really cool pics woogiekids! Good luck with the crabs, I hope to try working with pom-pom larvae too soon< hopefully this summer if I can find myself another male.

bluezooaquatics has them.

You can ask your LFS to order them also.

thanks for answering the part about the molting, but what i meant was his crab was significantly larger then mine, does that mean his is male and mine female? or vice versa? or does that mean his is simply older then mine?

The sizes might be due to age. The best way to tell sex of a crab is to look at the underside. An oval-like plate on the bottom means a female, whereas a long, thinner plate indicates a male.

Edward Aiptasia Hands.

Nom nom nom nom harlequin shrimp molt

cool pic of the crab eating the molt

Next time I see a pom pom crab at my LFS I'm gonna get some. How much do they usually go for?

Got mine for $10 but they're cheaper.

That's sounds like a really good deal.

whered you get it?! i cant find one in any of the oc/inland empire places

Mine was 8 bucks at the LFS

Call around. Most places can get it in for you if you ask them to.

I got mine from Coral Oasis.

Love my pom pom! Great grab to watch!

Got mine for $10 at LFS.

photos and where did you get it !? i noticed you were from the IE and thats a bit closer than an oc place :]

Love these rascals, my #1 standby recommendation for pico reef crabbing. have always had one, just lost my oldest one so Im now interested in knowing the max time anyone has kept one alive, to get a general idea on lifespan maximums

got about 35-40 months in a one gallon pico before he kicked the bucket...plus, he died in a place I can't and won't get to so I just left him in the bowl to rot. posthumously he proved that death of small animals in a tiny pico isn't necessarily devastating.

after about 100 molts I thought he was dead each time

it was when I saw his bunnodeopsis anemones crawling up the rock I knew this wasn't just a molt

I got two of these little rascals yesterday, waiting for them to appear again...lol. Didn't think something could hide this well in my 3 gallon picotope.

i havent logged in here awhile but decided to check on this thread and find any info on life expectancy this afternoon after staring at my pom pom crab in its 5.5g. i got the crab from the LFS back in Sept 2007, and i am amazed at how resilient this little guy is.

over the years, various inverts have slowly died off one by one but ive never restocked since it's been so challenging to maintain temps for my tank in my small apartment (major swings). but through it all, this crab is still scurrying about with both its anemones intact today, and now its the only store-bought livestock i have.

Hi, everyone. I'm still trying to sex my crab, and I'm wondering how you all get a view of the underside - mine never is in a position where I can see the full abdomen. The best I've managed is this pic - for those more experienced, is it enough to tell (I was guessing female)?



Yes, Nestlée lost her pompoms and as you can see she's carrying a substitute in 1 claw. I think it's a piece of my demised ric.

Another question: does anybody know what the white dot is on the "chest"? The mouth? Anus? Just a decorative marking? I noticed both males and females have the dot, sorta looks like a target, lol.

Sorry, didn't catch your post earlier.

I will try and get some pics, the pom pom is petty reclusive.

I got it from Petworld, right off the 10 on Harriman exit Tippecanoe. Across the street from Best Buy.

The guys in there are usually pretty nice. Usually have a good selection of livestock.

They just happened to have a pom pom when I went in there.

If you are looking for other store, here are a couple. Just call ahead and ask what you want.

Another place is Shillingtons in Beaumont. The owner is friendly and knowledgeable.
965 Calimesa Boulevard
Calimesa‎ CA‎ 92320-1120
United States

And in Ontario there is a huge store, Global Aquatics. Friendly people willing to makes deals in there.
1420 South Carlos Avenue
Ontario‎ CA‎ 91761-7655
United States

Jans had a decent selection
5427 Moreno St
Ste E
Montclair, CA 91763

Hope that helps!

Time to bump this thead!

Finally got a full-underside-frontal view, and Nestlée is definitely a she-crab!

However, the mystery of the white dot remains. It's like a panel that flaps open & shut, not often but occasionally. There doesn't seem to be an opening behind it, but it happens so quickly it's hard to be sure. Can't see that anything is going in or coming out, but who knows? Wonder if it's an organ of some kind. If so, what?

And if that isn't the mouth, where is the mouth located Behind the moving mouth parts?

Intriguing little critters....

I'll be redoing my 2.5G macroalgae tank which is housing the pistol shrimp+goby pair and will replace them with some of these Pom Pom dudes hahahaha.
Could someone let me know if they are ok with neon gobies?

Thanks.

This may be a dumb question and im probably just overreacting but I added one of these little guys this weekend, and today i was cleaning my tank and had to push a rock up then down to clean a spot, is there any chance i could have crushed/trapped my crab?

the rock is 100% on crushed coral so no rock to rock grinding


he's good ill post my phone pics later

When a pom pom decides to use aiptasia as it's substitute nem does anyone know what happens when the aiptasia grows? Will the pom pom let it go, clip it or.......? Thanks everyone.

After looking for so long, I finally got a pom pom crab today!!

However, it has lost both of its anemones. The guy at the LFS said it had them when he got the crabs 2 weeks ago. I guess the nems died in those 2 weeks. He gave me a discount, so I got one. I'm hoping that I'll eventually find another one with nem and they would share.

