My favorite part of marine fishkeeping is the hitchhikers. I don't do coral but there is a marine exclusive fish store nearby that will sell me heavily established rubble live rock at 3 bucks a pound so I have filled my tank to the brim with it. I have many types of sponges and anenome hitch-hikers. Aptasia, Majano, Orange Ball anenomes, ect. Everything considered a pest is not a pest to me, even the aptasia anenomes. I have a peppermint shrimp that keeps those in check. Here are some of my favorite hikers I have identified. These are not my pictures, just the species I have. I really like finding and trying to identify the creatures.Here are my fav 4, the mantis shrimp. Mean suckers that can break glass if they really want to. Considered pests but also highly prized as they are beautiful and lots of people want them. A Little Donkey Cowrie, that's the shell there in the pic. I can't find a pic of a live one, but I have a live one in my tank. They are like conches but with smoothe shells. He has a little snorkel siphon nose, very cute. I have many brittle stars but a few bright oranges like this one in this picture. And last the orange ball anenomes or pseudocorynactis. They are half coral, half anenome. They look like anenomes but they don't move. They eat meat and unlike corals, they don't feed from the light. I have many of these all over my tank that started from just 3. /monthly_2012_04/493267_ea8b175a831.jpg.cbc11910362d038dd998999bae17664f.jpg /monthly_2012_04/cowrie_little_donkey.jpg.fbf654038babf83bca362a2b7ce6fa8b.jpg /monthly_2012_04/57a6ca4c600e2_IMG_4284post.jpg.cb7b9514320eec408de3e0d37c207dd3.jpg /monthly_2012_04/Pseudocorynactisfiji.jpg.b1b23db030a7878b3e137840767251f8.jpg
And a new pic of my actual tank /monthly_2012_04/0409122224-00.jpg.e23b59d321606dea99a7f58f760a54f0.jpg
Looks like i'm jacking this thread...but....have you ever seen one so itty bitty????? I loves him!!! /monthly_2012_04/0411121837-00.jpg.77323c84e9325422ab5339e46b743dfe.jpg
Dang Canna, that one is tiny. Good luck with him, they are notoriously difficult to get to feed. Make sure you give him plenty of nori and greens to eat. -tC
Cool. I like the hitchhikers too canna. I have 4 small Mojano anemones and a stomatella snail that cruises around the tank. Lots of crazy little Bristle Worms and sponges too. I have a ton of micro feather dusters all over the tank on just about every rock. Tons of tube worms. Why no corals for you Canna? I love the corals. The diversity is staggering and just as fun to cultivate as ganja and very similar to care for. You have to provide the right lighting and water flow, as well as feed them. My corals are all healthy and growing at different rates. The Mushrooms are thriving and reproducing like crazy as well as the Kenya Trees and my Green Button Polyps are growing and spreading. I have some Zoas that are finally looking good and reproducing too. My Hammer coral is starting to split one of it's heads and I think my Candy Cane is also growing slowly. I would like to get another Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, and possibly a Blenny or another peaceful tank mate for the other fish. That little Tang you got sure is cute. I hope it thrives for you. So far almost all of my fish have been very healthy in my tank. I did lose 2 Bangaii Cardinals because they wouldn't eat. I've thought about a Blue Tang too or even a Yellow Tang. I like the Tangs, they are very cool fish. I'd like to add a few things to my tank, but I have to put it on hold for the moment. I can afford to keep it healthy, just not to get any new corals or fish, or equipment at the moment. I love my tanks though, all of them. Thanks for sharing Canna and tC. Here is a current Full Tank Shot of my reef. asssit:
It's awesome Ras! And Thanks TC! I love a nicely established colorful tank No corals for me at the moment because they are quite expensive. I may try a few mushies though or my local place gets these rocks in with several different types of corals....rainbow rocks. Also I like the led light that came with my tank, it may be bright enough, I have not really looked into it. Also, I like many hikers and other animals that are not reef-safe. If I do corals, it will be another tank and right now i'm really like this one I may see about some mushrooms if they would be ok with the hikers and other creatues I have though. The amount of different sponges, I have black, green, yellow, white and a nice blue one keep me pretty satisfied, along with all the orange ball anenomes and other stuff. Tons of worms, feather dusters, ect.The Tang has just started swimming in front all around the tank today and I fed him from a mixed frozen food pack I have that's got seaweed, spirulina, brine shrimp and some other things. He ate like mad, I am hopeful he will make it. He was the last one left, and the runt, of the batch from the fish store.Last night I turned on the night part of my light and found this blob of jelly looking thing that put out these long filaments, extremely thin and combed to comb for micro food particles. The tendrels are the entire length of the tank and look like jelly fish. Crazy hitch-hiker coolness. Must have come in on the LR I got a few days ago. Someone on another forum said it was like a flatworm of some sort or something...looks like this -> /monthly_2012_04/benthic_comb_jelly_00.jpg.af35367d2c04200b27ba7b2af473c19e.jpg
