Adding a Porcelain Anemone Crab?

[Pigpen17]

Hello,
So in my old 65g tank I had a Porcelain Anemone Crab w no anemone. It was my favorite tank inhabitant. Like a little samurai warrior. I used to feed it plankton with a syringe. It did get killed by my Sally Lightfoot, or it starved and the Lightfoot just broke it to pieces after it’s death. I have not gone back to one in 10 years.

I am thinking about adding one again to my 56g. LA lists nothing about manually feeding it plankton. Can you get away with having it just scavenge, or spot feed it clam or something?

[Pigpen17]

Oh and I Don't have a Sally Lightfoot, but I do have an Emerald Crab in there somewhere.

Is anyone keeping one of these without an anemone?

[J2T]

Yeah, I used to have one in my 75g and I never spot fed him, he was happy grabbing stuff out of the column or whatever was nearby.

[Pigpen17]

Thanks. Good to know. I am guessing it was the Sally Lightfoot then.

My last one just hung out on the rock I dropped him on. I hope this one does the same. There are some xenia coral on the rock I have in mind. I would be sweet if it hosted it.

Oh and I do have some mixed pods floating in the tank. That might help too.

[Calappidae]

How big was the sally and the porcelain? A sally is more of an algea+fish eater rather than another crab eater. If there was a significant size difference than maybe.

[Pigpen17]

They were about the same size, just the Sally was much more aggressive/active. I woke up and the porcelain crab was in pieces. I always wanted another one.

[kw22]

If they are both well fed they should be fine :)

[Golden Age]

I added a sally lightfoot and it played nice for about a week then started eating my hermit crabs. I accidentally killed it trying to get it out by crushing it with a rock.

[Pigpen17]

Porcelain crabs are in the tank. I placed one on my Xenia island and sure enough, it is hosting it. It crawled right into the middle of the Xenia forest, looked up and raised both claws to the sky. "I am home." It has great flow running right past it, and it's been hanging off the side of the rock and filter feeding. They are just as cool as I remember.

[Calappidae]

I would love to see pictures of that! :D

My crabs hosted ricordea and never left it.

[Pigpen17]

I would love to see pictures of that! :D

My crabs hosted ricordea and never left it.

Right on.

This is when I first dropped him/it in.

<a href="http://s17.photobucket.com/user/pigpen_/media/Crabhost.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b71/pigpen_/Crabhost.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Crabhost.jpg"/></a>

This is him/it most of the time now, although it was hanging upsidedown on a Xenia branch today.

<a href="http://s17.photobucket.com/user/pigpen_/media/Crabhost2.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b71/pigpen_/Crabhost2.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Crabhost2.jpg"/></a>

Please excuse the GHA in the background. My tank is going through a bad case of the uglies right now.

[Golden Age]

I always thought an anemone crab was a crab that had actual anemones in it's claw?

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhodkgMcXl1qeeqk5o1_500.jpg

[FishInABarrel]

I always thought an anemone crab was a crab that had actual anemones in it's claw?

http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhodkgMcXl1qeeqk5o1_500.jpg

I have always seen these labeled as Pom-Pom crabs.

[Pigpen17]

Here's a video of it feeding. Every once in a while I can see a white dot land on his net. I'm guessing it's eating my mixed pods.

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid17.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fb71%2Fpigpen_%2FIMG_0868.mp4&title=">

[Pigpen17]

I thought this was just too cool. Climbed a tree!

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid17.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fb71%2Fpigpen_%2FInatree.mp4&title=">

<a href="http://s17.photobucket.com/user/pigpen_/media/inatree.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b71/pigpen_/inatree.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo inatree.jpg"/></a>

Oh, and just a note, the crab in the Xenia is just doing way better than the other crab who is just loose in the tank. This poor guy seems just lost, wandering all over the place and getting harrassed by my cleaner shrimp. It had a snail on it's shell yesterday and was freaking out! It just seems to be having a very hard time. In contrast, the crab in the Xenia hasn't moved from it's spot and just feeds all day long.

[Pigpen17]

Rouge crab is just out in the sand against the glass again. I am thinking of moving the rouge crab up to the xenia. I am a bit nervous though because if they will fight the rouge crab looks like it could kick the little guys a$$. Does anyone know if they will share the Xenia?

