Official Pom Pom Crab (Lybia Tesselatta) Thread

[congerorama]

Hi all! I added a pom pom to my 90 gallon tank (no worries, no aggressive fish or those dangerous to inverts), though I do have a large coral banded shrimp who has taken out a couple of skunk cleaners. Hopefully, the pom pom is able to retreat into tight crevices if the coral banded comes attacking.

 

Anyways, I was worried that I'd never see the little fellow, considering it is a 90 gallon tank, with 150 lbs of live rock. However, he's been in there for a couple of weeks, and I've already seen him several times! He's so cool. Unfortunately, he's lost one of his two front claws, and thus the anemone that he held in it. He's still got one though, hopefully he'll regenerate his lost limb next time he molts.

 

Here's a pic I just snapped today!

 

[DRLenox]

Ok this one is for the experts.

 

I have had a pom pom for almost 2 years now, just upgraded to a 28g so I added 2 new pom poms understanding that the might live in groups. Not happening!!! The original pom pom (larger) has ripped both of the arms and a leg from one and 3 legs from the other! Every time I look he has one pinned down. This crab has shown signs of aggression before I witnessed him kill a yellow watchmen and a clown.

I know people on here thought I was crazy then, but now with the aggression towards his own kind it seems like my pom pom is a bad egg. What do you guys make of this?

[spy_i]

Ok this one is for the experts.

 

I have had a pom pom for almost 2 years now, just upgraded to a 28g so I added 2 new pom poms understanding that the might live in groups. Not happening!!! The original pom pom (larger) has ripped both of the arms and a leg from one and 3 legs from the other! Every time I look he has one pinned down. This crab has shown signs of aggression before I witnessed him kill a yellow watchmen and a clown.

I know people on here thought I was crazy then, but now with the aggression towards his own kind it seems like my pom pom is a bad egg. What do you guys make of this?

 

 

I been reading this thread before and decided to get 3 pompom crab. When I bought the crab; Two of them have their anemone and 1 did not. After lights off: I could see these crab fighting - all three of them. Until non of them have an anemone. In my understanding, the one without the anemone started it all.

 

fast forward three months after, I've only seen two of the three. Perhaps one is already dead. One is clutching her orange egg and notice that the two crabs don't hang out together. They only mind their own business.

 

 

2 days ago though, I've noticed that the have that don't have eggs has a single minute anemone on it's pincers. Not sure where he got them but it's looks like the anemone they always carry. It's not different from what he use to have.

 

d'you guys think he hid it somewhere and now he's sporting it back?

[DRLenox]

As mentioned before I added 2 new pom poms bringing my total to 3. The 2 that I added did not have their nems. Well one of them seems to have picked up a small aptasia! I did not think that they would use anything but the real thing. What do you guys think?

 

And Here is a cool pic i snapped a few days ago:

Edited March 24, 2009 by DRLenox

[Migs7]

so now we know if you have a problem with aptasia throw in some pompoms without nems!

Edited March 24, 2009 by Migs7

[Psychosis]

Technically it's using the aiptasia and keeping it alive soo...

 

I was going to read through the thread, but decided against it. In a post by the OP he said they pick up ball anemones and tiny zoa's some times. I guess it makes sense that the little fellah grabbed an aiptasia.

[neuwave]

Havent seen this thread in forever. Gotta post some pics of my two. The new one of mine just split its single nem into 2 peices to fill both claws.

Does anyone feed their pom pom's? I feed mine with bits of squid, shrimp and such. It comes out when I feed the fish and I use a pair of tweezers to feed. It grabs it right away. I also spray plankton (oyster eggs, plankton etc...) directly at the crab and it begins to sway back and forth waving its pom pom's in the stream of food. Then if I do that enough for a couple of weeks its sometimes, not always, but sometimes broods a clutch of bright orange eggs. Anyone else try anything like this?

[calebkdesign]

Wow, I guess there are less Pom-pom people than I thought.

I'm still looking for mine!

My friend and I were at the LFS he saw it and bought it

before i even got a chance =[

 

Next time they have one for sure tho!

[coralcor]

could one of these sweet guys eat say a 3.5"-4" skunk cleaner shrimp? or a 2"-3" peppermint shrimp?

how about a 1"clown and a 1 1/2"clown? will they bug any corals? um how about snails? will they kill them?

 

hm thats all i can think of atm. i want one. if i see one at the LFS maybe just maybe. ill get one. but only if i get these questions answered. to Google!

[Jelly]

These guys have always sparked an interest. I have finally found one. It's an interesting little charactor but has now disapeared into the rock work. I hope to see him soon.

[WickedBear]

i bet the crab died and the nass' were cleaning up. i don't think they eat live stuff.

 

Unfortunatly they do, as I witnessed it saturday night. They have to be really close to death though... my cleaner shrimp died within minutes of my tiny nass crawling all over him.

