surprises in live rock?

[Brian Vartanian]

Im just curious about the kinds of creatures anyone has found in their live rock, becuase after 3 weeks of having my new rock i just found a small startfish..... its AWSOME

[Brenden]

You will find things for months to come. My best find was a tiger stripe serpent star.

[AquaReefer]

Like Brenden said it will take a few months untill you see a lot of life coming out of your LR. Ive seen stars, shrimps, crabs, anemones, sponges, small corals, mussels, and so on

[Devilishturtles]

Even huge macros have cropped up on my rock, months after I put the liverock into the tank. I think that's one of the more fun parts of this hobby.

[Feron]

sweet.. I hope my rocks drops some interesting stuff!
I got all excited when I saw a few feather dusters and a peanut worm drop outta nowheres...

Good things to come mehopes!!

[sdellin]

I found two small starfish recently, the thick legged, hard-bodied kind. They are tiny. I have two chitons, a eunicid worm, a mantis shrimp and many, many tiny snails.

[Wood_Dog]

I have had heaps of snails, a mantis shrimp (big one..less snails now ) worms, all kinds of cool stuff. My wife thinks I'm weird cos I spend more time staring at rocks then looking at fish,lol

[sdellin]

Originally Posted by Wood_Dog

I have had heaps of snails, a mantis shrimp (big one..less snails now ) worms, all kinds of cool stuff. My wife thinks I'm weird cos I spend more time staring at rocks then looking at fish,lol

My husband stares at the rocks with me!

[Wood_Dog]

My husband stares at the rocks with me!

lol, you must make quite a pair...lucky you

[WoohooTS]

Just wait until she catches you staring at your rock at night with a flash light. The Coolest stuff somes out at night.

[canyon15]

Been caught with the flashlight. She thinks i'm weird.LOL

[Scottm]

coolest stuff does come out at night though.

[Brenden]

sdellin: The starfish you described are not the coral eating ones are they? I found one in my tank a while back and removed it. http://www.garf.org/STAR/starfish.html

[sdellin]

Actually, that looks exactly like them. I have been watching for them and haven't seen them in a while. I guess I'll take them out. I don't have coral in that tank, just the mushrooms, will they bother the shrooms?

Also, could the little starfish go in one of my fish only tanks? I have two seperate puffers, but they aren't reef tanks.

[Brenden]

Shrooms will be safe. If no coral is in the tank I do not see what they could hurt. I have never owned a puffer so I do not know if the puffer would eat them.

[Brenden]

From the article.

We have documented these type of starfish eating small polyp stony corals, Xenia , green stars, and several types of soft leather corals.

[sdellin]

Originally Posted by WoohooTS

Just wait until she catches you staring at your rock at night with a flash light. The Coolest stuff somes out at night.

What? Is there something wrong with looking at your tanks at night with a flashlight? lol

I have two reef tanks and three fisho-only tanks. Gee, guess which ones I watch at night?

Brian... have you found any bristle worms yet? Look that up on the internet. They're good scavengers and eat detritis, but they come out after dark. I remove one once in awhile it it gets too big (so they don't overwhem the tank).

I was thinking of tossing one in with my puffer. He's such a messy eater that I worry about all the little peices of fish he leave on the gravel. That might save me some water changes. It's a fish only tank with live rock, so technically if I toss in a worm, it will become a reef tank???

Okay, that's the ultimate in politically correct. Boooo!

[Wood_Dog]

It's a fish only tank with live rock, so technically if I toss in a worm, it will become a reef tank???

lol. thats poses a good question. When does a fowlr become a reef tank? I started with only some lr and now I have shrooms, anenomes, worms and all kinds of soft corals and stuff. At which point have you crossed the line?

[Steven A]

I to love reading post about peoples extras in there live rock. I was disapointed when I bought my first lot, as there was no sign of life and I spent hours straring at it but then a crab fell out of it lol, it was so cool. Can someone please explain something to me.... How come some things are not found until months later etc ...

[mybug]

My experience has been with the rock I purchased from liverocks.com that within the rock lived many small inverts. And it just took months for some of the little creatures to grow large enough to venture out on their own.

I still like many cannot say enough good about the beauty not to mention biological filtration that the rock brought to my tank. Only bummer is that now as I take small steps toward a reef I'm having to spend time again hunting different types of crabs down.

Someone of late has been feasting on my shrooms and it doesn't appear to be the hermits. I doubt it is the pistol. Have to presume it is the rock/mithrax sort of crabs that on occassion crawl out of my rock.