Sorry, no pics yet. But looks like it is a female. 30 minutes after I put it in the tank, it caught a bristle worm, ate most of it, and is now currently holding a little piece of bristle worm in one claw. I guess as both defense and back-up food

I guess it's nice that I have no fish in the tank, so the crab didn't go into hiding at all. It just rested under a monti cap for a little bit, then came out, and promptly caught a bristle worm.

Woooh! Finally got Joe on camera!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAY637yutu8

My pompom crab...

I've named him Armand, but I'm not sure about his sex. He's got a pretty nice pair of nems though.

When I first got him, look how small his nems were!



Armand now...





Thanks for looking, would love to know his sex and what nems he's carrying.

L

I think it's post #426 in this thread that has great pics showing the sex difference.

Thanks, I saw just that. I've never checked under Armand's skirt before! LOLOL He may be male. I'll be watching his underside to see what he is.

L

Moults I saved from my pair to show gender difference. Female on the left, Male on the right

Nestlée's getting a boyfriend!!!

At least, from the pic it looks like a boy. He's supposed to be really tiny. I collect Cancer on Sunday.

Any thoughts on whether they need to be introduced in a special way, or should I just plop him in after temp acclimation?

I've been wanting a couple of these guys for a while but never seem to see any in the lfs' I go to - I may have to ask one to order me some

I've been after my lfs for over a month, and it just hasn't been listed as available by the wholesalers they order from. But other stores may have other sources. LiveAquaria now has them in stock, that's where this guy is from.

would a pom pom pair be a good addition to a sump? I plan on having it doubled as a Frag holding station/rack as well.. just wondering here... or would i be better off with other critters

8yrs is not a long time. mine has been around since 1972

I just moved and I'm glad I have my tank to watch. No Internet except iPhone and no tv. After watching my Harley shrimp eat an asterina star I glanced over to see my pom pom crab just chilling. And to my surprise they are mating. I've had a female for about 3 years now and she has been laying eggs on the regular. So after months of searching I finally found a male. It seems like all I ever see in the stores are females. It's only been a week and they decided to get it on. Ha ha sorry for the crappy pic. My phone is all I got at the moment. But though it would be fun to share.

Awesome thread! I posted this elsewhere earlier before finding this here. What does everyone think of 1 pom-pom and 3 sexy shrimp in a 3 gal? Am I likely to have compatibility issues?

Sharing & Propagating Nems

Thought I'd share my experience.

Got a pompom a year ago; she lost the nems almost immediately and has been pompomless ever since. She sometimes carries substitute bits of stuff, but whatever it is soon dies.

Have been trying to find a male w. pompoms, hoping he would share w. her as others have reported on this thread. The lfs never has them, so finally I ordered from LiveAquaria's Diver's Den.

The new crab had 1 white & 1 brown nem, both very small. Then I goofed and destroyed them by tilting the bag this way & that trying to see his/her underside to determine sex. Turns out to be another female (darn!) and the bitty nems got shredded. Couldn't tell if she still held any remnants.

Anyway, Newbie crab got added to the tank and molted a couple of days later. Now instead of a male/female pair w. pompoms I had 2 females without.

Was gone for over a week during Xmas, and came back to find BOTH crabs carrying what look like white nems in each claw. If indeed they are nems, then the crabs have both shared and propagated them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they'll grow out.

Pretty cool.

That is cool My male pom pom lost a nem (and 3 legs...) a few weeks ago and still hasn't propagated his other one. The female hasn't shared with him either

Sorry is this has already been said, but has anyone on here raised baby pom pom crabs? I have a pair and I see the female carrying eggs quite often but I've never caught the hatch.

I've had the newbie for a month. She is only half the size of Nestlée, and I worried she would get beat up, but that doesn't seem to have happened. I also wondered if Nestlée stole the pompoms, but the little one is also carrying. Us girls are SO cooperative, lol.

I would think your male can propagate his nem when he's ready. I'm jealous you have a male/female pair - I'm singing "Pom Pom Luv" to the tune of "Puppy Love".

Interesting story behind how I got them too. The LFS owner saw them at the wholesaler when they had just arrived from whatever ocean they came from and brought them to the store before they were even acclimated and unbagged at the wholesaler. Then I saw them acclimating at the LFS and took them home. From the ocean to my tank in one day lol. On top of that, they were bagged together so they were probably hanging out near each other in the ocean AND the female was carrying eggs.

I should arrange for Armand to come over for stud service. He's got great, big nems. You measure a male crab by the size of his nems...

pimping my pompom crab. I'm a terrible mommy!

L

Ha-ha! There's 2 sexy ladies here just waiting to be ravished. Read somewhere that the female molts just before mating; he doesn't, putting a new spin on being hard. Seems the PomPom likes his ladies soft & squishy ..... Hmmmm, I would do well in PP society, maybe should reincarnate as a crab?

Quick comparability question guys can a Pom Pom and a porcelain anemone crab get along in a reef together??

I have the combo in my 4g pico. Added the pompom first then the porcelains.

i've had my pom pom for about a year and it drops and finds its nems all the time. probably done it 3-4 times in the last year. It never found its second one though.. currently isnt carrying anything.



this was an older picture

I have two pom poms, 2 porcelain anemone crabs and a purple porcelain crab in my 40g

my porcelain crabs both dissapeared rather quickly.

the purple one i havent seen in months (which he might just be hiding)

the white one was in the RTBA for a while and then just disappeared ... never saw the body though. .so he might be somewhere else too..