Pom-Pom Crab

Care at a glance

Overview

A peaceful, secretive nano-reef crab that poses no threat to corals or tankmates and is more likely to be bothered than to bother anything. Keep it in a calm tank without large aggressive fish or crabs that would eat it. Its held anemones make it look armed but they are used defensively, not to sting corals.

In the wild

A tiny, shy crab that spends daylight tucked in caves and crevices and comes out at night to forage. It thrives in nano to mid-size reefs with plenty of live rock, rubble, and hiding spots. Because it is so small it is easily outcompeted at feeding time, so target-feed small meaty foods a few times a week.

Good to know

Lybia tessellata is a small crab in the family Xanthidae, growing to only about 2.5 cm across. It is famous for holding a small stinging sea anemone (typically Triactis or Bunodeopsis) in each claw and waving them like pom-poms, using them for both defense and to sweep up food. If it loses an anemone, it can split the remaining one in two so each claw is armed again. It cannot open food with those occupied claws, so it uses its walking legs to pass food to its mouth.

Did you know

It carries a live stinging anemone in each claw and waves them like boxing gloves or pom-poms, and if it drops one it can clone the survivor so both claws stay armed.

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