Our Tbs
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
Yeah the problem is that sundials damage more than just zoas. They're pretty nasty, carnivorous buggers. It's much better to figure out a way to remove zoas by hand.
Like Pat said, why not frag and sell or give away? I was afraid to frag, but did my first ones last weekend! The red/brown zoa colony in the front of my tank was growing way too much, so I cut off about an inch around all sides and glued them to a bunch of small rocks. They looked pretty deflated for a day or so, but in only a week's time, almost every frag has sprouted a new polyp!
Oh, and since this is a TBS thread, I think I will definitely need to take some new pics this weekend - now that the rock has been in the tank a couple of weeks more and more life is popping out!
Like Pat said, why not frag and sell or give away? I was afraid to frag, but did my first ones last weekend! The red/brown zoa colony in the front of my tank was growing way too much, so I cut off about an inch around all sides and glued them to a bunch of small rocks. They looked pretty deflated for a day or so, but in only a week's time, almost every frag has sprouted a new polyp!
Oh, and since this is a TBS thread, I think I will definitely need to take some new pics this weekend - now that the rock has been in the tank a couple of weeks more and more life is popping out!
jmait769
-CSHFLW
Thanks Techreef!! I had good luck with this one but the purple one I lost due to me sticking it into a high flow area. I’m at the point where I need to frag this as it is up against the front glass. I’ve read the <a href="http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-10/fotm/index.php" target="_blank">Gorgonian Propagation Techniques</a> from the December issue of ReefKeeping but have been afraid to cut on it!! I don’t want to mess it up!! Here is one more shot. I need to cut off the two lower branches! How is your tank doing?
Kenaneu â€"œ Yes, more pics!
Jay
Kenaneu â€"œ Yes, more pics!
Jay
Hey Jay- I don't blame you for being scared to cut that beauty! But it does look pretty straightforward from the contents of that article. Interesting about scraping off the soft tissue before glueing in the frag! Thanks for popping that link in here!
If you do frag it, and don't have a place for it, I've got a willing home and would happily give you a few bucks for your troubles! I am absolutely fascinated by my gorgonian and would love to have more vertical corals since my tank is so tall.
Well it looks like I am going to be away for the weekend, but I will definitely be taking some new pics next week. I've got something bright yellow and clumpy growing on top of one of my rocks, so I want to see what you all think it is.
In the meantime, I'll just keep killing whelks and trying to figure out how to get rid of the two tiny crabs that are boring into my rocks.
If you do frag it, and don't have a place for it, I've got a willing home and would happily give you a few bucks for your troubles! I am absolutely fascinated by my gorgonian and would love to have more vertical corals since my tank is so tall.
Well it looks like I am going to be away for the weekend, but I will definitely be taking some new pics next week. I've got something bright yellow and clumpy growing on top of one of my rocks, so I want to see what you all think it is.
In the meantime, I'll just keep killing whelks and trying to figure out how to get rid of the two tiny crabs that are boring into my rocks.
techreef
Premium Member
oh, i didn't know that about those purple sea fans. i watched mine slowly disintegrate before my eyes. It was in a high flow area.
As for how my tank is doing...
lack of QT bit me hard and I've lost all but 3 fish in my tank. My last two fish, a pair of schooling bannerfish, introduced ich to the tank and it went hog wild during (OF COURSE) a stretch of 2 weeks where i had to work out in Sacramento and couldn't tend to the tank. I am very bummed by this, especially since the entire time I've had my tank i've read first, then planned, then purchased. I knew QTing was the only right way to do it, but let my wife convince me to keep 3 knarly guppies and 2 upsidedown catfish living in the FW tank that I needed for my QT. big mistake. I feel horrible for the animals that died, but i've learned a permanent lesson.
On the positive side, I have a blue crocea clam that is doing really well, and i'm just finishing up prepping to begin dosing 2-part to my tank, so I'm excited to see some nice coral growth in the future. I need to take some recent pics.
