splinter492 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Cool looks like I'll pick up the Pom Pom at my store Quote Link to comment
PinkDamsel Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 It seems these guys eat their exoskeletons after shedding them. Cosette molted a couple of days after I got her. For 2 days I could see the shell listing upside down in a back corner; a day later it was gone. I’m certain it didn’t disintegrate all at once like that or float away. Nestlée molted and left the shell in a tunnel of my rock. On day 3 it had disappeared, but I later saw it outside the tunnel, about 3” from the earlier spot. Something dragged it there. Next morning it’s in the same spot but all the legs are gone, just part of the head remains. There isn’t anything else in the tank that could have done this: no fish, no shrimp, dwarf cerith snails, some small (less than 2”) bristle worms, no other crabs but these 2 pompoms. Imagine dragging your old skeleton around and then eating it, lol! Quote Link to comment
altolamprologus Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 It seems these guys eat their exoskeletons after shedding them. Cosette molted a couple of days after I got her. For 2 days I could see the shell listing upside down in a back corner; a day later it was gone. I’m certain it didn’t disintegrate all at once like that or float away. Nestlée molted and left the shell in a tunnel of my rock. On day 3 it had disappeared, but I later saw it outside the tunnel, about 3” from the earlier spot. Something dragged it there. Next morning it’s in the same spot but all the legs are gone, just part of the head remains. There isn’t anything else in the tank that could have done this: no fish, no shrimp, dwarf cerith snails, some small (less than 2”) bristle worms, no other crabs but these 2 pompoms. Imagine dragging your old skeleton around and then eating it, lol! Good observations It's quite common for inverts to eat to their exoskeleton to reclaim the minerals and nutrients in it Quote Link to comment
kel73 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I love my pom-pom. When I got him he had only one anemone and now he has two! These guys are so fun to watch. Here are some pics of mine eating some mysis shrimp. I think his anemone is eating one too. Quote Link to comment
koensayr Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Well, I got my first pom-pom crab quite a few months ago. That one did not have any anemone when I bought it. I also haven't seen it in about 2 months, even though I'm fairly certain that it's still alive in my little 5 gallon tank. Yesterday, I went to the LFS and saw that they had 2 pom pom crabs, and both had 2 anemones!!! I've been looking for a while for one that had the anemones in the hope that they would share. So, I bought both of the crabs and brought them home. A few hours after introduction, I see all 3 crabs, even the one that I haven't seen in 2 months had come out to check out the new comers I guess. Then today, I noticed the old crab I had was carrying 1 anemone in one claw. Then I found the other one that had given this crab an anemone. Then, observing them some more, I notice that these two always seem to be hanging out near each other. Could it be that they are pairing up?? At the least, they seem to be good friends. Quote Link to comment
paratiddies Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Well, I got my first pom-pom crab quite a few months ago. That one did not have any anemone when I bought it. I also haven't seen it in about 2 months, even though I'm fairly certain that it's still alive in my little 5 gallon tank. Yesterday, I went to the LFS and saw that they had 2 pom pom crabs, and both had 2 anemones!!! I've been looking for a while for one that had the anemones in the hope that they would share. So, I bought both of the crabs and brought them home. A few hours after introduction, I see all 3 crabs, even the one that I haven't seen in 2 months had come out to check out the new comers I guess. Then today, I noticed the old crab I had was carrying 1 anemone in one claw. Then I found the other one that had given this crab an anemone. Then, observing them some more, I notice that these two always seem to be hanging out near each other. Could it be that they are pairing up?? At the least, they seem to be good friends. Nice, lucky you I bought one without anenomes and then added a second that had both about a month later. As soon as the new guy hit the sandbed the anenome-less crab came flying out of the rocks and mugged him for one of his anenomes. The good news is that they've both got 2 pom poms now, the bad news is that one stays on the right side of the tank and the other stays on the left - I was hoping I'd luck out and end up with a pair, pretty sure after getting a better look at their abdomens that I got 2 males though. I'd kind of like to trade one of them for a female, I think they'd be out a lot more because right now they're treating my tank like the Korean Penninsula Quote Link to comment
PinkDamsel Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Koensayr, do you know the sex of your 3 crabs? Exciting to hear another story about sharing. Paratiddes, can you add more detail about the mugging? Was the old one bigger than the new one? Did he just grab it out of the newbie's claw, punch him or what? Also, how big is your tank? I guess the dimensions of the bottom are more relevant than gallons. I didn't see the hand-off when my pompomless crab aquired nems from the newbie, really wish I had. Quote Link to comment
