascinating pets.

Hermit crabs are fun pets to care for in your home. They used to be reserved as souvenirs from seaside vacations, but now you can buy them in most pet shops. They make wonderful starter pets for kids. They are a great alternative to the more traditional gerbils or hamsters and they have a much longer lifespan than goldfish. Contrary to what you might expect, it is possible to play with them and they do have little personalities of their own. Do you think hermit crabs may make a great pet for you? Here are some helpful hints to get you started.

Before you get your crab, you need to get the basic equipment and supplies in place. First, your crab will need an aquarium for its house. Forget those teeny, tiny cages you see at the shops by the beach; hermit crabs really need a ten-gallon aquarium to be comfortable. If you are getting more than one crab, obviously you will need a bigger aquarium. A pet shop will tell you the best size to get, depending on the number of crabs you will be housing. Make sure the aquarium has a snug fitting lid so your little friends do not make a run for it! Place a reptile heating-pad under the tank to keep your crabs feeling nice and tropical.

You will need something to cover the floor of the tank, as well. Three to four inches of sand works best, but you can also use crushed coral or reptile fibre bedding. If you use something other than sand, it is still a good idea to cover a portion of the floor with sand, so the crabs will have somewhere comfortable to go when they moult.

Now that you have the house and the flooring taken care of, you will need to get two shallow water dishes and a food dish. Shallow seashells can be used if you have access to them. In one water dish, you should keep fresh water and in the other, keep salt water, made with a marine aquarium salt solution. The dishes need to be shallow enough that the crabs can crawl into and out of them. A natural sea sponge is a nice addition to the fresh water dish. Your crab will love to pinch it and it will help keep the humidity levels up in the aquarium.

The last thing you will need to fancy up your hermit crab home is some decorative wood pieces so your crab can climb on them. Coral and pieces of clean coconut shell also make great additions. Your crab will love playing with them.

You will need to get some commercial hermit crab food so your crab will have something to eat. You can supplement that food with small pieces of fruit, meat, cereal or fish. Additionally, make sure your crab gets crushed eggshells or oyster shells to boost its calcium level; it is important to keep its fragile skeleton strong. Cuttlebone, which is kept in the bird area of most pet stores can also be used for this purpose.

To care for your crab, clean its water and food dishes daily and spot clean the tank when necessary. You will want to provide plenty of extra shells, in increasingly larger sizes, so your crab can change homes as it grows. Shells with wide openings are best. When your crab moults, remove the skin it has shed as soon as possible as it will begin to decay and could contaminate items within the tank.

Optional, but useful accessories to get are a tank thermometer and humidity-measuring tool. Your hermit crab will be most comfortable when you keep the temperature around 72°F - 80°F and you keep the humidity level between 70% and 80%.

With these helpful hints, you are now ready to get your hermit crab. One more fun part remains to be done…you get to pick a name for your new pet.

Until next time,

Teia

Domestic Fish-keeping

Fish are kept at home in aquariums and ponds. The hobby of fish keeping is divided into brackish, saltwater and freshwater fish keeping, with the most popular hobby being freshwater fish keeping. The fish which are most popular are angelfish, goldfish and guppies. Different species of fish can be kept together, however, be careful on which species you place in the same aquarium or pond. Prior to buying fish, check with the staff of the store where you are buying them to ensure that they are compatible with fish you already have in your pond or aquarium. If you decide that you would like to breed fish, get one or two males and five or six females of the same species and place them together for breeding purposes. However, again be careful as some species will kill each other if they are not in a breeding mood. There are two types of breeding fish. Some fish lay eggs which after a time hatch into baby fish and others bear live baby fish. With breeders, the popular fish species are guppies, mollies, catfish, killifish, cichlids and characin.

Fish keeping was started centuries ago. At that time fish were bred for food. Chinese and Japanese traditions included fish keeping for food purposes. Also, due to religious customs, fish was eaten on days when meat wasn’t allowed. But later kings began keeping goldfish and koi, because of their attractive colors. They were kept in ponds and when guests arrived, the fish were moved indoors into fish bowls. Romans were also known to keep lampreys in pools with salt water. Ancient Egyptians kept fish from Oxyrhynchus in temple pools.