Edited April 13, 2009 by WickedBear

[neuwave]

I've had mine with hermits, clowns, angels, nass snails, shrimp and never a single death or problem. Understandable if something was dead or at deaths door. That it may take a bite. Great additions.

Edited April 13, 2009 by neuwave

[AnnaBee85]

HI,

So I Just got my Pom Pom Crab!!! I am so excited!! he is soo cute. i found him in this little hole in the wall fls. my local ones don't carry anything neat. he's soo tiny i didn't realize that they would be sooo tiny!

I so want another one. Mine was only $14.99 and i have seen them sale online for over $30. i was very excited. I also found a tiger pistol shrimp for my watchman goby. both of these little critters are soo nifty!

I only have a nano 20gal long tank but we are so excited to add these little guys to our tank.

[D3monic]

I guess I will jump on board with this one. I picked up a Pom Pom that I had been eyeing for some time at a lfs about a month ago. By far the cutest little guy ever. My wife hates it she thinks it looks too much like a spider. Oogey boogey usually spends the day hiding in my rockwork caves but I do tend to see him near the front of the cave during lights out waving his now bigger anenomies around. I see him occasionally box my Mandarins or one of my other fish if they venture too close. I thought I had a pic or two on photobucket but I cant find any so ill have to take some new ones if I can ever lure him out.

[DogfoodEnforcer]

do any of you have pictures of a pompom crab molt?

 

i found what i think is a dead pompom crab in my tank yesterday ( ) and was wondering if it was possibly a molt. it was basically a lighter coloured pompom crab without the anenomes.

 

im just hoping it's a molt, but i think it was my little guy...dead

[sinfony78]

there are too many pages to sift through, and the ones i did look through didn't answer my question, so apologies if it's been covered...but:

 

1) are pom poms a good member of a clean up crew for algae - hair, bubble (i know emeralds are), or anything else...i saw posts about spot feeding them, so is it recommended to add some hermits in the tank with them?

 

2) if i have 1 pom pom and it loses its anemones, how is it going to get them back? or will it grab some small zoos?

 

and just out of curiosity,

3) what is the function of its anemones?

[D3monic]

dogfood, When mine molted I thought it had died because the molt looked Identical to the real thing. Give your self a few days hopefully it will turn up. I know alot of species will hide after a molt since that is when they are most vulnerable.

 

Sin, As far as I know and anyone can correct me if im wrong. PomPom's are pretty much worthless as far as CuC is concerned. They use thier anenomes like little mops pulling food out of the water column waiving them in the air and dragging them on the ground. They also use them for selfdefense. I imagine when the are molting is when they would be most likely to drop or loose thier anemones. If there is alot of current they could get away from them pretty fast. Not sure about the zoo part but I imagine it might try and find an alternative to help ease its anenome withdrawls.

[DogfoodEnforcer]

my first pom pom came with only one anenome. a month later she was walking around with a red zoa in one hand, and an anenome in the other. i got a kick out of that.

 

thanks D3monic. that makes me feel a lot better. the little guy was doing so well, and the only thing that could snipe it is a little pistol shrimp, but that shrimp keeps to itself, on the opposite side of the tank, so im thinking it might in fact be a molt.

[Lucky]

awesome info. i am setting up a nano (5g) after a long vacation from salt tanks. saw one in my LFS today an thought it was adorable!! glad for the info. is there a recommendation for number per gallon?? how do you know males from females (before eggs). is it better to have multiple females to one male or does it matter?

 

thanks

christi

[DogfoodEnforcer]

so i still havent seen the small guy who may have molted.

 

on a different note, my large older female was out and about yesterday...WITH A BATCH OF EGGS!

 

last time i saw her with eggs they were a light pink colour. the ones that she has are basically "salmon roe" red...extremely vibrant. could that possibly mean they were fertilized?

[sinfony78]

can pom poms be put together with sexy shrimp?

[DogfoodEnforcer]

i have two pom poms with sexy shrimp and they are fine.

 

 

on a happy note...

 

I FOUND THE LITTLE GUY TODAY!! guess it was a molt!

[JanVa]

Hi everybody. I just got 2 beautiful Pom Pom crabs for my 4 gallon biOrb. All I have in the biOrb is LR, a large feather duster, a heater, a nano power head and a couple of little cleaners. I'll be watching these guys very closely to see how everything goes. I'm going to need your support in all of this.

[beyondcomp251]

I bought a Pom Pom back in beginning of March and needless to say I thought he died as I havent seen him once. Got back from church today and hes doing the wave right out in front! 2 months till this bugger came out in the open!

[fishguy84]

My pom pom just molted and I thought he was a goner. When I poked at the "dead crab" with a skewer, I saw it was just a shed and had no guts. This morning he was out and about like usual swaying in the current.

Edited May 20, 2009 by fishguy84