Author(s): Rory Anthony Hutagalung, Vivitri Dewi Prasasty and Ignatius Sakti Pranandya

Abstract: Marine hermit crabs is one of marine organisms that interest aquarium hobbyist, due to its coloration, and especially to their function in aquarium ecosystem. Marine hermit crabs are called as tank cleaner for their capability on feeding detritus and cadavers that keep the aquarium clean. Therefore, hermit crabs are exported overseas. Mortality is the main issue in marine hermit crab shipment due to poor packing method. The purpose of this research was to lower mortality of marine hermit crabs during shipment through ecological approach. A 2x3 factorial design was applied. The first treatment was dormancy mecanism with three factors (solitary, non-dormant group, forced dormant group) and the second treatment was temperature with three factors (25 ºC, 20 ºC, 15 ºC). Significant survival rate difference (p: 0.002) among the dormancy factors was observed. The solitary packing method resulted the highest survival, followed by forced dormancy group. Despite the higher survival rate on the solitary method, forced dormancy group method was more practical as the packing was in group. In terms of temperature, the middle temperature (20 ºC) showed the highest survival rate and it was significantly different(p:0.0034), compared to the lower temperature (15 ºC)and the higher temperature(25 ºC).

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