Pom pom crab picked up aiptasia!

[Lumpystarpolyp]

Just what the title says, unfortunately.
I purchsed 2 pom pom crabs with no pom poms around 4 months ago. This morning, one crab is proudly waving around what I think is

an aiptasia. I haven't even seen aiptasia in the tank yet, so it must be hiding out of sight somewhere.

Should I try and capture the crab and remove it? I am afraid it may sting the seahorses

 

[Rjukan]

Lol, that is adorable and scary all in one gif

 

[mark vincent muriel]

XD

 

[Skydvr]

I was just looking up some information on pom-pom crabs as I just found one of my porcelain crabs dead (added them Friday evening). I had noticed the pom-pom crab trying to beat up the porcelain crabs with its pom-poms and was curious if it was potentially the culprit. (It likely percieved the other crabs as a threat and was trying to defend itself with the anemone’s nematocysts)

National Geographic had a short article on how pom-pom crabs without pom-poms will steal an anemone from another pom-pom crab and both crabs will rip the one anemone they have in half, effectively fragging the anemone, so they have one for each claw. The crab may try to split the aptasia so it has one for each claw and the other crab may try to steal one and split it itself. Good luck trying to get it to give the anemone up though.

The anemone that pom-pom crabs carry is a very specific species that is not known to exist on its own in the wild. Not much is known about the anemone. It would be interesting to see how large the aptasia grows while held by the crab. I wonder how the growth of the anemone the pom-pom crab typically carries in the wild is affected by the crab and how the aptasia’s growth would be affected by being held by the crab.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Wow! That's wild!!

 

[Burrito]

lucky you can see him, my last one was easy to spot in my 30g, after i transferred him to my 100g i haven't seen him once in 7 months, i assume hes dead. they are super cute and fun to watch.

 

[VSVP bet]

This is amazing. Why I love the reef hobby. Def an issue, remove the aiptasia to protect the tank vs hurting the crab. Either way, I still find this remarkable. Thanks for sharing and keep us updated on what you do.

 

[saintsreturn]

Thank you for sharing! That is awesome, and annoying, and awesome!

 

[sdcosta]

its almost like he is waving it around saying "look what I found!"

 

[mitch miller]

Slide that crab a 10 spot for pulling the weeds!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Crazy !!1 Let him Mow that thing down !!

 

[ReefClutz]

So cute!

 

[RobertP]

I hear Eddie Murphy singing, I got McDonalds and you didnt!

 

[scriptmonkey]

See it reminds me of the cheerleaders in Smells Like Teen Spirt video..

 

[stevieduk]

one day when the aptasia is big it will turn the tables and devour the crab

 

[Katrina71]

I love this!

 

[Smarkow]

Maybe buy another pom-pom with two anemones and see if they will preferentially take/share/split their natural ones?

 

[Lumpystarpolyp]

This pom pom already was housed with another pom pom, (both started out with no anemones).

We ended up trapping him/her in a tiny glass flask, and moving it to another small tank we have set up!