hitchhiker based tank...

[SevenNoOni]

TL;DR, I wanna build a tank with only hitchhikers, whats the best way to get them? types of rocks yall seem to have the worst (best) luck with getting? any info would be great, thanks!


So, I've had some success with a nano saltwater aquarium in the past, but **** happened and that is long gone. Anyhow, I have been toying with the idea of redoing a saltwater tank, I have an empty 30g in the storage.. I was thinking of a fully infested hitchhiker tank.. no corals unless they are hitchhikers..I'm thinking a sea of aiptasia, crabs, spiders... all the stuff yall get rid of (except all the bad algae that can all stay out lol) When setting up my nano I was so much more interested in the creepy crawlers than much else.. But in my 75 gallon planted tank the only reason it has fish in it, is to keep my plants alive lol... so I wouldn't consider myself a normal fish keeper... lol

 

[Bent]

1: Buy "the package" from tbs.

2: enjoy.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Ben is right on the money, Tampa Bay Saltwater.

The tank is an interesting idea. I have a 65g shallow reef that gets a lot of local 'stuff' I collect when doing beach walks or snorkeling in the Keys. True Hitchhiker anemones (not Aiptasia or Majano), Curly-Q anemones, porcelain crabs, pistol shrimp, clams, oysters... lot's of odd stuff. It's a fun tank. I almost enjoy taking care of it more than my 180g sps/lps reef tank.

 

[Bent]

Ben is right on the money, Tampa Bay Saltwater.

The tank is an interesting idea. I have a 65g shallow reef that gets a lot of local 'stuff' I collect when doing beach walks or snorkeling in the Keys. True Hitchhiker anemones (not Aiptasia or Majano), Curly-Q anemones, porcelain crabs, pistol shrimp, clams, oysters... lot's of odd stuff. It's a fun tank. I almost enjoy taking care of it more than my 180g sps/lps reef tank.

One of my favorite animals I have is a hitch hiker.

Grumpy the stone crab. He lives in the sump. Turning a year old soon.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I had a stone crab in my refugium, but I didn't know it was there until one day I was pulling Chaeto out and found this guy that was easy 4" shoulder to shoulder! Scared the crap out of me. It then lived in the 120g sump of my 65g shallow reef tank. Lived there for a few years.

 

[Bent]

I had a stone crab in my refugium, but I didn't know it was there until one day I was pulling Chaeto out and found this guy that was easy 4" shoulder to shoulder! Scared the crap out of me. It then lived in the 120g sump of my 65g shallow reef tank. Lived there for a few years.

How big did it get? Grump is getting pretty big, he's also ultra aggressive. I have to make sure I put one eye on him when I'm working in the sump.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Mine was about 5"+ when he joined several others for lunch. The weird thing was finding a molt in the sump about a week after I moved it. I thought it had died and as I was pulling it out of the sump I saw something move under a rock and it was the stone crab!

 

[DavidGraves]

Join a local reef club and take them off people's hands.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SevenNoOni]

Sorry for late replies I was away from the pc over the weekend. I'll check TBS out thanks for the replies.. Awesome on getting a crab! in my nano I had a while back, i got a few species of star fish, and several bristle worms..but anyhow thanks for the replies!!!!
I had been thinking of partially cycling the tank with 20 (ish) lbs of live rock, and I've got a good source of seeding sand as well.. then adding additional 10 to 15 lbs of Uncured rock mid way through cycling.. but I can't seem to find any uncured rock.

 

[killinit123]

if you want a hitchhiker tank you shouldn't get uncured rock you should get the natural live rock that comes with all of the "hitchhikers" on it.. that's mainly how we get our hitchhikers is from the live rock we buy.. at least that's where all mine came from.

 

[postshawn]

I love the "extras" that come with rock or other indented purchase too. Also fun to try to find them after setting up a new tank or even once in a while finding something extra months/years later.

I've also found a couple types of starfish, sponges, worms, sea cucumbers, snails, etc. I think my favorite was 3 tiger tail cucumbers from one medium sized rock. Also got a heck of a blue sponge on a small rock that the store employee didn't care about. Later I learned that he got in a bit of trouble because the store owner wanted to keep that rock. At my LFS they have a couple bins of live rock. I've seen some interesting stuff in there too. I saw a small blue fish they said must have come on a rock along with all the usual stuff. Also saw lots of aiptasia or else it would have been more tempting try my luck on some of that batch.

