boxer crab

[leveralone]

hey, I just picked up a boxer crab aka pom pom crab. He has been in my tank about 48hours and I noticed he lost one of his pom pom anemone. Will he be ok with just one?

I got him at Skiptons and they still had two cuttle fish left. It took me twenty minutes to find him in the tank. Very Cool

 

[DawnOctopus]

These are my favorite crabs!!!! He will be fine with just one PomPom - When I got mine he only had one, but he picked up another one somewhere along the way.

 

[Mini4x]

You sure he lost one?

Sometimes mine carries both in one hand, no idea why but he's done it a few times..

They really don't "need" the pompoms.. in fat I am not sure how the relationship ever developed as the anemone is the only one that seem to benefit.

Cool critter tho, I ahev one going on a year old, but he still has both poms.

 

[DawnOctopus]

They really don't "need" the pompoms.. in fat I am not sure how the relationship ever developed as the anemone is the only one that seem to benefit.

Mine jabs them at other crabs and shrimp when they get too close-- I always thought that they were his weapons

 

[penguinsix]

Mine jabs them at other crabs and shrimp when they get too close-- I always thought that they were his weapons

Yep, they are and the anemone gets food out of the deal. Also the crab, if only having one anemone will pull it into two.

 

[Mini4x]

YAlso the crab, if only having one anemone will pull it into two.

Wonder if mine did that too then.. "controlled' splitting?

 

[networkfishman]

I thought that I read somewhere that the PomPom crabs used the anemones to catch food and then picked them clean?

-bri

 

[Mini4x]

I thought that I read somewhere that the PomPom crabs used the anemones to catch food and then picked them clean?

-bri

Mine doesn't seem to do that.. He'll grab whatever floats by, he'll even grab pellet food.. maybe it's different 'in the wild' where food is less abundant?

 

[Nonmouse]

I've got two of them in my pico tank- I used to have three, but one of them died.

One of them didn't have any anemones when I got him, and she and the other two fought back and forth over possession of the four anemones, managing to lose three of them in the process. Now only one crab has an anemone at all. I keep hoping it'll grow enough for her to split it, but it hasn't happened yet (I've only had them about three and a half weeks).

I've seen her use the anemone to "wipe" food up, then put the anemone in her mandibles and clean the food off of it, swirling it around and around. More often, though, they just crab a chunk of food and shove it in their mandibles.