Official Pom Pom Crab (Lybia Tesselatta) Thread

[NewfieLov]

Are there any other LFS options in your area? I got my latest one at my LFS. They didn't normally carry them, but when I asked if they had them, they ordered some as part of an upcoming order. It was way cheaper that way, and I was able to verify that it was in good shape and had poms on it before I bought it.

 

Liveaquaria is great, but it's definitely the most expensive way I can think of to get a pom pom crab

Good suggestion! I've become a "celebrity" at my LFS as I bring my giant Newfie in with me when I go...brings in customers for the store, lol! Anyhow, I will ask the proprietor if he would order some pompom crabs for me. As you said, I can check the crabs out before buying....online is great, but lots of surprises sometimes...

[teenyreef]

Good suggestion! I've become a "celebrity" at my LFS as I bring my giant Newfie in with me when I go...brings in customers for the store, lol! Anyhow, I will ask the proprietor if he would order some pompom crabs for me. As you said, I can check the crabs out before buying....online is great, but lots of surprises sometimes...

Good luck!

[jsbull]

Good suggestion! I've become a "celebrity" at my LFS as I bring my giant Newfie in with me when I go...brings in customers for the store, lol! Anyhow, I will ask the proprietor if he would order some pompom crabs for me. As you said, I can check the crabs out before buying....online is great, but lots of surprises sometimes...

 

I had a black newfie for 13 years. Greatest companion ever. They certainly are a crowd pleaser.

[NewfieLov]

I had a black newfie for 13 years. Greatest companion ever. They certainly are a crowd pleaser.

 

Hello fellow Newfie lover! They are, aren't they? I can't walk down Santa Monica promenade without being bombarded by requests to have photos taken...of the dog....without me. Lol!

[jsbull]

So, I now have 3 pom pom crabs in my nano. I guess two did the dirty and one now has an egg sack. It has left the safety of the rock to get away from the other poms and sexy shrimp. It now piles sand up to cover the egg sack and parks with it's back against the corner of the glass. Very mother hen-ish.

Has anyone had experience with reproduction of pom pom crabs in an aquarium? Any chance for survival of the offspring?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[marinekeeper]

So is a 30gal too big for a Pom Pom?

 

Diane, I tried to send you a PM but this is what it said:

 

There is no such member - please check the name entered and try again.

 

This personal message has not been sent

 

I checked the name 3 times and it was correct, so something funky might be going on. Can you PM me another email adress? I got your first PM just fine.

hd mine in a 28 gallon for 8 mos and he is like brand new. see it everyday and has both anenomes

[teenyreef]

So, I now have 3 pom pom crabs in my nano. I guess two did the dirty and one now has an egg sack. It has left the safety of the rock to get away from the other poms and sexy shrimp. It now piles sand up to cover the egg sack and parks with it's back against the corner of the glass. Very mother hen-ish.

Has anyone had experience with reproduction of pom pom crabs in an aquarium? Any chance for survival of the offspring?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unless you take extraordinary measures, the crab larvae will be free fish food, basically. I did a little research when mine was pregnant and I decided just to let nature take it course

[NewfieLov]

JSbull

Fantastic pictures! congrats on the tiny bundles!

Ok this just random funniness: so I posted in another forum earlier that my Percula clowns insist on hosting my torch coral despite having a very nice bubble tip anemone to play in. Anyhow, the clowns cut some of the torch tentacles this morning...well, guess who has scavenged the tentacle pieces into his (her?) claws....waving the macabre, makeshift pom-poms in the water...I wish I could take a picture but my tank is in night mode and cameras can seem to capture the blue light.

[minxitbabe]

I know this is an old thread but wanted to revive it to see if anyone is still keeping these little guys.  I just picked one up for my new 1.5gal pico I started to put together this morning.  It will be living in my 12 gal nano cube until I get the little tank cycled.  One of the best "local" fish store is 1.5 hrs away and since I was going there today already and they actually had one with two pom poms I went for it! Hope to see some new posts to this thread soon!

