I have a pompom in my 24AP. He was in my 44g up until about 2 months ago when I decided to downsize to the AP. I made sure to make plenty of little nooks and crannies and caves for him to hide and lurk, when I was aquascaping the new nano. It came out pretty good actually! He still is a shy little bugger but every once in a while he just comes right out and crawls all over like he owns the place! Not even shyly, just like, "OK MOVE OVER GUYS" while waving his poms, haha

Anyway, Heres a recent pic of him in the nano below.

His friends are:
clown, diamond goby
(Previously he was with a mandarin and a fuzzy dwarf- the fuzzy never ate him, and never TRIED)

CUC:
various hermits: plains and scarlets, snails, nass snails, nudibranch


Corals:
(Im on PCs)
zoas, yumas, , cany cane, pom zenia, duncan, dendros

Special 'Verts
-RBTA, tube anemone

I had my LFS order him and he was $12. Im gonna get a FEW more because they are wonderful little critters. Ive had mine for about 6 months. Ive never seen him eat. Ive seen him swoosh his little poms, but Im not sure about what it looks like when he eats, he is a little bit of a closet eater

I've seen mine "clean" his anemones after feeding the tank with Coral Frenzy. So that's where I think he's getting his nutrition from. Also I do spot feed some corals with Mysis so he might be grabbing leftovers.

I'd like to get a few more also. But getting them IN is the problem. Order 6 and get 0.

I have been thinking of getting one too, would it be okay with a cleaner shrimp?

These crabs are listed on Ebay for 9.99 from Exotic Aquatics and Pets, and I have bought most of my cuc/fish from this seller. Very good packing and always been happy with their stuff! Good communication also.

Cute pic, Dragonette!

I have seen mine feed very much like other crabs...it comes out for Cyclopeeze and will also grab onto any sinking pellets it comes across. And all the while, of course, it is swishing its 'nems back and forth.

I have often observed that is seems to be able to sense food with its feet. When it is roaming around I have often seen it encounter a pellet with its walking legs and immediately gather it in to eat. I have a vid that captures that behavior and I'll try to find it and post it some time.

RedSeaGal--sounds like a great deal!

--Diane

I got my pom pom today! I am very excited to add him to my tank. He looks full grown already, but is very beautiful, I can't wait to see him in the tank.

Dragonette, GREAT PIC!

I just saw mine again after 2 weeks of hiding. Scary thing, my emerald crab has gotten HUGE, like 3 times the size when I got him. Will he bother the pompom if he finds him? Plenty of algae in the tank (unfortunately) and lots of places for the pompom to hide. I'm just worried because one of the emerald's claws is about the size of the whole pompom....

Ok, now I want one, probably two. I'm glad that I read the thread, because now I know that they would be ok in my tank. (And I really need to add something besides coral.)

Question:
When most people buy them, how big are they usually? From the pictures, it looks like they're smaller than a pennny. And around how big is full grown?

Thanks!

It was so hard being patient but we finally picked up our pom-pom a couple days ago. I would take pictures but he hangs out in the middle of the rock pile where I can't see him very well.

He's a bigger one so I know he isn't going to live as long as a small one. I will get one of the tiny guys once I'm sure my guy - Sugar Ray - is thriving.

He waved his pom poms at me this morning when I got too close trying to feed him. I love this little guy!!!!!!!

my pom pom crab lost its pom poms, so it decided to use a feather duster as its anemone.....ill try and get a pic tonight

same question

mine never bothered eachother in the least. pom pom = night, cleaner = day. plus they have more important things to do like cheerlead and be the tank maid

I don't think they'll have any problems. Emeralds just want to eat (so make sure he's not starving! ).




I got mine almost 2 year ago (23 months) and she was very tiny. I don't believe she has grown much if at all since then; I do think that in some crabs, males get larger than females.

Here are some pics of an early molt she had that was pretty intact, so I saved it in alcohol. As you can see, her carapace is about 3/8" at the widest, or ~1.2cm.








LOL! Hey, let's see some pics of yours with the duster!

--Diane

ya tihnk a chalk basslet or a yellow assessor would eat a pom pom crab???

I don't know much about the basslet but the assesor should be fine in nature they are planktivores.

Ok I have a question: i plan on getting one down the road in my ap24, how many could i have? I want three.

Hey all,

I just got my first Pom Pom yesterday. It was the only one at the fish store that still had it's nems, but it has some green hair-looking algae stuff on some of its appendages. Is this normal? Did he decorate himself?

Thanks,
CL

just got on yesterday as well. he didn't have any anemones with him, but i'll update if he decides to use anything else.

i couldnt resist any longer and picked up two of these guys last week.

i have them in a tnak w/ a peppermint and skunk cleaner shrimp. no problems that i have noticed so far. they are my favorites by far.

Three should be fine.




I've never seen that, but I've sure seen algae on my emeralds, snails, etc. I suspect it will disappear with the first molt.







