Ok, so I haven't seen my Pom Pom crab for about a week, which is a little unusual for her. Was a little bit worried, then tonight after lights out my daughter sees her, and she's carrying eggs!! A whole belly full of red eggs. I tried to goggle about it, didn't find much. I did read that Pom poms can carry sperm with them for quite a while and have several generations worth of sperm with them, and that it is possible that the eggs could be fertilized!! I read about other people having this same thing happen where they had the crab for about a month and they had some eggs hatch that were alive. But no said how they did this. My daughter wants to put the crab in the qt tank and try to hatch them. Problem is, I've never had anything hatch eggs before and I don't know what to do. I'm even afraid to try to catch her, afraid it will hurt her or the eggs. And if I do catch her, what then? Is qt tank alone enough for them to hatch? Do I need something special? Can't find any info on how to go about this. Totally lost!! Is it futile to try?
Pom pom carrying eggs!! Advice??
- Thread starter Beengirl
- Start date
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Saratj1
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I have a pair of Pom poms and one produces eggs a couple times a month and nothing ever becomes of them, as quickly as they appear they will disappear, then a couple weeks later the will reappear. I posted a thread just like you when I first noticed them. Basically there's not much hope for having any Pom Pom babies.
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MacDracor
Aquarium Advice Addict
Odds are slim, but *IF* they are fertile, try carefully catching her (with a cup, NOT a net) and letting them hatch in a very small qt tank with only a sponge filter. I wouldn't know what to feed them if any hatched, though.
Thanks for the help. I think I've decided to just let this batch go. She has hidden herself kinda under/behind my green finger leather. Can't really get to her. And she is not really coming out right now. I've done more research and no one really knows what they would eat, so I guess they would probably starve to death if they did hatch. 
I'll have more time to look into this by the next batch hopefully.
I'll have more time to look into this by the next batch hopefully.MacDracor
Aquarium Advice Addict
The big determining factor in feeding baby anything is whether they are benthic (substrate dwelling/drawling) or pelagic (free swimming). I think pelagic are easier to feed because microalgae/rotifers/newly hatched artemia are easy to keep in suspension. Not sure how to feed benthic babies.