[mndfreeze]

I have a pom pom with 2 nems.  I even got to see her spawn when the lights turned off. It was neat.  I might pick up another at some point just because they are awesome.  I just wish she wasn't so secretive.  One of her pom pom's is a different color than the other too.  One is white and one is almost a dark pinkish color.

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

I love my pom pom. Very secretive though but I do see him randomly and he still has both pom poms. Such a cool crab.

[05XRunner]

I have had one for about 3+ months. it has molted twice and has both pom poms. I hardly ever see it though. Most time when I do see it is a shadow of the nem in the rock work or when I feed Reef chili it will come out swinging the nems around for about 30sec and gone again

[legomaniac]

I thought these guys were supposed to be peaceful?

 

I bought a pom pom about 3 weeks ago and she mostly hides in a cave all day.  Comes out for about 5 seconds at feedimg time to grab some food.  Then comes out at night when the lights go out.

 

So I picked up another pom pom today and when I put it in my tank the first crab popped out of her cave, looked at the new crab from about 6 inches away for a few minutes. Then suddenly charged and latched on to the new one in what looked loke a death grip and pinned it down upside down.  I shook them apart and set them on opposite sides of the tank.  She immediately started hunting for the new crab and tried to get it again.

 

I'm not really sure what I should do about this fighting.  I may have to take the new crab back to the store.

[mndfreeze]

Do they both have 2 nems?  I remember reading somewhere that they will steal nems from each other as well as split them and share them.  Perhaps you have 2 males and they are fighting for territory.  

 

They are peaceful in general with other tank critters.  Not sure about same species though.  A lot of shrimp and crabs are territorial against their own kind.

 

 

https://www.popsci.com/boxer-crabs-thieving-cloning-anemones

[legomaniac]

22 minutes ago, mndfreeze said:

Do they both have 2 nems?  I remember reading somewhere that they will steal nems from each other as well as split them and share them.  Perhaps you have 2 males and they are fighting for territory.  

 

They are peaceful in general with other tank critters.  Not sure about same species though.  A lot of shrimp and crabs are territorial against their own kind.

 

 

https://www.popsci.com/boxer-crabs-thieving-cloning-anemones

Neither one has any nems.  The first one I bought had nothing, this new one doesnt have nems but it looks like it is carrying small zoa heads.

 

Also very shortly after I bought the first one she formed and egg sack and carried it around for a while.  So I dont have 2 males, maybe 2 females.  I dont know.

 

The new one is up in a nice hiding spot right now where I can see it.  The old one has been patrolling the tank hunting for it all evening.  The lights just went out so I think it will be a crazy night in there tonight.

[Lula_Mae]

3 hours ago, legomaniac said:

I thought these guys were supposed to be peaceful?

 

I bought a pom pom about 3 weeks ago and she mostly hides in a cave all day.  Comes out for about 5 seconds at feedimg time to grab some food.  Then comes out at night when the lights go out.

 

So I picked up another pom pom today and when I put it in my tank the first crab popped out of her cave, looked at the new crab from about 6 inches away for a few minutes. Then suddenly charged and latched on to the new one in what looked loke a death grip and pinned it down upside down.  I shook them apart and set them on opposite sides of the tank.  She immediately started hunting for the new crab and tried to get it again.

 

I'm not really sure what I should do about this fighting.  I may have to take the new crab back to the store.

The first time I put two pom poms together, I came home the next day to one eating the other's leg. I took the violent one back to the store before realizing it was my original one haha. The other was so beat up it died a day or two later. I felt so bad. Later, in a different tank, I tried again. Those two got on famously and there were no issues. It just depends on their personality. 

 

I do remember seeing a video on here of a pom pom dragging baby blue leg hermits back to her lair. She had three in various arms/claws and could barely walk! Crazy crab. 

 

tl;dr: never trust a crab. 

[mndfreeze]

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/crabs-anemones-pom-pom-clones-fight/

 

These are a different species of pom pom, but there is video of them 'fighting' to steal nems from each other.

 

I'm guessing you have 2 females.  How small is your tank?  

[legomaniac]

32 minutes ago, mndfreeze said:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/crabs-anemones-pom-pom-clones-fight/

 

These are a different species of pom pom, but there is video of them 'fighting' to steal nems from each other.

