Pom Pom Crab in 5g with goby/pistol pair

[Karen00]

Hello fellow saltines,

I've been trying to find out whether a goby/pistol pair that I currently have in my tank will be compatible with a pom pom crab? I know they are compatible in general I just wasn't sure if a 5g might be too small to house them together. What I'm concerned about is the pom pom running into either the goby or shrimp and he stings them with his anemones. Has anyone kept these guys in a pick? I have two large rocks in the tank and the goby/shrimp mainly stick to their rock.

I don't have any cuc in the tank and would like to get something to clean up leftover food. I love the poms but maybe I should just get some snails for safety?

 

[vetteguy53081]

POM POM small and peaceful. These crabs are pretty small, never growing more than an inch. This means that they are suitable for nano tanks or smaller tanks. Feed meaty foods to them daily

 

[Karen00]

POM POM small and peaceful. These crabs are pretty small, never growing more than an inch. This means that they are suitable for nano tanks or smaller tanks. Feed meaty foods to them daily

Thanks so much for the speedy reply! I am glad to read your reply! I read they are peaceful, I just didn't want him being startled by my goby and using his poms poms to lash out. I feed my goby mysis and bloodworms and the shrimp gets sinking pellets. There are always leftovers that I end up siphoning out which is a waste. Would this type of food be good for the pom pom?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks so much for the speedy reply! I am glad to read your reply! I read they are peaceful, I just didn't want him being startled by my goby and using his poms poms to lash out. I feed my goby mysis and bloodworms and the shrimp gets sinking pellets. There are always leftovers that I end up siphoning out which is a waste. Would this type of food be good for the pom pom?

It will go after the leftovers. Remember that the pom poms are anemones that will sting. I dont see them bothering the new crab

 

[Karen00]

It will go after the leftovers. Remember that the pom poms are anemones that will sting. I dont see them bothering the new crab

Yes, that was my concern... that the pom pom might sting my goby and/or shrimp if startled by them, especially in a 5g. I haven't read of this happening when trying to research pom poms but thought I would ask people who have had experience with them.

 

[Tired]

The poms don't have a really strong sting. The goby might get stung if it tried to scare the crab away, but wouldn't be seriously harmed, it'd recover fine.

Pom poms will sweep the rocks with their anemones to pick up detritus to eat, and will scavenge leftover food. Though, if you have a lot of leftover food, you should feed less and make sure to target it directly to the critters. Use a turkey baster or pipette to put it right next to them so they can't miss any.

 

[bnord]

I have a pistol and it’s goby pal and a pom-pom in a 15 gallon water box. Created a floating back of the tank with magnets. The pom-pom stays up there. That said I can’t imagine the shrimp even knowing the crab was there if it was in the rockscape

 

[hikermike]

Frankly, my pistol can be pretty aggressive. It's in a 6 gal aquamax with a tomato clown and a green clown goby with which it gets along. I had an emerald crab in there before I added the pistol for at least a year. It was gone in a month, not sure why it died. I put a ghost shrimp in the tank I collected here from Puget Sound That was at least 11/2 times as big and it lasted 2 seconds. The pistol shot across the tank, grabbed in the middle and shot back to it's burrow instantly. Never seen that shrimp go so far from it's burrow. ( a salt water ghost shrimp is not the same as a fresh water ghost. They are named that as they are a whitish pale color but they look VERY similar to to pistol shrimp even to the out-sized claws. The one I have in another tank,{learned from the first occasion} makes a similar click just not as loud.

 

[Tired]

A saltwater ghost shrimp could be an issue for the pistol, since they both burrow.

That said, I would check what kind of pistol you have. Some are more predatory than others,

How have the non-slaughtered ghost shrimp done? They're weird little guys, they'd be interesting to keep. Do you ever see them?

 

[Karen00]

Frankly, my pistol can be pretty aggressive. It's in a 6 gal aquamax with a tomato clown and a green clown goby with which it gets along. I had an emerald crab in there before I added the pistol for at least a year. It was gone in a month, not sure why it died. I put a ghost shrimp in the tank I collected here from Puget Sound That was at least 11/2 times as big and it lasted 2 seconds. The pistol shot across the tank, grabbed in the middle and shot back to it's burrow instantly. Never seen that shrimp go so far from it's burrow. ( a salt water ghost shrimp is not the same as a fresh water ghost. They are named that as they are a whitish pale color but they look VERY similar to to pistol shrimp even to the out-sized claws. The one I have in another tank,{learned from the first occasion} makes a similar click just not as loud.

This is interesting. I was worried the pom might hurt my pistol but maybe I have to worry the situation will be reversed, especially when you mentioned your emerald crab dying :-S I would hate to see the pom hurt! My pistol takes his food from my fingers. I can't picture him as a cold blooded killer in disguise. Yikes!

 

[Karen00]

I have a pistol and it’s goby pal and a pom-pom in a 15 gallon water box. Created a floating back of the tank with magnets. The pom-pom stays up there. That said I can’t imagine the shrimp even knowing the crab was there if it was in the rockscape

Do you have a pic you can share? This sounds interesting and gives your pom a safe place to hang out.

