Large Crab For Special Tank And Few Fish & Plants ?

[427HISS]

Hello everyone.
Many years ago we had a 75g tank with a Clown Trigger etc. The hermit crab (I think) grew from a nickel size and to a dollar. The Clown never,...harmed "Herrimi". He became too large, so we bought a nicely used condition 200g tank. He grew to a a smaller tomato size. My niece always wanted him on a table and feed him. He WAS a clown !

Ok, so I have a 93g cube and I'd like to make it into a mangrove tank, various other types of plants and small fish that the Hermit won't eat.
With the rock I have, both ocean and the BRS white dead rock. I want to create a tall centerpiece that looks like a mountain or a volcano, and the crab can climb to the top, out of the water for as long as he wants. But, with some screening around the top of the tank to keep in escaping. I'll use a grow lite for all of the plants.

What kind crab did we have years ago ?
Are there any other crabs that would suit our needs ?
I may even have a pair of Clownfish with a Anemone.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

What kind crab did we have years ago ?
Are there any other crabs that would suit our needs ?

Unless the hermit crab lived on land (i.e. unless it was a terrestrial species), it's impossible to say what kind it was without pics, but there are a number of marine hermits that could work (I don't know how often they would climb out of the water, though) - a Halloween Hermit Crab is the first that comes to my mind, as they're large but known to be pretty safe.

 

[Stomatopods17]

Red burrowing crabs are a frequent fiddler crab you can find available that require surfacing.

Soldier crabs been a long time since I’ve seen available but also surface.

Sally light foot crabs (yes the ones in our hobby) are well known for coming out of the water when they don’t need to, they’re a tide pool species so they crawl pool to pool, it’s keeping them from escaping that’s the trick.

Fwiw mangroves do well in brackish setups and you can then use red claw crabs, common fiddle crabs, Halloween moon crabs, etc. if you go full freshwater vampire crabs are incredibly easy.

just research which ones need land to burrow primarily vs which ones just survive for a bit, volcano wouldn’t work for Halloween moon crabs for example and vampire crabs would need places to burrow.