New live rock! Lots o' critters! (Lots of pics, too)

[newfound77951]

Wow. I just got 20 lbs of live rock on Thursday and all I have done since I got it is stare into the tank....every time I look I find something new. This is just a 10 gallon, I can't even imagine what 100 lbs of live rock would look like. Can you tell I'm a SW newbie?

Anyway, some help please on ID'ing the following critters, and whether or not they'll make it, should stay in the tank etc. Also, I don't have pics of a few things, I saw a bright red shrimp, about 1/2" long, with one claw, looked like it had eggs underneath. Was walking on the sand and then went into the rock. Also, one of the rocks made a clicking sound when I picked it up out of the water, and I occasionally hear more clicks...I'm worried this is a mantis shrimp, or could the red shrimp I saw be a pistol shrimp? Hopefully I'll see it again to get a picture.

Orange encrusting #1....thinking this is a sponge or a bryozoan?


Orange encrusting #2...no idea what this is. It has a barnace sticking out of it.


Purple encrusting. This definitely looks like a sponge. Also polyps of some sort. They come out more at night, and there are about 8-10 total on the rocks. I do not have enough light for corals (15w on a 10 gallon)...will these guys make it?


Orange thing #3....as of tonight (Sunday) this is starting to look bad and detach from the rock at the top. Guessing whatever it is (sponge, tunicate?) didn't like the move or being in the air for a short while.


WHAT THE HECK IS THIS??!!?? Didn't see it at all the first day, then there it was, on the back glass. Looks like one arm of a starfish, about 1.5" long. My guess is it's some kind of snail or nudibranch. It doesn't move much.




A fish! Didn't see this little guy the first day either, what a surprise the next day. Very cute little fishie....some kind of goby. Very shy, but slowly getting used to me. I'm gonna have to watch my water chemistry so as to not kill him during the cycle. It would be a shame for the little fish to have survived flying to RI from FL then not make it.


Finally, one of two crabs (I think). This is the bigger one, has black tips on his claws. Never comes out of the rock that i've seen, but probably roams around at night. It figures that I can't get the camera to take a clear picture when I try, but I shove it behind the tank and blindly shoot and I get this:

[canyon15]

PIC #
1. Looks like a sponge
2.Probably coraline algea (its good)
3. The bottom looks like a candycane coral( won't make it on your lights) Top looks like a majano (sp?) anemone ( try to remove can be a nuissance) Purple is coraline.
4. sponge?
5. Its ugly and I have no idea.
6.
7. believe it is a type of goby( my lfs had one as a hitchiker the other day)
8 Not sure what type of crab.

The clicking is probably a mantis and if so it could cause headache down the road. HTH.

[Fluff]

I think there is a good chance your hitchhiker shrimp is a pistol but I wouldn't discount a mantis with the clicking.
As for your pics, here is what I think...

1. encrusting sponge (they do fairly well)
2. encrusting sponge (ditto)
3. purple sponge (ditto, but not a light loving sponge like the other two)
The polyps look like hidden cup corals. Again, fairly hardy and will do better if fed every now and then, small meaty foods)
4. dying sponge (it happens alot and some of the others may follow suit but I've had them come back after awhile. They die from being exposed to air during transit as well as cycling can take it's toll on them.
5. cucumber
6. cucumber
7. agree it appears to be some type of goby, no idea what species.
8. need a better pic of the crab and one of it's claws to help you here. No chance of giving you an exact species but I have a feeling it's a xanthid/predatory crab. It will feed on dead and dying things in the tank for now. Once food gets low, it will help itself to your snails. They are great janitors in a sump or somewhere they can be monitored and fed.

HTH

[newfound77951]

Thanks Fluff....I knew you'd help me out! I'll try and get a better picture of the crab and the shrimp if I ever see it again. I was doing some reading online last night and from what I saw of it and the noises it makes I'm pretty sure it's a pistol shrimp...it looked, well, shrimp-like, as opposed to what a mantis looks like.

So is the cucumber OK to stay in there? it only moves at night and so far has stayed on the glass.

I'll try and get a better pic of the crab, and/or get him out of there. There is a smaller one as well that i saw when I first put the rock in, should have grabbed him when I had the chance!

I will try and feed the corals....I also have a LOT of barnacles....should I add some food for them and the feather dusters??

THanks for answering my 1,000,000 questions!

[Fluff]

Chances are the cuc's won't survive the cycle. The barnacles in my experience do not thrive in our tanks either. There will be plenty of nutrients in the tank during the cycle to take care of any feather dusters that survive. Cycling is a critical time for your tank and rock inhabitants. Personally, I'd just let it ride out. Some critters will make it (crabs no doubt) and sadly some won't. But then some aren't gonna survive anyway just from lack of food (specific diets) and lack of knowledge on our part. Your rock will go through many changes. Some things will grow replacing some of the loss until you have some balance and everything left is happy. Enjoy. Liverock is the most fascinating part of a reef tank in my opinion.

[newfound77951]

I'm gonna try and make sure the fishie makes it, but I definitely expect to lose a lot of stuff. Some of the macroalgae is dying off and some is starting to grow again. I have a friend with a tang so he'll take any extra macro that I grow.

[Devilishturtles]

Very nice looking. Just wanted to comment that I still have new stuff cropping up (mainly sponges) on my liverock even now. What Fluff said about things dying and reappearing is very true. Have fun.

[weemanpow3]

whne I got my live rock I got a peice of coral on it.

[ntswift]

Sorry, but just out of curiosity, where did you buy your LR from?

[willyboy]

Here's your goby http://www.tampabaysaltwater.com/the...organisms.html. ntswift, look in the FOWLR forum to more pictures of newfound's tank.