 

I'm guessing you have 2 females.  How small is your tank?  

I have a 16 gallon.  Plenty of rockwork and caves for them.  I dont think its a territory problem.  I think the old one is just trying to steal the nems from the new crab although I dont think that they are nems that it is holding, but I'll get a better look tomorrow.  

 

I guess when i reading that they will "share" there nems I thought one crab would give up one to the other crab to be nice.  Now I see that "sharing" actually means beating up and taking a nem.

[mndfreeze]

It doesn't necessarily mean killing each other though.  I imagine the owner crab doesn't WANT their nems to be taken.  

[Tamberav]

5 hours ago, mndfreeze said:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/01/crabs-anemones-pom-pom-clones-fight/

 

These are a different species of pom pom, but there is video of them 'fighting' to steal nems from each other.

 

I'm guessing you have 2 females.  How small is your tank?  

 

holy crap... a tiny pom pom is riding a big pom pom like a mad bull! 

 

4 hours ago, legomaniac said:

I have a 16 gallon.  Plenty of rockwork and caves for them.  I dont think its a territory problem.  I think the old one is just trying to steal the nems from the new crab although I dont think that they are nems that it is holding, but I'll get a better look tomorrow.  

 

I guess when i reading that they will "share" there nems I thought one crab would give up one to the other crab to be nice.  Now I see that "sharing" actually means beating up and taking a nem.

 

I only have one so I can't help... but I would guess you are right... the first one probably thinks the second one has something she wants. Crabs can be territorial and jerks in general to others of the same kind though. 

[BlennyBoi]

On 10/2/2005 at 12:34 PM, Brian da lion said:

I'm having a bit of difficulty with the tank now, since my little sister decided to "help" me my rearranging the rocks. And when I say rearranging, I mean she piled all of them on top of my frogspawn. Luckily nothing was hurt, but I can't get the rocks the way that I like them.

haha! hope the frogspawn is okay though!

[Lula_Mae]

2 hours ago, BlennyBoi said:

haha! hope the frogspawn is okay though!

After 13 years the tank is probably long gone lol. 

[KatM]

I just started in the SW tank about 6 months ago. Following suggestions from the local pet store I got damsels. One of them the devil himself. Blue with yellow tail and a black with white dots became best friends. Something happened to the devil (I think he got stuck in the live rock) he was beat up. Another half blue half yellow damsel started attacking him but his bff started to protect him. I decided to get another 15g to place him in and purchased some live rock. I ended up with 22 snails and a Pom Pom crab. Pom Pom crab has no anemones and has not eaten the food left by the opening. Can you buy some for him? Suggestions on Where get them? I want to keep him but not if I can’t care for him! Can someone help? I bought food crab cuisine and it is still there. The BFFs are happy in their new home and my little devil is finally getting his vibrant colors back. 

[lizzyann]

On 7/7/2019 at 2:55 PM, KatM said:

I just started in the SW tank about 6 months ago. Following suggestions from the local pet store I got damsels. One of them the devil himself. Blue with yellow tail and a black with white dots became best friends. Something happened to the devil (I think he got stuck in the live rock) he was beat up. Another half blue half yellow damsel started attacking him but his bff started to protect him. I decided to get another 15g to place him in and purchased some live rock. I ended up with 22 snails and a Pom Pom crab. Pom Pom crab has no anemones and has not eaten the food left by the opening. Can you buy some for him? Suggestions on Where get them? I want to keep him but not if I can’t care for him! Can someone help? I bought food crab cuisine and it is still there. The BFFs are happy in their new home and my little devil is finally getting his vibrant colors back. 

From what I've read, they should be fine without their anemones, but that doesn't mean something else might not be wrong with it. I don't think they sell the anemones anywhere but I also read stories about some crabs that pick up bits of other coral, like zoa polyps, and use those instead.

[Poison Dart Frog]

It looks like my pom pom crab is carrying an egg sac. I have her in a 5.5 Fluval and I usually just see her shortly after the light dims or early in the morning. Anyway she did not have this egg sac just a week ago that I could see.