Congrats you two!



--Diane

will these things get eaten by a yasha? or get along with sexy shrimp for that matter?

thinking of having a few of these with a Yasha, assessor, and a Firefish. in an Ap24.
stocekd with softies and rics and a few lps. (acans) will nems bother anything? and
what will eat pom pom crabs?

These guys are tiny but tough. Tough, but not agressive. I've never had a problem with the nems stinging anything and tonight I was just reviewing a vid of mine clambering all over shrooms & rics and none of them even reacted to the crab.

I have no idea what would eat them.

--Diane

mine still is naked. in terms of anemones.

Maybe you have no suitable substitutes in your tank! You know, you can easily keep more than one. If you find one with nems to add, I'll bet eventually they'll end up "sharing."

--Diane

i haven't been able to see them at my LFS. i only saw this one once so i snagged it.
none of the other stores around carry them.

that pic is awesome Diane!
i think that I've just found the next desired addition to my tank...

I have 1 emerald, 1 pom pom, 1 porcelain crab and one blue spotted porcelain crab in a 24 gallon tank and there has been no aggression among them.

I wanted 2 pom pom crabs, but when my order arrived there was 1 pom pom crab and one porcelain crab, not 2 pom poms. Must have been some inexperienced person who couldn't tell the difference since their coloration (but not size or appearance) is similar.

So now I have to find somewhere local that sells pom poms as I ain't paying all that shipping for just 1.

Interestingly (to me anyway) is that after a couple hermits got in a fight with each other and 1 lost a limb or 3 the pom pom crab that I had never seen eat anything before grabbed the hermit parts and took it into an out of view area and presumably got to munching.

Lastly, I have seen pom poms referred to as filter feeders at some online retailers. They most assuredly are not. They likes the meat.

Thank you!! I do hope you join the pom pom club soon!




Nice crab assortment, and I hope you find another pom pom soon. Many lfs's will be happy to put in an order for you, I've found, if they don't have what you want at the moment.

Interesting observation about your p-p and the hermit limbs!

I concur--these guys are far from filter feeders!

--Diane

I added an unknown coral I got for free with some mushrooms this week (posted on another topic), two days later it was shedding and we didn't know what it was. Then looking for pompom I found him dead ... of course it was a molt but I didn't think of that. I thought I killed him by adding that shedding coral. Man does it ever look like a real crab!!!! It even had the tiny eye parts on the molt and it was colourful. The molt picture on this thread looked so pale.

I spent an hour looking in the tank for any sign that it was a molt and finally saw just an arm and anenome waving. I still haven't seen him out yet so I don't know if he has both his anenomes.

What the heck do they do with the anenomes while they molt? I would think they would blow away with all the current in the tank! Do they stay attached to the molt and then they pick them off it?

Also - I thought since pompom isn't in a tank with fish - just clean up crew consisting of scarlett legs and snails that he would be bold and would come out in full view. He never has. He's fairly large compared to the others at the store so maybe this is a factor in his shyness?????

My original crab just molted and he's somehow kept both his anemone's completely intact and now he doesn't have that funky green stuff growing on his joints. Anyways, I just added another one to the tank (yesterday) and they've been going at it for the last 4 hours. What are the chances I will end up with PP babies ? I have a red head goby and a blue leg hermit in the tank as well as star polyp coral.

C

Sorry to mislead you! The molt in that pic had been in alcohol for at least a year! Yes, the fresh molt looks very much like the crab, doesn't it?



Seems to me I've read that they "set them" on the rock, then pick them up again post-molt...



I think they are just by nature reclusive and rather nocturnal. I can almost always find mine out on the LR after lights out. If you feed more or less regularly you can condition it to come out and eat. Although they're reclusive, I don't think they're esp. timid. Mine holds her own with the emerald, hermits, and gobies. Maybe they just know they look like the birthday presents of the reef...




First of all, check their sex. Try to get a look at the ventral shell surface.

"Pregnant" crabs are fairly common in our tanks. My female was carrying eggs when I got her. Most crabs have a planktonic larval stage, though, that won't survive in our tanks. The rest of your tank will find them great food, however.

--Diane

Hey guys just found this thread. I've had 1 pom-pom crab for about 9 months now and recently got anthor one about 3 weeks ago. The first is a female and that has produced 2 clutches of eggs. I dont know the sex of the second just yet. Has anyone ever bred these little guys? They seem to eat everything. I give them squid and mysis shrimp and various other foods that they grab right off my tongs. I also feed their nems a little plankton. Its great to watch since they run over to the cloud of plankton and way their pom poms around and around. It seemed to brighten the nems up a lot faster, since when I got them they were a little brown in color. It also brings the crabs out a bit more during the day. Anyway if anyone has got any ideas about breeding them. Do tell.