As for how my tank is doing...
lack of QT bit me hard and I've lost all but 3 fish in my tank. My last two fish, a pair of schooling bannerfish, introduced ich to the tank and it went hog wild during (OF COURSE) a stretch of 2 weeks where i had to work out in Sacramento and couldn't tend to the tank. I am very bummed by this, especially since the entire time I've had my tank i've read first, then planned, then purchased. I knew QTing was the only right way to do it, but let my wife convince me to keep 3 knarly guppies and 2 upsidedown catfish living in the FW tank that I needed for my QT. big mistake. I feel horrible for the animals that died, but i've learned a permanent lesson.On the positive side, I have a blue crocea clam that is doing really well, and i'm just finishing up prepping to begin dosing 2-part to my tank, so I'm excited to see some nice coral growth in the future. I need to take some recent pics.
Pull them off?! Hmmm...
If you're actively trying to kill them, why not cut them off with a sharp razor blade? It would work a lot better than pulling.
You could likely even successfully cut a nice large clump off as close to the rock as possible and super glue it to a new bit of rock, etc. When I fragged mine, I used a sharp, single-edged razor blade, and was able to even cut through the rock below them a bit.
Bottom line, I am sure that there's a way to get them off your rock that A) doesn't involve completely killing them B) doesn't involve destroying the rock.
Just need to get creative!
Well I will take your word for it bob. Just trying to be encouraging.
In other news, I have updates on "bad" hitch hikers from my TBS rock! I am not certain of the list yet, but so far I have seen:
- bright green mantis shrimp (less than 1" long)
- 2 small gorilla crabs
- various whelks (think I finally got most of them)
I pulled a few gorillas when I got the rock, but now that the dust has settled and the rock has been in for a while, I think things are really beginning to pop out of the wood work.
"Good" hitch hikers include:
- Lots of baby brittle stars
- Lots of tiny feather dusters
I am hearing loud pops occasionally at night as well, so I am wondering how loud a less than 1" mantis shrimp can be, or if I have a pistol shrimp hiding somewhere in there?
I ordered a pest trap from smiths and fosters, but I am skeptical of catching much other than my hermit crabs. Any advice on nabbing the mantis? Just pull the rock he/she lives in/under and hope it comes along, then use FW/SodaW to get it out?
Thoughts and advice?
In other news, I have updates on "bad" hitch hikers from my TBS rock! I am not certain of the list yet, but so far I have seen:
- bright green mantis shrimp (less than 1" long)
- 2 small gorilla crabs
- various whelks (think I finally got most of them)
I pulled a few gorillas when I got the rock, but now that the dust has settled and the rock has been in for a while, I think things are really beginning to pop out of the wood work.
"Good" hitch hikers include:
- Lots of baby brittle stars
- Lots of tiny feather dusters
I am hearing loud pops occasionally at night as well, so I am wondering how loud a less than 1" mantis shrimp can be, or if I have a pistol shrimp hiding somewhere in there?
I ordered a pest trap from smiths and fosters, but I am skeptical of catching much other than my hermit crabs. Any advice on nabbing the mantis? Just pull the rock he/she lives in/under and hope it comes along, then use FW/SodaW to get it out?
Thoughts and advice?
Yeah that seems to be the common reply. Thankfully the one mantis I have seen so far decided to make a small rock near the front of the tank his home. I am going to get a breader box to potentially keep him in tonight (since I have no QT) then pull his rock and see if I can't catch the bugger. He sure is pretty, so I doubt I will have trouble giving away or selling him once I am able to take some pics. If they we're such good hunters, I wouldn't even mind having it in the tank.
patsan
Premium Member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10411129#post10411129 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kenaneu
Well I will take your word for it bob. Just trying to be encouraging.
In other news, I have updates on "bad" hitch hikers from my TBS rock! I am not certain of the list yet, but so far I have seen:
- bright green mantis shrimp (less than 1" long)
- 2 small gorilla crabs
- various whelks (think I finally got most of them)
I pulled a few gorillas when I got the rock, but now that the dust has settled and the rock has been in for a while, I think things are really beginning to pop out of the wood work.
"Good" hitch hikers include:
- Lots of baby brittle stars
- Lots of tiny feather dusters
I am hearing loud pops occasionally at night as well, so I am wondering how loud a less than 1" mantis shrimp can be, or if I have a pistol shrimp hiding somewhere in there?
