???? what is this????

[leesanhua]

i just got my LR today... can someone please help me to identify this... coral??? are you good? bad?

 

[electrikat]

It's not a coral it's a couple of aiptasia and they are very bad. You need to get some Joe's Juice right away. They multiply like rabbits and will sting everything else in your tank.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Agreed. I made the mistake of not taking care of my aiptasia, and now they are growing out of control.

Here is a great site for aiptasia control:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/aiptasia/aiptasia.htm

 

[w|z]

Will it sting your hand? and get rash or something? I had some and did touch them when i was moving the LR around

 

[electrikat]

I don't think they will bother a person unless you have some kind of allergy. We bought some corals this week and the frag tanks were covered in them but the guy working there acted like it was no big deal and just juiced them on the spot if you wanted that piece of coral. He didn't even think it was out of the ordinary that almost every piece of coral in his tank had at least 2 of them on it. I was very careful to pick corals that had none and also bought the Joe's Juice just in case. I also did the qt thing I was talking about in that other thread.

 

[leesanhua]

wht is this crab.....???? good? bad?

 

[Fluff]

Xanthid crab. It's a predatory crab. Keep him fed or he'll feed himself. I had one that like to eat snails. They are extremely cool though.

 

[RMPD109]

Not sure about the crab but the aptasia I would work on. I guess I am in the minority because I keep some in my tank. I have a peppermint shrimp that will eat all but the biggest aptasia. In two days I went from about 15 to 3. I never see any more than that 3. I guess the shrimp takes care of any newones. The idea is not to letthem get out of control because they will take over your tank if left un checked.

 

[stusclan]

I've had one big one since I got my lr 6 weeks ago. It hasn't mulitplied at all. No camera or I would post a pic. of it. Pretty cool. i guess the peps are keeping it under control.

 

[electrikat]

Some of them aren't really aiptasia. Some of them are actually curly-q anemones which are part of the aiptasia family but are not bad and are actually sold in stores. The difference is the tentacles are kinda cork screw looking and will curl up like a spring when they are feeding themselves. Also their tentacles are about 2 to 3 times as long as a normal aiptasia.

 

[w|z]

How/what do we feed the crab?

 

[Fluff]

try target feeding the crab meaty items like raw shrimp or fish pieces.

 

[leesanhua]

Xanthid crab. It's a predatory crab. Keep him fed or he'll feed himself. I had one that like to eat snails. They are extremely cool though.

how to feed this crab? it just ate my snail!!!!!!

 

[Fluff]

My post above yours tells what to feed him. You could also buy a bunch of the ILynassarius Obsoleta snails off ebay. They are great snails. They will burrow and help turn the sand as well as clean your glass. They can be gotten very cheap so it doesn't hurt so bad when he plucks one off.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=66788&item=4352355838&rd=1

 

[dralarms]

Fluff, Kudos to you for that link, I needed some of those and it looks like a good price.

 

[Fluff]

Cool

 

[dralarms]

I actually bid on 150 of those snails. Need to replinish my supply.

 

[lando]

I would remove the crab. Take it to the LFS and see if they will give you a few reef hermits for it.

 

[w|z]

THe aptasia's are multiplying, I was wondering when can we add the pep shrimps ? ammonia is still at 4, nitrite is at .25, nitrate is at 0. we have bought joe's juice and should be here in a couple of days.. but we need to take care of the small one before they grow bigger.. will the shrimps survive if we add them in now?

 

[RMPD109]

Dont add any shrimp at this point. Inverts are most sensitive and you must be through a completed cycle before adding them. Dont worry the shrimp will make quick work of them when you do add him later on. For now enjoy them they are something to look at besides an empty tank.