I know, they are just silly crabs, but they are the big thing in my tank right now.

[Golden Age]

That's funny because out of all the things I have in my tank, the thing I protect most is my $5 peppermint shrimp because it was one of the first things I added and it has the most personality.

[aquaticaddict]

I just love the sally Lightfoot crabs I had one of those and an emerald crab in an 80G about eight years ago. The sally Lightfoot kind of reminds you of a spider. I would love to put one of all three species in my 75G!

[Pigpen17]

Well, we will see what happens. Rouge found the rock. Both crabs are on Xenia Island now. So far no fighting.


<a href="http://s17.photobucket.com/user/pigpen_/media/Sharing.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b71/pigpen_/Sharing.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Sharing.jpg"/></a>

[Pigpen17]

Yup. They are both hosting it. No aggression at all. Still worried about them starving. So far so good, but they eat all day long. Whatever they are filtering, it's bound to run out at this rate. Still have lots of mixed pods on my glass, so that's a good sign. I introduced them about 3 months ago, and no one has been feeding on them for all that time. I'm thinking of adding another bag anyways, or starting up a refugium and grow them there. These crabs are too cool to lose.

[Calappidae]

Awesome! They blend in with xenia better than an anemone :D

[Pigpen17]

Awesome! They blend in with xenia better than an anemone :D

Right on. I am very happy with them. I have my Xenia on a single, large rock, basically in hopes of keeping in contained, but now it has become the most interesting piece in the tank. So far.

So I was browsing the LFS for, well, just about everything, and I came across some bottles of phytoplankton, and zooplankton. Is this something I could add for them to filter? I am pretty sure they will eat all my pods soon.

[Calappidae]

Wouldn't hurt to target feed them some of that. Doubt they'll eat your pods away since they'll only eat a small population of their free floating larvae a week but the crabs would definitly appreciate it.

[Pigpen17]

Wouldn't hurt to target feed them some of that. Doubt they'll eat your pods away since they'll only eat a small population of their free floating larvae a week but the crabs would definitly appreciate it.

Yeah. I used to do that with a little syringe, but it was a pain in the butt. I was thinking I could just add it to the tank. It looks like that stuff is for corals, but it said to just add it to the tank twice a day. I'll read up on it more. I don't just want to start throwing crap into my tank without knowing what it will do, but if I could avoid target feeding these guys, I would like to do that.

Good to know about the pods. Makes me feel a little better. As long as I keep seeing them on the glass, I'll assume there are more floating and they are repopulating.

I noticed a little aggression today. Rouge (the bigger one) got real close to the other crab, and the smaller guy started to act very weird. Almost dancing. No grabbing happened, but I thought it might.

[Pigpen17]

Read up a little. Looks like zooplankton could be a choice. Also baby brine shrimp? or Cyclop-eze , which I have.
I have been thinking of adding a second skunk cleaner shrimp. If I get lucky, they could spawn. Not counting on that one though.
Pods seem to be doing it for now, but the rate they are eating (filter feeler to mouth movement) is becoming less and less.

I probably should have only got one. My plan was to get two (mail order), and chose one, but I like one and my kid likes the other. Oh well. no free crab for the LFS.

Aggressive behavior is gone again. Sharing well.

[Pigpen17]

Well, the Cyclop-eze might be the winner. I watched a piece land right on the crabs filter feeler and it ate it. Plus I can just add it to the tank and my fish will eat whatever dosen't land on the crabs. In fact, it's a food I have in my rotation anyway. Perfect.

[Pigpen17]

Huh. Talk about over thinking something. Today I had a bit of chopped clam left over from feeding, so I just reached down and put it in the crabs face. It grabbed it and ate it.

So simple.

[Nina51]

So I was browsing the LFS for, well, just about everything, and I came across some bottles of phytoplankton, and zooplankton. Is this something I could add for them to filter? I am pretty sure they will eat all my pods soon.

i use both of these for coral feeding but i only add it once or twice a week. be careful adding too much as it can foul your water just like overfeeding.

[Pigpen17]

i use both of these for coral feeding but i only add it once or twice a week. be careful adding too much as it can foul your water just like overfeeding.

Good to know. I am very nervous about adding something into my system without having a way to test it's levels. Pour and pray is not a plan.

Maybe start off feeding once a week.