alrighty, I have one of these awsome little guys in my 30 (always stealing food from the tubastrea), and now I have a 5gal tank ive recently set up, and have a couple important questions! hehe. first, I plan on making this a hifin banded goby/pistol shrimp tank, and was wondering if a pistol shrimp would be ok with two of these guys? their known to pick on small shrimp (why my sexy shrimp idea has become very sad) but Pom Poms should be fine, right?
At the LFS I work at, there are 3 pom poms, and I want a male/female pair.. is sexing them the same as emerald crabs, because I know how to do that, but thats it! maybe I'll just get all 3 if it wouldnt be a bioload.

hey how do you like your D50? i just got one last week and haven't really used it much it being cold and all.


these are a cool crab. next time i head down to the LFS i will have to see about getting one. all the ones i have seen there have lost their poms though so we will see.
ADAM

Aren't they a real species of crab, they just look like one? Sorry if i'm wrong I think I read that somewhere. I love them, theyre really cute. I saw one a while back with a pair of anemones and thats one time impulse buying should have kicked in...

Fell I found a molt ysterday with one of the anemones still on it, i took the anemone off and put it where the crab likes to hang out. Was this a good or bad idea. Please tell me. I haven't seen the crab since the molt so I don't know if it picked it back up or not.

I love my D50 -- as for the crabs - they are really crabs (the porcelain crabs are the ones you're thinking of not actually being crabs because of their special filter feeder arms) and they don't NEED their anemone's to survive. I've also heard that if you have multiples and one is missing their anemone's they will share them amongst each other. I have also heard of pom poms picking small anemones off the rocks to use as replacements.

so guys... does anyone know if a pistol shrimp would bother two Pom Poms in a 5 gallon..? and I know on a previous page it talks about sexing.. but is it similar to sexing emerald crabs? Thanks...

I just got a pom pom today for my 2.5 gallon! He's so much fun to watch and there's not signs of stress so I'm excited for the new addition

awesome!!!!

I just bought 2 myself, i see them both come out at night waving their arms around with the anemones! one of them actually lost one of the anemones, but im hoping that it will split the other or the other crab will share!

A Pistol will kill both of your Pom-Pom Crabs, most likely.

really? that sucks... I have my eye on a very small pistol, thats actually about the size of a pom pom... but i guess ill wait it out and decide later.

i just picked up a female pom pom with an egg sack... shes the only thing in there now besides a small nassarius. So i'm going to see what happens, maybe there's some ray of hope for the babies!

Not trying to be rude, but how much does a good quality pompom cost?

my LFS was retailing them for $24/each

I got mine today at the LFS for $14.99:



He's in UR wineglassz peein in UR drnkx.

I bought 2 of them last week at $9/each. Awesome crab when they are out!

Mine popped the very aggressive coral banded shrimp right in the snoot with an anemone when he came skittering over to investigate, then scooted into the rockwork. heh heh I imagine I'll see him again some time before the end of baseball season.

so, I had my pregnant female pom pom by herself, and since I was too worried about a pistol shrimp picking on her, I went with two sexy shrimp... she ATE a sexy shrimp! a nice sized one, too! Im not sure if he wasn't doing well, because he did seem a little lethargic, and the other one is fine.. but she really is eating the whole poor little shrimp, while i sit here and watch her!!

uh oh. I was going to introduce sexies into my pom pom's pico.

Just noticed that one of my pom poms is holding a yuma. Guess it lost it's anenomes and used the next best thing. Looks like it's holding a shield instead of a pom pom. Anybody else ever noticed this behavior?

When I got a Palythoa colony on a small sea shell, I originally had it at the bottom of my tank to acclimate to the lights. My Pom Pom crab went right ahead, picked it up, and carried it to the top of my rocks. Mine redecorates quite often, perhaps your's is doing the same?

I've heard other stories of Pom Pom's grabbing anything anemone-looking as replacements....

psidriven - any chance you can get a picture of yours? that would be cool to see.

well sunset, the other sexy is doing fine now.. i think the other one just wasn't doing well since i got her... i think the trick is to feed the pom pom right before you add new little critters... mine is actually a very social crab.. and will go for the food as soon as i put it in the tank. So if you try that, and get some larger sexys.. i think itll be fine.

(plus.. she is pregnant.. she could just be extra moody and aggressive.. hehe)

I'll try to take a pic tonight. Hopefully it'll come out into the open. Usually it is hiding under a ledge or my candy canes.

I never had a problem with my pom(s) hiding all the time, they were usually out in the open.