paratiddies Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Paratiddes, can you add more detail about the mugging? Was the old one bigger than the new one? Did he just grab it out of the newbie's claw, punch him or what? Also, how big is your tank? I guess the dimensions of the bottom are more relevant than gallons. I didn't see the hand-off when my pompomless crab aquired nems from the newbie, really wish I had. I've got a standard 10g so the footprint is about 20in x 10in, the original pom pom (Kung Pao Crab) is quite a bit bigger and for the most part already favored the right side of the tank. Literally within seconds of the new crab (Angus) hitting the sand KPC had scurried out of the rocks and sized Angus up. There was definitely no gentle handing off or sharing between the two, it was more like two cats fighting in a cartoon where you just see a ball of dust rolling around. It was over pretty quickly, probably 5 seconds tops and KPC was headed back into the rockwork on the right side of the tank - I didn't notice that he had an anenome at first but did notice that Angus was missing one. He saw the crab that manhandled him go right so he went the other way, I haven't seen them near each other since. I'd say within two weeks they both were carrying two anenomes I'm always amazed at how quickly things in the tank know that one of their own has been added. I had a lone hermit crab (don't know the species but he's mostly beige) for probably 6 months and tried to add two blue legs and a scarlet. The beige hermit (Sheen) came flying out of the rocks and immediately attacked the scarlet who sadly died later that day, it was similar size and the blues were much smaller so maybe that's why he spared them Quote Link to comment
koensayr Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I can tell the sexes of the bigger crabs (think food when I buy them at the sea food market) pretty easily. However, I think I was wrong when I looked at these crabs in the store. I thought all 3 were females, but judging from the behavior, maybe not. Also, I looked at the picture earlier in the thread a bit more and I think part of the male under carapace can be a bit misleading. So, I'm not really sure now, and I can't get a good look anymore now that they are in the tank. Also, I suppose it could also have been a "forced" sharing instead of a "volunteered" sharing But since they are hanging out near each other after-wards, maybe this was more of a volunteered sharing. Koensayr, do you know the sex of your 3 crabs? Exciting to hear another story about sharing. Quote Link to comment
koensayr Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Update: I've just witnessed a skirmish this morning. But before I get into the details, let's label the crabs first so people don't get confused. Crab #1 (C1): my original pom pom that I got about 4 months ago, it was anemone-less when I got it. Crab #2 (C2): one of the two that I purchased 2 days ago, this one gave (or maybe had it taken) one of its anemone to C1. Crab #3 (C3): second of the two that I purchased 2 days ago, had both anemones. So at the point of my last post, C2 gave one anemone to C1 so they had one anemone each. C3 has 2, and I can tell them apart because C2's anemones and C3's anemones look different. Well, this morning, lights weren't on yet, so I was watching the crabs doing their thing. C2 was sitting in the rocks, C3 was searching around a clump of caulerpa where a lot of bristle worms tend to gather. I've seen C1 eat bristle worms all the time, so I know they eat them and so I don't really feed C1 since there are plenty of worms in the tank. C3 was able to grab a bristle worm and starts munching on it. At this point, I think C2 smelled the cut-open worm, and quickly moves from the rock towards C3. Then they gets into a little tangled ball as C2 jumps C3. In the struggle, C3 dropped the bristle worm, then C2 managed to grab a hold of one of C3's anemones, and starts munching on the anemone. I think maybe they were really hungry from sitting in the store for a week and in the heat of the moment, C2 didn't realize it was chewing on the anemone instead of the worm. Then when C2 and C3 broke apart, C2 had managed to take that anemone from C3. Then a few seconds later, C3 attacks C2 again, and after some more struggle, C3 managed to take back its anemone from C2. At this time, I noticed C1 had also come out of the rocks, perhaps smelling the worm. I also noticed that C1 had split its anemone that it got from C2 in two. So now C1 is hold two tiny miserable looking anemones. C3's one anemone looks kinda torn up from C2 munching on it and then the two of them fighting over it. At this point, I had to go catch my shuttle to come to school. The lights should also come on in a couple minutes which hopefully will calm down the crabs and make them go hide in the rocks. I hope the poor anemones make it Maybe I should feed them a bit for now so they aren't so hungry Quote Link to comment
PinkDamsel Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Paratiddies & Koensayr, both your descriptions are priceless, I can see it in my mind like a cartoon film: Hey, that's MY nem, gimme! What adventures they must have, kidnapping each other's nems & worms, lol. Way better than SpongeBob Squarepants!! About munching, is the mouth underneath the moving mouth parts? Does anyone know what the round white dot on the "chest" is? I've seen it sometimes flap open like an oven door, but have no idea what it is. Quote Link to comment
