Boxing/pom pom crabs

[gilpil]

will these crabs survive if they lose their anenomes??? Also, how would you go about resupplying them with an anenome?

 

[spline9]

Heres a story about a LFS that had one in stock... The crab lost its anemones and got real timid. The shop owner felt bad for the little guy so he stuck him in a tank full of aptasia (the store breeds berghia nudibranches which feed on aptasia. this is the food supply tank for the berghia.). He said he saw the crab scuttle towards an aptasia, clip it off the rock, stuck it on its claw and trimmed it down to size. It tried to do the same for the other claw but since it was already holding something, it didnt do quite as good of a job as the first. He said he wasnt sure if he'd want to sell this to a customer since it is aptasia on his claws so he decided to keep the crab in that tank. Interesting, eh?

 

[gilpil]

yeah, that is interesting. Would the aptasia hurt a FOWLR tank??? I do not know much about them.

 

[spmnarciso]

Originally posted by Gilpil
yeah, that is interesting. Would the aptasia hurt a FOWLR tank??? I do not know much about them.
I would think that it would get out of hand eventually and I'm quite sure you wouldn't want the likes of it all over your tank.

 

[spline9]

Oh, you dont want aptasia in any case aside from food for a Copper Banded Butterfly or Berghia Nudibranches. Poeple usually get those critters to eradicate an aptasia problem.
Aptasia is a problem because very few people find them attractive, they grow like weeds they are difficult to remove.
Physically attempting to remove them will only cause them to spread. Any little bit left behind will spawn another (or several) in its place. They sting the b'jeebus out of your corals, too. Often this will end up killing your corals. Its just not fun stuff to have.
A PomPom crab will most likely end up spreading it in your tank if you had one that had some on its claws.

 

[gilpil]

ok, if my fish store has one, how do I know the crab is not holding an aptasia

 

[bronco's]

they do survive they always drop that stuff for molting an stuff and it will just takes a little bit of what ever they find sutible for there next thing they use to protect them selfs

 

[spline9]

Gilpil: Visual identification is the only way I can think of.

 

[gilpil]

so, if I do not have an anenome in my tank, he is just going to lose the anenome everytime he molts? Seems like a jip, since him holding the anenomes is the selling point. So if I get a BTA will the crab kill it?

 

[meadbhb]

Hiya,
My boxer crab has moulted since I got him. I have no anenomies in my tank, but the next time I saw him he still had his pom poms. I think he just picked up the ones he had before his moult.
Meadbhb