Can a pom-pom crab live without anemones? I know they use them to sift through the sand to catch their meal. The lfs has had one for about a month. They are asking 10.00 bucks for it here in Ohio. Will it live and is it worth it? ALL ideas and experiences appreciated! HELP...should I???
Pom-Pom crab question
- Thread starter Chubosco
- Start date
They can technically live without anemones, but they will probably be stressed. Also, if you have larger fish, the crab will likely be eaten. While cool animals, these filter feeding crabs don't have a good track record in captivity. I've never been able to keep one alive for more then 6 months.
I have this book called "Complete Encyclopedia of the Saltwater Aquarium" by Nick Dakin forword by Julian Sprung. On page 331 it talks about the boxing crab (pom-pom), stating,"Well worth a place in the tank." Now I am not so naive to believe everything I read but anything with the name Julian Sprung (though not written by him) I believe like the Gospel. I swear, sometimes it seems it boils down to (in this obsessive addiction) that it is the individual tank and the individual. Now in theory that just doesn't add-up. It's like...maybe...that puppy mill or I mean that fish mill that states (for selling purposes) the picture may not be the exact representative fish you get because it's not made in a factory. So I guess we all can depend on is, what works for one will not work for another. This is the stage I am in.
I have about 8 of these in my community reef tank. They have been mating and hatching eggs the whole time, so they are what I would technically deribe as "happy".
I see lots of incorrect info on these in books and then that info gets quoted online all the time.
1) They are not filter feeders. They are do not collect food w/ their anemones. These guys catch food with their back legs and love the fozen and flake foods I feed my fish. I have even seen them holding onto a chunk of silverside and chewing away at it w/ their mouths.
2) The anemones are used for defense, but these little guys can live w/o them, BUT will only do well if you give them places to hide and if you don't keep fish which eat crabs: hawkfish, seabasses, wrasses, triggerfish, puffers, snowflake morays, etc.
3) They do better in mature tanks which are capable of keeping anemones alive & well, those species BESIDES Aptasia.
4) They fight w/ each other when not mating, so don't keep too many in one tank. The smaller one will want to retreat from the confrontation.
5) Individuals will live at least two years. I don't know how long they live because mine haven't died yet.
6) Acclimate them very slowly to the salinity in your tank. Many crabs cannot acclimate to changes in salinity very quickly. Use an airstone and drip acclimate them slowly...very slowly...I would rather take 48 hours to acclimate my Pom Pom crabs than kill them.
Hope this helps...much info you read in those books by Sprung, Borneman and lots of others needs to be taken with a grain of salt because much of it is anecdotal, from a third source. Someone they talked to told what happened with them. I have spent hundreds of dollars building up my own personal saltwater library, but it's only a starting point where your own experience and powers of observation have to take over. My best advice is think of each coral, fish, or whatever as equally sentient as a human, read up on it, watch what it does, and then ask yourself do your own observations agree with what you read, and how you could make it really thrive.
I see lots of incorrect info on these in books and then that info gets quoted online all the time.
1) They are not filter feeders. They are do not collect food w/ their anemones. These guys catch food with their back legs and love the fozen and flake foods I feed my fish. I have even seen them holding onto a chunk of silverside and chewing away at it w/ their mouths.
2) The anemones are used for defense, but these little guys can live w/o them, BUT will only do well if you give them places to hide and if you don't keep fish which eat crabs: hawkfish, seabasses, wrasses, triggerfish, puffers, snowflake morays, etc.
3) They do better in mature tanks which are capable of keeping anemones alive & well, those species BESIDES Aptasia.
4) They fight w/ each other when not mating, so don't keep too many in one tank. The smaller one will want to retreat from the confrontation.
5) Individuals will live at least two years. I don't know how long they live because mine haven't died yet.
6) Acclimate them very slowly to the salinity in your tank. Many crabs cannot acclimate to changes in salinity very quickly. Use an airstone and drip acclimate them slowly...very slowly...I would rather take 48 hours to acclimate my Pom Pom crabs than kill them.
Hope this helps...much info you read in those books by Sprung, Borneman and lots of others needs to be taken with a grain of salt because much of it is anecdotal, from a third source. Someone they talked to told what happened with them. I have spent hundreds of dollars building up my own personal saltwater library, but it's only a starting point where your own experience and powers of observation have to take over. My best advice is think of each coral, fish, or whatever as equally sentient as a human, read up on it, watch what it does, and then ask yourself do your own observations agree with what you read, and how you could make it really thrive.
WOW!!! Impressive! Thank-you for the reply. It is my honest hope to someday reach your level of knowledge and experience, and I shall. My new little keep seems to have a penchant for Formula One. Doesn't move much from where he was introduced. He loves the crevices in a rock that is much more mature than the rest of the tank. Hope to find another pom for sale around here someday.
Well, they're rather easy to keep as long as you don't have any predators, and they aren't picky about food. An easy way to feed them is ti rubber band a piece of silverside to a small piece of LR. You can always pull out the leftovers before it spoils and pollutes the tank, but they eat flake and frozen brine shrimp and krill.
Just watch them and they'll teach you what you need to know to keep them.
I just bought 4 more last Friday, they are one of the coolest creatures in my reef.
Best of luck with them!
Just watch them and they'll teach you what you need to know to keep them.
I just bought 4 more last Friday, they are one of the coolest creatures in my reef.
Best of luck with them!
I "inheirited" one along with a 72g bow from a fellow RDO regular.
One of the coolest additions to my 12g nanocube which housed it temporarily (about 3 months) before I could get the 72 ready.
Its been 5 months that I've had it in my possession now and its still doing pretty well. I don't see it much during the active photo period, but shortly after the halides go out and the actinics are still on I will sometimes see it starting to peek out of a cave it seems to favor.
Its molted a few times. Scared me pretty good the second time it did it as the molt must've been pretty fresh.
Mine does seem to use its anemones to capture food. Or at least it looks that way. It mostly gets fine particulates from last call feedings at least, from what I can see. It probably sifts out more later in the hidden areas I don't see it in.
I guess time will tell.. - Its going to be moving tanks again in a couple weeks. Hope its in good health right now 'cause its about to get crazy again.
One of the coolest additions to my 12g nanocube which housed it temporarily (about 3 months) before I could get the 72 ready.
Its been 5 months that I've had it in my possession now and its still doing pretty well. I don't see it much during the active photo period, but shortly after the halides go out and the actinics are still on I will sometimes see it starting to peek out of a cave it seems to favor.
Its molted a few times. Scared me pretty good the second time it did it as the molt must've been pretty fresh.
Mine does seem to use its anemones to capture food. Or at least it looks that way. It mostly gets fine particulates from last call feedings at least, from what I can see. It probably sifts out more later in the hidden areas I don't see it in.
I guess time will tell.. - Its going to be moving tanks again in a couple weeks. Hope its in good health right now 'cause its about to get crazy again.
I had abismal luck with them but my girlfriend has had a bunch of them for going on 2 years now.. I suspect the gentle flow in the tank plays a large part.
You may also find that they'll take new anemones if the opportunity arises.. She had one with only one anemone who one day found an aiptasia for his other hand.. It must not have had a good feel, because the next week he's discarded it in favour of a small tentacle from her bubble tip anemone.
I'm not sure what he's packing now, but hopefully he's not just carrying a fish now.
You may also find that they'll take new anemones if the opportunity arises.. She had one with only one anemone who one day found an aiptasia for his other hand.. It must not have had a good feel, because the next week he's discarded it in favour of a small tentacle from her bubble tip anemone.
I'm not sure what he's packing now, but hopefully he's not just carrying a fish now.
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