How's the Tang doing Canna? I'm always noticing something new that I haven't seen before. I saw some kind of worm thing that was coming out of a hole in the rock and it was probing around the other holes nearby. I've never seen it before. I added a couple new things to my reef recently. I added a nice rock about 5"x4" covered with little Pink Encrusting Star Polyps and I added an Electric Flame Scallop. The Scallop is super cool. It has a bioluminescent strip of flesh on it's mantle that flashes pulses of blue light, that looks just like electricity. It's listed as difficult, but my tank is very established and healthy. I bought live phytoplankton to feed it. I need to get a baster to spot feed it better though. My new rock with Star Polyps. This is my Scallop. This isn't my video, but mine looks exactly the same. [YOUTUBE]PXTf8PwYqe0[/YOUTUBE]
You guys are bad... What a bunch of :XXjester: :kidding::thumbs-up:asssit: I added another new frag today. I got a nice sized Blue Pulsing Xenia. It's pretty cool. I just added it to the tank and already it's started to gently pulse. I got some frag glue so I could finally place a couple of other frags up on the rocks and off of the sand bed. My new light is working great and everyone seems pretty happy. Once the Xenia opens up all the way, I'll take a couple pics. Aquariums are :coool: :thumbs-up: asssit:
Saltwater tanks are cool! A few pics of the tank and corals. I added a few things. I got a Bubble Coral frag. I added my first SPS Coral, a Pavona Coral frag. I also added a new White Sebae Anemone. Plus the Pulsing Xenia. Current Full Tank Shot. My first SPS. Pavona Coral. Random Zoas, starting to spread to the adjacent rock. Green Button Polyps. There were only 4-5 when I bought the frag 10 months ago. Encrusting Pink Flower Polyps Branching Green Hammer Coral. Both heads are beginning to split. Pulsing Xenia Bubble Coral, partially retracted, from being glued to the rock. White Sebae Anemone. This was the best picture I could get. It's in a spot that's hard to photograph due to the angle through the glass. It's beautiful though. It's white with bright purple dots at the tips of it's tentacles. My Clownfish is such an Anemone whore, she's already all over it. asssit:
It's very beautiful Ras :goodjob: I really like that green branching green hammer coral, so pretty. And those orange shrooms really pop don't they!!! You convinced me to get some coral. After the whole debacle of the day before yesterday and pretty much all the water being taken out and replaced....everything is acting like it's some kind of holiday, everything is very very happy looking. All the crabs made it, the Mandarin is fine and the anenomes that were above water are perfect. Even some of the pods have come out again. Looks like a lot of worms made it fine as including my feather dusters and christmas tree worms. I think everything was just really freaking out but it looked worse than it was. I have also started another tank with some filter media for a backup and place to acclimate stuff. Today I got some pink and green zoas, some green star coral, some blue mushrooms and some random tree looking things that were attached to some live rock that he let me have cheap. Also managed to get an almost neon blue sponge attached to some rubble rock for practicly nothing. Also got a springer damsel. They are a damsel, but I still think they are pretty awesome. Also a blue coral banded shrimp with some really nice coloration. I know this is all totally worthless without pics, I will try to get a good one sometime, if I can with thie POS camera!
Thanks Canna. You'll enjoy the coral a bunch. I look forward to seeing some pics of your tank back in action. :thumbs-up:asssit:
The colors The movements The diversity The symbiotic relationships they have with the algae living within their bodies Watching them feed Watching them reproduce and cover your tank. Shopping for new and exotic varieties to add to your tank. They're :coool: :redbong:
Great examples! Can also apply to many other things about saltwater. All the corals are already opening, yeah, I should have done this a long time ago :thumbs-up: I got a bottle of tigger pods to replace any of my pod population that didn't make it. I have never seen tiggers before, they are pretty cool. I am raising my salinity to where you have it Ras, after reading a bit more I agree 1.025 will be better than 1.023. Got some phyto feast for the corals and other things to eat. Maybe you said it....what brand of stuff or what stuff do you feed your corals Ras? (this bright blue sponge...I feel kinda bad about taking it. I tried to get it before when I saw it a month ago on some rubble rock and an employee told me the owner was saving it and wanted $25 an inch. Today I went in and the owner sold me the rock for $2 a pound.....yeah I feel kind bad but oh well it's beautiful!)
I use DT's Live Marine Phytoplankton and mysis shrimp for the hammer and anemones. And I add a vitamin and amino acid supplement as well as calcium.