Saltwater or marine fish keeping is more difficult and expensive. It is very beautiful with colourful and attractive fish along with different types of corals. However, due to the difficulty of maintaining the water at optimum conditions, it is certainly not for beginners. Brackish fish keeping involves both freshwater and saltwater fish keeping, because the salinity of the water is in between that of seawater and freshwater.

Many aquarists also focus on aquatic plants. Some hardcore aquarists even attempt to grow coral reefs with the help of living rocks and calcareous rocks with algae growth, sponges and worms. When the coral begins to grow, echinoderms, crabs, molluscs and shrimp are also added to the aquariums, which are also called reef tanks.

The aquarium should have ecology which is similar to the natural habitat of the fish that occupy the tank, which can be quite difficult to accomplish because water from different parts of the world contains different dissolved minerals and contains different minute organisms.

The surface area of your aquarium is probably more important than the volume of the water. This is because, the more surface area a tank has, the more oxygen levels increase in the water. Air pumps also are used to increase the dissolved oxygen in the water. This is part of the nutrient cycle, which should be maintained and controlled for the welfare of the fish. Larger aquariums are more preferable as they make things easier. The larger volume of water means that changes take place much more slowly. Unless the aquarium is greatly overstocked with fish, changes in pH and chemical imbalances take longer to occur and can usually be adjusted before the fish are affected.

Other factors to be controlled in your aquarium are the nitrogen cycle, dissolved gases and a balanced food supply. The salinity of the water should be checked regularly depending on the type of aquaria being maintained. The pH level should be checked to test the acidic nature of the water. For a freshwater aquarium, most aquarists use tap water, which is a mistake as it contains chlorine and possibly even fluoride. Chloramines should be used in tap water to make it chlorine free or it should be aged in an unused tank until the chlorine gases off.

For a tropical aquarium, the water should be warm and the temperature should be nearly seventy-seven degrees Fahrenheit. For a cold water aquarium, the water temperature should be less than room temperature. To accomplish this, a refrigeration device called a chiller can be used.

Plants and certain organisms can be kept in the aquarium because they metabolize the waste, especially nitrogen. But the more organisms added to the fish tank, the more difficult it is to maintain. The needs of all the aquatic organisms must be considered. Introducing many types of species into an aquarium is known as biological loading. Two other important factors which should be considered include the filtration process you use and the oxygen levels of the water in your tank(s).

Aquarists interested in fish breeding should be careful. Firstly, they shouldn’t mix a lot of different types of fish together. They should also develop special conditions called spawning triggers for proper breeding.

Artificial ponds can also be made in the garden. It is very similar to indoor aquarium keeping, except that ponds are much bigger and they are out in the natural elements. Tropical fish are a good choice for such garden ponds, however, where the temperatures are colder, goldfish, orfe and koi are good options. And if you live in areas like I do where winter is the longest season of the year and temperatures can go below minus 40 degrees, it is advisable to move your pond fish into indoor aquariums during the winter. When we lived in Regina, Saskatchewan, mom and dad moved their pond fish into a 240 gallon fish tank in the basement during the winter. The tropical fish occupied 10 aquariums of various sizes on the main floor of the house. Keeping these tanks cleaned and the fish in them in tip top condition occupied a lot of mom and dad’s time, so I was glad when we moved north that the number of tanks was slowly reduced to zero so mom and dad could spend more time with ME.

Until next time,

Teia

Fish Ponds in Small Yards

In recent years, one of the most common backyard design ideas has been adding a fishpond to the yard. This can usually only be accomplished in those yards that are large and sprawling or that have some sort of walkway. However, if you are really adamant about having your own fishpond and you have a small yard, here are a few design ideas that you can use to add it, without having it dominate your yard.

One suggestion would be to place a very small pond, either in the middle of the yard so it can serve as a focal point, or over in the corner of the yard so it seems like a surprise to people who are walking around. In the corner design idea, you would want to raise the pond a little bit so the fish are out of view, or disguise the pond behind a screen of plants or ornamental grass. In the center-yard design idea, you can incorporate the fishpond at ground level or a little above, whichever you prefer.

