live rock critters

[angelsj247]

i just got live rock yesterday.
just wondering what are some cool things that can be hiding in there.
And what are some bad things that are hiding in there that i should pay attention to?

 

[kraze3]

check this out...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=354760

 

[AngeloM3]

lets see........
mantis shrimp (dont put your hands or fingers close to that guy)
bristle worms (can be bad or good)
crabs
shrimp
feather dusters (good... but the population can get out of control)
starfish

 

[PoukieBear]

The most hazardus things that you can get on your live rock are most crabs, the dreaded mantis shrimp, and ataipsia.

 

[angelsj247]

so what do i do if i see them?

 

[bertoni]

Crabs and mantis can be trapped. Some crabs are fine to have, maybe some mantis are as well. Aiptasia are hard to exterminate. I wrote some notes on the issue:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=514384

 

[keithntracy]

As a newbie to the hobby, this may be a dumb question but why are crabs a bad thing to have in the tank?

 

[bjonesjr1]

I too recently bought some worm culture rock and have found plenty of feather dusters, small stripped star fish, and the other day I saw as crab come out of a hole when I was walking by in the night, with the moon lights I have on the tank, trying to get a picture so that I can id him and I also think I've been blessed with some type of polps on the worm culture rock thats red... with about 4-6 circles and orange middle... going to try to post some pics to my album soon to see if anyone can id ???

 

[bertoni]

Most crabs are predatory and can be very destructive. Porcelain crabs are safe to have (although they're not true crabs), and some of the small commensal crabs that live on Acropora seem to be safe. The rest are pretty iffy.