I also heard a lot of good things form Tampa Bay Saltwater rock and the critters that sometimes come with it. I think the ideal way would be to order a good amount of rock from a few different places, local and online. It would be hard in a 30g to do but if you're in it just for the rock and critters then go ahead and fill that tank up with rock. Just make sure to leave some room to view everything tool.

 

[MarkW64]

Just to give you an idea of what you can get with TBS liverock here's what I got with my 80 gal "package".

First, the included things:
160+ lbs rock
80 lbs live sand
80 blue leg hermits
40 turbo snails
4 sea cucumbers
1 large serpent star
1 large brittle star

Here are the hitchhikers I've seen so far:
1 clingfish
1 tiger goby
2 different medium urchins
5 very small urchins
1 lettered olive snail
4 cerith snails
40 welks
Many tiny welks/snails
1 two inch stone crab
2 mantis shrimps
4 pistol shrimps
53 porcelain crabs (I'm sure actually many more, counted that many visible in a few minutes)
6 small gorilla crabs
12 assorted mithrax crabs
5 decorator crabs
Many limpets
Many very small brittle stars
Numerous different "pods"

Attached to rock:
Sponges
Many different tunicates
Many different sea squirts
Many barnacles
Spaghetti worms
Assorted bivalves
2 different stony corals
Feather dusters

And the following freebies from Richard at TBS:
3 different gorgonians
5 different large sponges
2 decorator spider crabs
1 flame scallop
3 rock flower anemones

 

[MarkW64]

...and I forgot, several curly cue anemones on rock. I'm sure I've left of some other things as well...

 

[Bent]

Check out the rock flower nem I got from Tbs. it's enormous. That's a RW15 in the frame for scale:

 

[killinit123]

Just to give you an idea of what you can get with TBS liverock here's what I got with my 80 gal "package".

First, the included things:
160+ lbs rock
80 lbs live sand
80 blue leg hermits
40 turbo snails
4 sea cucumbers
1 large serpent star
1 large brittle star

Here are the hitchhikers I've seen so far:
1 clingfish
1 tiger goby
2 different medium urchins
5 very small urchins
1 lettered olive snail
4 cerith snails
40 welks
Many tiny welks/snails
1 two inch stone crab
2 mantis shrimps
4 pistol shrimps
53 porcelain crabs (I'm sure actually many more, counted that many visible in a few minutes)
6 small gorilla crabs
12 assorted mithrax crabs
5 decorator crabs
Many limpets
Many very small brittle stars
Numerous different "pods"

Attached to rock:
Sponges
Many different tunicates
Many different sea squirts
Many barnacles
Spaghetti worms
Assorted bivalves
2 different stony corals
Feather dusters

And the following freebies from Richard at TBS:
3 different gorgonians
5 different large sponges
2 decorator spider crabs
1 flame scallop
3 rock flower anemones

wait so your saying the package for a 80 gallon tank came with 80 hermits and 40 turbos?? a little excessive no?

 

[scallywags]

wait so your saying the package for a 80 gallon tank came with 80 hermits and 40 turbos?? a little excessive no?

+1 sounds a bit "stuffy" in there haha.

 

[Bent]

wait so your saying the package for a 80 gallon tank came with 80 hermits and 40 turbos?? a little excessive no?

They ship you what is on the rock. The bio-load will handle its own population in the tank.

"The package" consists of the amount of rock for the tank you select, as well as items around the collection area as well as sand from the area as well.

www.tampabaysaltwater.com

 

[killinit123]

They ship you what is on the rock. The bio-load will handle its own population in the tank.

"The package" consists of the amount of rock for the tank you select, as well as items around the collection area as well as sand from the area as well.

www.tampabaysaltwater.com

i'm confused.. the post said what was "included in the package" were the inverts I mentioned plus others.. and then listed what came in on the rock as "hitchhikers" maybe I'm digesting the information incorrectly?

 

[killinit123]

never mind I went to the website I understand now sorry for the confusion

 

[Therinx]

Interesting idea… would love to see pics eventually.