I ordered a pest trap from smiths and fosters, but I am skeptical of catching much other than my hermit crabs. Any advice on nabbing the mantis? Just pull the rock he/she lives in/under and hope it comes along, then use FW/SodaW to get it out?
Thoughts and advice?
I don't think the traps work. From what I've read the past few years, removing the rock for a quick dip works the best. I've also read that many people keep them in their tank with no real damage besides occasionally restocking crabs and snails.
hmello@bermexin
New member
Whatever you do watch your fingers........................
If you stare at the tank long enough at night, you will eventually locate the spots where the mantis are lodging.
Removing the rock will help (if you haven't bolted them into pvc or anything).
The next steps were what I did (I caught 3 mantis this way) - again these are the smashers, not the pinchers. Just in case anyone reads this thread and has no idea where TBS is from (gulf of mexico rock has smashers...its the pacific with the spearers).
Have a bucket of saltwater to place the rock in. Hopefully it's small enough to fit.
Have a cup of saltwater ready, and when you lift the rock out of the bucket, pour the saltwater into the hole. This exercise is to see where the water exits. It's possible there is a backexit that the mantis will come out of. This is so that you don't get startled by the green mantis when you use (approx 5 ounces or so of) fresh water. Anyways - if you determine the hole is a deadend, then clearly it's going to come right out at you.
Next pour the freshwater in - be prepared - they are very fast.
All of mine came out and plopped into the bucket of saltwater. The fresh water should not be so much that it will impact the salinity of the bucket too much. This way I was able to save them for the brooklyn aquarium society. You could possible save them and turn them to a petshop or club nearby as well.
Feel free to feed them your whelks and xanthid crabs. It's amusing to watch them ambush them. Be sure to remove the crabs once eaten though as they can foul whatever your keeping the mantis in. To be safe you may just want to feed them a bit of shrimp.
By the way...less than 1 inch pistol shrimp are extremely loud in a glass cage. Pat had some huge one(s) in her tank. I only had these tiny clear ones. Too small to impact any of the cleaning crew. Pat's on the other hand probably needed to eat something...
Finally - most of the mantis from the TBS rock is not big enough to "thumbsplit" your fingers. I never tested it - but they are pretty small compared to say the peacock mantis.
mine were all about 3~4 inches in size...(sorry old camera, old pics)
Removing the rock will help (if you haven't bolted them into pvc or anything).
The next steps were what I did (I caught 3 mantis this way) - again these are the smashers, not the pinchers. Just in case anyone reads this thread and has no idea where TBS is from (gulf of mexico rock has smashers...its the pacific with the spearers).
Have a bucket of saltwater to place the rock in. Hopefully it's small enough to fit.
Have a cup of saltwater ready, and when you lift the rock out of the bucket, pour the saltwater into the hole. This exercise is to see where the water exits. It's possible there is a backexit that the mantis will come out of. This is so that you don't get startled by the green mantis when you use (approx 5 ounces or so of) fresh water. Anyways - if you determine the hole is a deadend, then clearly it's going to come right out at you.
Next pour the freshwater in - be prepared - they are very fast.
All of mine came out and plopped into the bucket of saltwater. The fresh water should not be so much that it will impact the salinity of the bucket too much. This way I was able to save them for the brooklyn aquarium society. You could possible save them and turn them to a petshop or club nearby as well.
Feel free to feed them your whelks and xanthid crabs. It's amusing to watch them ambush them. Be sure to remove the crabs once eaten though as they can foul whatever your keeping the mantis in. To be safe you may just want to feed them a bit of shrimp.
By the way...less than 1 inch pistol shrimp are extremely loud in a glass cage. Pat had some huge one(s) in her tank. I only had these tiny clear ones. Too small to impact any of the cleaning crew. Pat's on the other hand probably needed to eat something...
Finally - most of the mantis from the TBS rock is not big enough to "thumbsplit" your fingers. I never tested it - but they are pretty small compared to say the peacock mantis.
mine were all about 3~4 inches in size...(sorry old camera, old pics)