paratiddies Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) Paratiddies & Koensayr, both your descriptions are priceless, I can see it in my mind like a cartoon film: Hey, that's MY nem, gimme! What adventures they must have, kidnapping each other's nems & worms, lol. Way better than SpongeBob Squarepants!! About munching, is the mouth underneath the moving mouth parts? Does anyone know what the round white dot on the "chest" is? I've seen it sometimes flap open like an oven door, but have no idea what it is. Lol, glad you were amused - there's some funny stuff that goes on in our tanks If your crab has a rounded or oval shaped flap on it's chest it's a female, they store eggs between the flap and their bodies. My pom poms are both males but I used to have a female emerald that would always open it's flap and pick at it with her claws Edited February 14, 2012 by paratiddies Quote Link to comment
PinkDamsel Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 If your crab has a rounded or oval shaped flap on it's chest it's a female, they store eggs between the flap and their bodies. My pom poms are both males but I used to have a female emerald that would always open it's flap and pick at it with her claws I'm talking about the round white dot, above the area where females store eggs. They all have The Dot, male & female. I'm on my work computer or I'd point to it on a picture. Quote Link to comment
paratiddies Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I'm talking about the round white dot, above the area where females store eggs. They all have The Dot, male & female. I'm on my work computer or I'd point to it on a picture. Hmm, not sure what that is Quote Link to comment
PinkDamsel Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Hmm, not sure what that is There's a picture of my crab in post #470 of this thread where you can clearly see the white circle. In that pic her right pincer is almost touching it. It is well above the area on the abdomen that is differently-shaped in males & females. Quote Link to comment
koensayr Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 PinkDamsel, I see the circle you are talking about. I"m not sure what it is. It is not the mouth. Update on the crabs: Now that things settled a bit, here's what's going on with the three crabs and their anemones. After the fight between C3 and C2, it looks like C3 took back C2's original anemone while C2 kept the anemone it took from C3, so C3 now is holding a different anemone in each claw, but they are both in relatively good shape. C2 has now also split its anemone and is holding one ok looking anemone and one very very tiny miserable-looking anemone. I hope that little chunk survives. So now all three crabs have 2 anemones each. Quote Link to comment
koensayr Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I think one of my pom pom crabs left one of its tiny anemone (newly split) on top of my Poccilopora Quote Link to comment
altolamprologus Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I think one of my pom pom crabs left one of its tiny anemone (newly split) on top of my Poccilopora They drop their nems when they molt. Maybe it molted and forgot to get it's nem back? Quote Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 These stories are priceless. Haha, the fights must be hysterical to watch. I've only got one Pom Pom crab, Armand. Yep, still got the stud of the reef, as he's packing some serious nemage. Updated video. He looks really good. He's quite a bit larger than when I first got him, about as large as my largest porcelain crab, T-1000. I should probably get him a woman, as all this prime manliness shouldn't be going to waste, but I really like that he's still got both nems and they're looking great to boot! L Quote Link to comment
PinkDamsel Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 still got the stud of the reef My girls are like ballerinas, always pointing their toes & doing arabesques, lol. But now that they both have pompoms, they're more like Dallas Cowgirls (is that the name of the famous Texas cheerleaders?). Quote Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 My girls are like ballerinas, always pointing their toes & doing arabesques, lol. But now that they both have pompoms, they're more like Dallas Cowgirls (is that the name of the famous Texas cheerleaders?). Maybe your Dallas Cowgirls need themselves a Latin Lover... Quote Link to comment
PinkDamsel Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 (edited) Maybe your Dallas Cowgirls need themselves a Latin Lover... Come hither, Armando, and maybe we'll undress (molt) for you . . . . We're so hot, we've got red stripes all up & down our legs, all of them! Edited February 17, 2012 by PinkDamsel Quote Link to comment
koensayr Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 hey hey, let's keep this thread PG rated Quote Link to comment
lljdma06 Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 Come hither, Armando, and maybe we'll undress (molt) for you . . . . We're so hot, we've got red stripes all up & down our legs, all of them! What you think, sexy chicas?? You can see why the sexy shrimp just ran away. Armand IS the stud of the reef... L Quote Link to comment
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