Living Things
My current stock list is: Macropharyngodon bipartus (Leopard wrasse), Cirrhilabrus solorensis (Solon or red headed fairy wrasse), Halichoeres timorensis (Timor wrasse), Halichoeres melanurus (Hoeven's wrasse) 1 Paracheilinus mccoskeri (McCosker's Flasher wrasse.) blue legged hermit crabs, red legged hermit crab, trochus snails, Nassarius vibex snails, 2 Lysmata amboinensis (Cleaner shrimp), 1 Stenopus hispidus (Boxing shrimp) 2 pincushion urchin (Lytechinus variegatus) a large strawberry conch, two big Mexican turbo snails and a very large serpent star.
To see my fish, click here. To see my corals, click here. To see my inverts, click here.
To see my fish, click here. To see my corals, click here. To see my inverts, click here.
Feeding
I am currently feeding using a combination of Ocean Nutrition prime reef flakes, Aquarium Systems A la carte Artemia and cyclops as well as live foods and odd bits and bobs of other things.
Hitchhikers guide to the aquarium
My first hitchhiker
The first resident in my new aquarium is a hitchhiker. Don't know what he is apart from a crab of some sorts. He is not very big, about the size of a 20p piece and is now living in the DSB in the sump. Spends most of his time buried under the sand. One year on he is bigger but still wandering around in the sump.
Over the year other life has shown itself. Quite a few fan worms, various algae and other worms, copepods and some tiny snails and found a strange thing that I think is a stomatella.
As tank matures other life is popping up mostly good but have a big bad crab and little nudis that ate my zoas. Am also sure there is a mantis shrimp but have never seen it only hear it.
Over the year other life has shown itself. Quite a few fan worms, various algae and other worms, copepods and some tiny snails and found a strange thing that I think is a stomatella.
As tank matures other life is popping up mostly good but have a big bad crab and little nudis that ate my zoas. Am also sure there is a mantis shrimp but have never seen it only hear it.
Resident CrabThis crab has been in the tank since setup and have tried all kinds of things to
get him out even stripping out the rock. All to no avail. Don't know if he is doing any harm but he is quite big and a bit of a brute. About 3cms across the shell. Bigger than the one above who is still living happily in the sump. Think they are both Actaeodes tomentosus and can cause problems by excavating caves and tunnels in the live rock. At last I managed to catch the hitchiker in my tank. I saw him come out of his liar during the day, grabbed my net and chased him under a rock. Was able to lift the rock out of the tank and prize the crab out of a crack he had wedged himself into. He wouldn't come out when dipped in RO water. Quite traumatic for him but I have popped him in the sump. Hope he recovers and will be fine. |
Stomatella snailsStomatella snails are small fast-moving snails that look more like slugs than regular snails, although they do have small flat shells.
When I first saw this little chap I popped him in the sump then did some research and found they were not only harmless but could actually be benificial to the reef. I have on occasions seen them again but think that my wrasse will probably keep the population in check although they are nocturnal. |
Nudibranches
These are probably the biggest pests I have had to date. The first ones were very small green coloured and rather prettybut they atemy zoas! Very difficult to see as they were the same colour as the zoa colonies they were eatingand small, about half a cms long. I had to spend time watching the tank and picking them out as well as dipping my zoas wherever possible. Managed to get rid within a couple of weeks. About a year later had another bout. This time much bigger, 3 to 4 cms. These were white bodied with pink or orange 'tassles' on their backs. Again lovely but problematic, feeding on my soft corals. Easier to see when they were large and pick them out. Got a couple of dozen out and hopefully now all gone.
Astrina StarfishA really interesting little critter. I see a few wandering around my reef. They are small, all different shapes and pretty fast movers. Apparently there are over 30 species with most being harmless grazers but some can feed on corals. People on the forums also complain of these getting to plague proportions. Reckon mine must be harmless and population seems under control.
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