My wife would like a pom-pom crab, but I am concerned with its compatability with the tanks other critters -

We have a 29g Biocube, and it has 2 skunk cleaners, 1 fire shrimp, 3 pep shrimps, and 1 emerald crab. Will I have compatability issues?

I don't know about the shrimp, but I believe it has been addressed somewhere earlier in this thread. (Good luck finding it!)

IME, emeralds and pom poms are fine together.

--Diane

(Go Spartans!)

Thanks Diane - pistol shrimp/pom pom interactions seem hit or miss. I think my wife is shrimp/crab crazy. You would think that 2 skunks, 1 fire, 1 emerald, and 3 pep's in a tank would be enough...but no! She wants a pom pom and a pistol shrimp too. Maybe we should throw our mantis in there too just for kicks!

Just thought I would show off my pom pom

Hi everyone, I am pretty new to this site and love my pom-pom... in fact it is my avatar pic as you can plainly see. My tank is fairly young and I have done much research and preparation for developing my bio system. I do have a thread on my 8g BioCube so if anyone is interested in checking it out I will be keeping up on that development!

I would post the link, but I'm lazy, so just search by user and I'm sure it will come right up

Anyway, my pom-pom has been in the tank for almost 3 weeks now and she is AWESOME!!

Right now she has a huge orange sac underneath her abdomen and I am expecting a lot of food for my Mandarin Dragonete to pop out soon...

Sad I know... but I'm being practical. I haven't heard many success stories with propagation of pom-poms in an active nano reef.

Anyway, pleasure to make all of your acquaintances and look forward to much discussion!

Alan

LOL! What's the matter, can't you find a lobster?



Aw, that's cute--perfectly captures that faux smile!




to Nano-Reef, Alan! I'll have to look up your thread. Congrats on the crab's egg mass--even though we can't raise up the larvae, it's still wonderful to experience the phenomenon. And as you say, the rest of your tank will love the live food.

My pom pom came with an egg mass but has never had another one...guess it must require the presence of a male (duh! ).

--Diane

We cut back on feeding our pom pom because we were overfeeding and have some algae outbreaks. He gets nouri and mysis shrimp and when we feet dtphyto gets a puff of this as well (once a week or a bit less). Right now he's getting fed twice a week.

I noticed our pompoms anenomies look a little droopy. Should we be feeding them something specific or something more often? He lost an anenome a couple weeks ago and cut the one he had in half.

Tank is three months old and first fish inhabitants (2 small occelaris) were added last week.

Thanks!

My pom pom went through a spell some time ago when she was down to one, rather spindly looking 'nem. At that time, the conventional wisdom was that "they eventually lose their 'nems in captivity." But I'm not sure I buy that. When my crab lost its 'nems, I too was feeding quite sparsely due to algae problems. When I started feeding more often, my crab returned to having 2 nems, and they have looked nice and lush ever since. I do think both the crab and the 'nems do better with more frequent feeding.

(My advice--learn to love your algae...)

--Diane

I'm just giving this a bump because I really want to get a pom-pom and I love to read about them for now.

So...I think i have an very aggressive pom pom in my 3G tank. It started off by eating my red head goby (which may have had ich but looked perfectly healthy that day). Then one day it took one of the pom poms from the other boxer crab (i can tell b/c one had red pom poms, the other had white pom poms) and day after, I find him munching on his buddy...so now I am down to 1 boxer, 1 hermit, and a couple of snails. He's always been ultra aggressive (esp during feeding time) but now I scared of adding anything to the tank...I don't plan on giving him sushi for dinner...

Click to view attachment

Here is my crab. Have only had it for about 3 weeks now. Will only come out of the rocks when the actinic lights are on and I am feeding the tank. I have gotten to the point where I can hand feed it mysis with tweezers. lol It is super cute and I really like watching it. I have some video as well, but will have to find someplace to host it.

I recently bought one for my BC14 and it really hasn't even come out to eat yet. Its been about 4 days and he hasn't eat (or at least i dont think he has). Is there anything I should worry about? I can see him from his hiding spot but he doesnt come out for food. Any ideas?

So I can finally and officially post here because I lucked out and got 2 of 'em at an LFS. One is definitely a female because she got an egg sack a couple of days after I introduced them both into the tank.

I'm not great at telling the sex other than that, so I'm wondering if someone can tell me what this one is:

Awesome little critters. I have one, but would like to add a couple more.

Mine hides out most of the time, but sure likes to come out when I drop some phyto plankton into the water column.

+1

I've lucked out because mine are roamers and I see them pretty often despite the fact that my scape is mostly caverns and caves.

Here is my new Pom Pom, had him a week now after the LFS didn't know what he was or where he came from, I was looking at a coral in the sales tank and caught a glimpse of him out of my eye, anyway I persuaded them to sell him to me

I think it's a her.....

The one I posted earlier for ID is probably "him".

Looks like he's cheering someone on.

I was about to make a water change..........I guess he saw me