Keeping two anemone crabs together. Not going well!

[Jason K]

I have two porcelain anemone crabs in a 14 gal. Was hoping to get them to pair up, but instead they are trying to kill each other. I even swapped one out at my LFS, hoping that I had a sexing issue, but the same exact result.

Typically, one will wait until the other has just molted, and then attacks while it is vulnerable. It’s pretty vicious, and I end up with two crabs that are almost always missing limbs.

Anyone have peacefully coexisting anemone crabs? Or even get them to pair up?

 

[dedragon]

did you check to make sure they are male and female? or did you just try 2 random ones? Havent kept pair before but i know sexing crabs is really easy

 

[Jason K]

did you check to make sure they are male and female? or did you just try 2 random ones? Havent kept pair before but i know sexing crabs is really easy

Please enlighten me….to my understanding sexing these crabs is very difficult.

 

[dedragon]

im not certain with porcelain crabs in particular but most other crabs have a much different shape on the underside of their abdomen. A male will have a narrow section while the female is much wider. This pic shows a good example just of a blue crab

 

[Jason K]

Yeah these guys are tiny, and I think it would be challenging to clearly view the undersides, but maybe I’ll give it a shot

 

[Bryce M.]

Following out of curiosity

 

[Kasrift]

I have two porcelain crabs. They don't fight, but they don't hang out together either. They each have their own nems, so they will occasionally walk past each other without any hint of violence.

What kind of porcelain crabs do you have? I have the white with red dots.

 

[Jason K]

I have two porcelain crabs. They don't fight, but they don't hang out together either. They each have their own nems, so they will occasionally walk past each other without any hint of violence.

What kind of porcelain crabs do you have? I have the white with red dots.

I have the ones with the darker blotchy more irregular pattern.

 

[Jason K]

Like so

This guy is missing two legs. His nemesis is missing both claws and a filter feeding hand. It’s pretty bad.

 

[littlefoxx]

I have two porcelain anemone crabs in a 14 gal. Was hoping to get them to pair up, but instead they are trying to kill each other. I even swapped one out at my LFS, hoping that I had a sexing issue, but the same exact result.

Typically, one will wait until the other has just molted, and then attacks while it is vulnerable. It’s pretty vicious, and I end up with two crabs that are almost always missing limbs.

Anyone have peacefully coexisting anemone crabs? Or even get them to pair up?

I had two. They were in a 32 biocube. They fought but I picked one up and moved it to a different rock nem and then they were fine. Ignored each other and kept to their own rock flower. I didnt try to have two, I got one at an LFS and ordered a fish online and was accidentally sent another.

 

[jermzisurmom]

I have two porcelain anemone crabs in a 14 gal. Was hoping to get them to pair up, but instead they are trying to kill each other. I even swapped one out at my LFS, hoping that I had a sexing issue, but the same exact result.

Typically, one will wait until the other has just molted, and then attacks while it is vulnerable. It’s pretty vicious, and I end up with two crabs that are almost always missing limbs.

Anyone have peacefully coexisting anemone crabs? Or even get them to pair up?

I have two in a sebae, got them already paired.

 

[Ryebreadiest]

I was able to keep 3 in a 30” long tank and each had their own little bubble of area. When I downsized my tank, I tried to keep all 3 in my 14g and within a month only had one.

 

[Jason K]

I was able to keep 3 in a 30” long tank and each had their own little bubble of area. When I downsized my tank, I tried to keep all 3 in my 14g and within a month only had one.

That sucks. My two have been coexisting for a year plus, so I don’t think it’ll come to that, but it sucks to see missing limbs all the time. I think i will get one rehomed at some point.

 

[formallydehyde]

im not certain with porcelain crabs in particular but most other crabs have a much different shape on the underside of their abdomen. A male will have a narrow section while the female is much wider. This pic shows a good example just of a blue crab

Porcelain crabs are not "true" crabs (Brachyura) so unfortunately I don't think this works for sexing them. They're more closely related to squat lobsters than Brachyuran crabs.

I am not sure on the anemone porcelain crab specifically but it seems like usually the only way to "easily" sex porcelain crabs is to look at the sizes of their bodies and claws. Males are usually bigger and have bigger claws. Unfortunately I don't think most porcelain crab species are very sexually dimorphic.