I have one I see every once in awhile. No one messes with her and she doesn't mess with anything that I have ever noticed. I have had for I guess about 2 months and she is doing good. I am posting to tell you all about the coolest pom pom tank mate that my LFS has. This is probably the most respected LFS I have ever come across. They are salt water only and will not sell you anything they don't think your tank can handle. Well anywyas they have a Pom Pom living in a Mantis tank. It got in there by accedent as a hitch hiker and has lived in there for over a year now. They say they never see it come out of its little hole excpet to wave its Pom Poms around at the owner. Of course they do feed the mantis a whole silver side ever night so he is fat and slow. Still very cool tank mates.

i just found this old skool thread. These crabs are amazing im gonna have to get one. Hopefully i can find one in Australia. The options are some what limited in Australia.

I just took these pictures and instantly thought of this thread....






Jesse

Those pics are AMAZING!!! Its odd that one of your nems is green tho...

It is actually white, but for some reason or another it fluoresces like crazy! Really cool.


BTW, here is the larger version of the first picture: http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c247/ree...pompomLARGE.jpg

Jesse

here's my little guy.

I have 2 but this one attacked the other pom pom crab, held him down, and ate his anemones before he released him... meanie lol

what is the deal with pom poms? are they better suited for reefs than other crabs or are they just as menacing? do they have special requirments?

ahh crap, i just saw 2 at my LFS and now i'm regreting i didnt buy them! i shall go get one tomorrow!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pom-Pom-Crab-for-Saltw...8QQcmdZViewItem
$5!!! well before shipping

I ordered a few of them at work, and to my surprise, two of them were DOA, but the third was just fine and is now in the 24 x 12 x 8 frag tank at work. He decided to ditch the pink anemones he had, and now has aiptasia on his little mitts! Is there a safe way to remove them without hurting him?

I think I might have to have one of these for my new 15H!

Do the anemones bother other corals?

I havent seen any problems, nor have I heard of anyone else having any problems.

Jesse

i have a question about my pom pom crab that i posted over in the general discussion forum. i didn't want it to get lost in here, but if you have a sec and can help me out, i'd appreciate it.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=114613

thanks.

I have a female pom pom that I got a month or so ago. I know she is female because she was carying eggs when I got her. SHe dropper her eggs sometime ago and recently I saw her with a new egg sack. I think I should get her a boy toy.

If the are like other crabs femals have a wide plate on the bottom of their carapace, and males should have a narrow one.

A couple of shots of mine from last night:






And 3 little videos (40 seconds each) that look terribly grainy at Google size, but still show those little mouthparts moving like crazy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5886313815911928770

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3398448165603811538

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2898440126599039787

--Diane

Hey these crabs look really cool, im in the UK, does any one knwo where you can get them in the uK? I've asked my lfs but he said he'd have to check wiht the supplier. is there any online sites that sell these in the UK? thanks

what will happen to the anemones when the crabs die?

That's a good question. I believe someone posted earlier that this species is known to be free-living in the wild...

But I have an interesting fact to relate. After my pom-pom's anemones dwindled down from 2 lush ones, to 2 not-so-lush ones, to 1 rather scraggly looking one, he is now back to 2, which both look nice and healthy. The only thing I can think of is that this correlates with my adding food much more regularly to the tank once my gobies began spawning. Don't know how this would affect the health of the anemones, but something has. Also, I have to assume that the crab somehow split up the one remaining nem he used to have into 2...

--Diane

would multiple of them in a same tank cause aggresion between each other? or would it encourage them to come out more?

Is there a way to tell what sex a Pom Pom Crab is? I'd like to get mine a friend of the opposite sex but I don't know if mine is a guy or girl and if the ones I see at the lfs are male or female.

Sexing should be the same as other crabs. Femails have a broad plate on their belly while males have a much slimmer plate. Check out the crabs at your local supermarket for the difference, since it's much easier to see on a large dead crab than the small pom pom.

Quick question, anyone know the care requirements for the pom pom nems? The ones on my pom pom's seem to be dwindling and I don't know why. All the other nems in my tank are doing great and splitting.

Just saw four at my LFS store today, when I get my 2gal toms deco setup, I gonna added two.

Have 2 pom pom crabs for sale or trade. Will trade for bright or rare Zoa, Ric's, SPS. Make your offers. Had them for over 4 months and doing great. Located in Los Angeles.

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hey guys i was wondering will one of these pom crabs do ok with a cleaner shrimo in my AP 12

Dont know wildernesstank, but I plan on having two with sexy shrimp.

oh really bro, ya becouse i dont wont them to pick on eachother