Got Rocks!!!

[johnd4g]

I received my shipment of 40 pounds of Keys rocks from Liverocks.com today. I'm so excited! What a fantastic selection of live rocks. I asked for a good assortment of sizes with lots of color and thats what I got, thanks to Mike at Liverocks.com. I opened the box and saw every color of the rainbow.

In my 40 pounds I received a total of 11 rocks. Great shapes and sizes. In the bottom of the plastic bag that the rocks were wrapped in I found plenty of little critters... 10 crabs, 3 snails, a serpent star, and a bunch of worms. Haven't seen any aptasia yet but I'm sure its comming.

Here's a few photos.

 

[lando]

Awesome! Isn't LR the coolest? 8)

 

[JamesR]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing the pics..........my rock arrives tomorrow! can't wait

 

[johnd4g]

Here's a few photos of the new rocks in my tank. Great color compared to my old LFS rock which was only dull shades of brown and had no signs of life at all.

 

[johnd4g]

Here's a few of the critters I found in the box with the rocks. Not sure what kinds of crabs and snails they are. Any ideas? One crab was tan with brown spots, others were dark brown and hairy, the snail shells were light colored with black spots. The only thing I put into the tank was a serpent star, all crabs and snails are being saved for a friend.

 

[Phyl]

Tan with spots: Does it have small radar disks that it uses to pull things into its mouth? That would be a porcelain. They may hide their disks if they're not in open water. Here's a picture of mine:

If the top picture is of a red crab, kind of hairy looking legs then it is likely a rock crab or a red mythrax crab. In a FO/FOWLER it might be ok, but in a reef setting look out. Mine ate some yellow polyps that I had.

No idea on the snail.

Isn't the unpacking just so much fun!? Nice looking rock. Enjoy!

 

[johnd4g]

Phyl,
Your description of the porcelain crab seems right. This crab has small antennae that I don't see on other crabs. As for the snail... what caught my attention most was that the snail itself (as opposed to the shell) was all black. I'm used to seeing snails that are brown, tan, pink in color. I don't think I've seen a black snail before. Since adding the live rock to the tank I've only noticed one small crab poking his head out of a hole, but I'm sure shortly I'll be seeing all sorts of things in there.

 

[dansemacabre]

liverocks.com rock is amazing. Plain and simple. You'll continue to find wonderful critters months after you've received it. Watch out for Mantis though. I had 2 of them. I didn't think I did. Never heard any snapping or popping until about a month after I'd had the rock. There he was...staring right at me. But I also got a neat pistol and about 3 urchins. So neat! Enjoy your rock!

 

[johnd4g]

Its been 2 days since adding the live rock to my tank. Last night we were finding signs of life here and there. Small feather dusters, a small worm, a couple of small scallops. I checked the water parameters last night and found the numbers were starting to climb. I had expected this since I added the rock at the end of my routine 2 week water cycle, so I did a 20% water change. I'll check the parameters daily until I see things are normal again.

Here's a couple of new photos of the cock. An overall shot of the tank and one of my horseshoe crab taking a jog.