 

[Karen00]

The poms don't have a really strong sting. The goby might get stung if it tried to scare the crab away, but wouldn't be seriously harmed, it'd recover fine.

Pom poms will sweep the rocks with their anemones to pick up detritus to eat, and will scavenge leftover food. Though, if you have a lot of leftover food, you should feed less and make sure to target it directly to the critters. Use a turkey baster or pipette to put it right next to them so they can't miss any.

Thanks for this. I target feed with an eyedropper. There isn't a lot of leftover food but enough that I siphon it out. It's mysis and bloodworms. The problem is once the food settles my goby doesn't see it so it just sits there. The pistol doesn't go after it either. I guess most folks already have cuc to clean up the leftovers. I'm doing things backward. Fish went in first and now I'm looking at cuc. :-S

Another question I meant to ask... I've heard that when the poms lose one of their nems they can split the remaining one. My question is, can the nem they lose (assuming it's still alive) establish itself in the tank? I didn't want nems because the tank is only only a 5g. I just recently read that poms sometimes lose them and that got me wondering whether you might unexpectedly find nems growing in your tank. Haha.

 

[Karen00]

Pom has been added. Gee he is super tiny (about 1/2") and one of the cutest creatures I have seen! Now I'm more concerned my pistol might get him! I dropped him high up on a rock. He found a fake silicone coral I have in there that I was using to adjust the flow from my new powerhead. Fingers crossed my pistol leaves him alone!

 

[Tired]

I don't know if the nems can attach in the tank. I /think/ they require the crab to do well? But if one did land and attach, you could always just smother it with superglue, or give it away. I've never heard of a pom-pom's anemones just spreading into the tank of their own accord.

Poms are pretty tiny. The numbers I always see mentioned say they get to about a one-inch legspan.

 

[Karen00]

I don't know if the nems can attach in the tank. I /think/ they require the crab to do well? But if one did land and attach, you could always just smother it with superglue, or give it away. I've never heard of a pom-pom's anemones just spreading into the tank of their own accord.

Poms are pretty tiny. The numbers I always see mentioned say they get to about a one-inch legspan.

Thanks for this! I just got my pom and boy he is tiny and his poms are even smaller! I can't imagine them ever getting to the size of regular nems. They look like micro nems! LOL For the life of me I don't know why any nem would want to be at the end of a crab's claws only to be used like a broom. Haha.

 

[Tired]

Oh, yeah, they won't get big. Thing is, there's no such thing as a "regular anemone", anemones of different species have different maximum sizes. This is a really small species. So even if one did take root somewhere, it would stay pretty tiny.

The benefit of being a broom is, you get brought to where all the crumbs are. If you happen to be a broom that eats crumbs, this is a good thing. Even if a crab sometimes steals your crumbs.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I have had a candy pistol and pom pom together for years in a 6g tank. No problems that I found. Just me moving the tank around and eventually losing the pompom crab. My pistol is still with me like going on 8 years now. He has no friend right now, but did in the 6g tank with the pompom. They just stayed away from each other. The pompom had his rocks and hiding areas, so did the fish/shrimp pairing.

I love pompoms, but they are so cryptic. My porcelain/anemone is out so much more. I also have scarlet hermit and lots of types of snails in the tank.

 

[Karen00]

Oh, yeah, they won't get big. Thing is, there's no such thing as a "regular anemone", anemones of different species have different maximum sizes. This is a really small species. So even if one did take root somewhere, it would stay pretty tiny.

The benefit of being a broom is, you get brought to where all the crumbs are. If you happen to be a broom that eats crumbs, this is a good thing. Even if a crab sometimes steals your crumbs.

LOL. Very well said and I'm sure the poms on my crab would agree. When I first got my goby/shrimp pair I thought that was one crazy relationship! Seeing my crab and his nems has me re-thinking what a crazy relationship actually is! Haha.

 

[Karen00]

I have had a candy pistol and pom pom together for years in a 6g tank. No problems that I found. Just me moving the tank around and eventually losing the pompom crab. My pistol is still with me like going on 8 years now. He has no friend right now, but did in the 6g tank with the pompom. They just stayed away from each other. The pompom had his rocks and hiding areas, so did the fish/shrimp pairing.

I love pompoms, but they are so cryptic. My porcelain/anemone is out so much more. I also have scarlet hermit and lots of types of snails in the tank.

You're right about the poms being cryptic. He mostly sits in one spot surveying the tank so he could be getting used to his new environment. He was out and about earlier then I couldn't find him. I thought "how the hell can I lose him in a 5g?". That's when I found him perching in a corner of a rock. I swear he has changed color to match his surroundings!! Haha.

 

[Karen00]

I thought I would provide an update. It has only been a day but thankfully my pom is still alive. I figured if there was going to be bloodshed between my pistol and my pom it would most likely happen within the first 24 hrs.

There was a dramatic moment earlier when my pistol and pom came face to face with each other. Shrimpy's claws started waving with a click, click, click (boy that was loud) and crabby's poms started waving with a swish, swish, swish and all of this posturing lasting a few minutes. I thought I was going to have to intervene before someone got hurt but finally they backed away from each other and thankfully they seem to be ignoring each other now.