Remember that the main focus of a fishpond in your yard is to have something lively and colorful that you can watch peacefully swimming around every day. But, keep in mind that large fish, such as the Japanese Koi that often populate fishponds these days, can be extremely expensive if they are bought fully grown. If you purchase small Koi, they are much cheaper. Of course, you can also purchase goldfish from a pet store but they will take a few years to grow into sizable fish. When mom and dad lived Regina, Saskatchewan, they had an eleven foot by seven foot pond and they put goldfish in it. They purchased two inch long feeder goldfish for fifty cents each and put them in the pond. Each fall they removed them because of the freezing winter temperatures and kept them in a 240-gallon fish tank in the basement. By the time these fish were four years old, they were between eight and twelve inches long, about the maximum size for goldfish. If your pond is small, goldfish are recommended, so the fish don’t look out of proportion to the size of your pond. If your pond is more than twelve feet by six feet, you may consider Koi. Just remember that Koi can grow up to three feet long, so you want to keep that in mind when determining the type of fish to put in your pond.

When considering putting a pond in your yard, you have to think about the amount of work it is keeping it clean and well maintained. You need to weigh how much you really want the fishpond and how important it is in your overall backyard design before you go ahead and start building it. You might find that you would rather have a small, more manageable tank in your home that you can check on each day.

Another consideration before incorporating a fishpond as a backyard design is the climate of your location. Most would only add a fish pond if they had access to warm weather all year round, and there really aren't many places that can accommodate that. If you are really sure that you want this type of backyard design, you can always have an indoor tank and an outdoor pond and transfer the fish when the weather allows. This, however, limits the type and size of fish you can put in your pond. In addition, you have to consider predators. In some locations eagles, hawks, seagulls, cats, racoons, etc. have to be prevented from ‘fishing’ in your pond. Dad's cousin, Bill, who lives in Surrey, British Columbia, has to keep netting over his Koi ponds to keep the predators out. His ponds are about twenty by forty feet and about ten to fifteen feet deep. At this size, and in that climate, they never freeze to the bottom, so he can leave his fish in the ponds year-round.

Having a fishpond is a testament about how much time and energy you are willing to devote to this aspect of your backyard. In effect, it's a great idea that is just difficult to bring to fruition. However, with a lot of work you can bring it to life and many people will be impressed when they find that their friends have a fishpond in their yard. It brings a luxurious feeling to the yard and makes others feel like they are in the presence of someone who really cares about their yard.

You must also consider the surroundings when you are getting ready to incorporate the design of a fishpond into your yard. Indeed, if the surroundings look bad, then you cannot hope to have the yard fit together. With something as affluent as a fishpond in your yard, you need to make sure that the surrounding design is aligned with the pond. So include some luxurious hanging plants and some very nice flowering bushes. This will generate an overall comforting and enchanting ambiance that anyone would be thrilled to have.

There are numerous websites on the Internet that specialize in backyard fishponds. You can find companies that will build a pond for you and companies that will sell you premade ponds that you can set up as above ground ponds or ponds you bury in the ground. Many nurseries, pet stores and building supply stores also carry supplies that will allow you to build a pond in your backyard.

As with anything, if you are really motivated to get your fishpond to work in your yard, you can probably do it successfully. But remember, don't just dive in without consulting with family and friends and perhaps even some professionals before you begin. Also, remember to take your worst case scenario about the amount of work and cost associated with a pond, triple it and you will still be low. I don’t want to scare you from considering a fishpond, but you will find it more costly to maintain than a backyard swimming pool. A water garden, without the fish, is a much cheaper alternative and just as attractive. Also, the maintenance on a water garden is minimal. Having been through the backyard fishpond phase, mom and dad would not consider it again in this northern climate. We do have a small pond in our backyard, but with no fish in it, maintenance is almost non existent and that is a good thing because it leaves mom and dad with more time to spend with me.

Until next time,

Teia