I'm stunned......... WOW

[snapcrackler]

I must say, I have bought live rock before, locally, and it was neat, but.....

I just received the shipment from liverocks.com and..... HOLY SHRIMP!!!!

8O 8O 8O

There were so many crabs all over the place, I could not believe it. I could hardly find a spot to grab the rocks because of all the stuff growing all over it. I had to be careful not to crunch a crab because they were scuttling all over.

I had to carefully rinse the rock-paper in the water because of all the crabs clinging all over every piece of it.

I saw at least 5 different kinds of crabs in this 35 pound lot of rocks.

The "problem" is, It's hard to know which way to orient the rocks... you set one down and go oh no, I just set it on a colony of rock anemones. You flip it over and go wow, but on the other side there's a colony of corals. Theres so much cool stuff growing all over it you feel bad for not being able to see the bottom side.

In the 1 hour that I have been working with this rock (I just got it about an hour ago) I have seen:

starfish
shrimp
crabs
sponges
barnacles
anemones
corals
sea slugs
clams
worms
feather duster worms
tree worms
weird tentacles coming out


And a whole bunch of creatures that I just don't even know what the heck they are yet.

This is the coolest rock I have ever seen. I had to get a beer to calm down.

There was 1 mantis that I saw, I got him, he is in QT, I named him "peep"


liverocks.com ROCKS!!!!

 

[Tigerlily]

Wow! I am so jealous.

First of all, because that just seems so cool to find all that neat stuff on your new rocks. I HAVE to start a SW tank! ...can't take it any more!

Second of all, because you are home on a friday afternoon, drinking beer and playing in your aquarium... THAT IS JUST NOT FAIR! Some of use are stuck at the office, far from fish and beer...

 

[fishfreek]

colony of rock anemones

Hopefully you dont mean asptasia.

Please post photos if you can. I know liverocks.com really loves to hear posts like yours as every happy customer usually will tell at least 8 other potental customers.

 

[PrettyFishies]

pics?

 

[snapcrackler]

I sure don't think they are aiptasia, FF, there are a couple of aiptasia in there randomly but they're teeny and banded and brown like the ones I recognise.

I may also have been mistaken when calling these blue things "rock anemones" but they are quite cool lookin, do u know what they might be?

I will have another beer for you guys since I took the day off, and take more pics when things clear up to crystal clear again, but here is a pic of the anemones and a pic of one of the rocks.

 

[reefrunner69]

The top picture has a colony of cladocora on it, the bottom picture is astrangia spp or phyllangia spp (most likely) corals, non-photosynthetic and a common hitchiker on FL AC rock.

 

[Guest]

Those are actually coral heads and those are the feeder tentacles... I have quite a few colonies on my lr as well...

 

[Allivymar]

Oooo...I know where I'm buying my live rock when the 25g Sw gets started *grin* Thats AWESOME snap!!

 

[Guest]

Some of those unidentified creatures could be Mantis Shrimp so be careful

 

[ReefLady]

That's very very cool - though the crabs would scare me, and would certainly not go in my tank -- claws are evil!! JMO

weird tentacles coming out

Could be some type of worm or a Serpent star.

Rock sounds & looks awesome - can't wait to see more, pics; keep us posted!

 

[snapcrackler]

Thank you for the replies all....

Timbo, I think I got all the mantis out hopefully (1) before putting in tank. He's in a bucket right now with SW and I am making plans for my refugium so maybe I can keep him around in the fuge and feed him shrimp or something.

No taps heard in the tank yet either.. the rock was shipped with moist paper and just a little water at the bottom so I am thinking/hoping that the only mantis there was, jumped out into the pool of water in the bottom of the box where I found him.

I had looked at many pics prior to seeing one for real today, and he was a dead ringer, so into a bucket he went. He occasionally taps in the bucket.

I didn't do a FW dip because I was wanting to not hurt any fragile life forms, and I thought I would just take a gamble in hopes that there were no more mantis. I didnt know which decision was better or worse to do.

I guess I will find out eventually......

 

[e-cat]

congrats on your nice new rock

 

[ddcboys]

nice rock, and great pics

 

[Zack]

So happy you like your rock! You take great pics Hope all works out well for ya and hope you enjoy your new aquaclutred LR
Zack

 

[RubixCube]

oh Zack, i wish the shipping was cheaper to Canada!!