Pests to watch for on FL liverock?

[Color Me Up]

Just installed 1st part of TBS package in 9.5 gal (8 gal display) tank yesterday.

Lots of life, doing very well so far! Bivalves and corals opening, lots of little stars, some snails, etc.

Anyone know of pest hitch-hikers I should be looking for besides gorilla crabs and mantis shrimp?

Sounds like I have a pistol shrimp in there somewhere. Should I try to remove it? If so, any tips on how?

Previous tank with Caribbean rock and frags from other tanks had limpets, mojanos, hard-bodied stars, bubble algae, and nuisance bristle worms. No sign of these yet, and perhaps they don't live in keys/Gulf.

 

[patsan]

I don't know if these come with the keys rock or not, but keep your eye out for any limpets, urchins and whelks. They enjoyed eating lots of things I would have preferred they didn't in my tank.
If you have a pistol in there, just leave it....it won't harm anything.

 

[BrianPlankis]

Pat,

You had a perfect opening to plug your thread Seriously, if you are interested in hitchhikers, Pat's thread is great because we have put up lots of pictures of hitchhikers. The entire thread is worth reading, but the most pictures of hitchhikers are here:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=564260&perpage=25&pagenumber=12

and here:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=564260&perpage=25&pagenumber=16

B.

 

[Color Me Up]

Thanks, garagebrain . The link to Pat's thread really helped.

 

[BrianPlankis]

NO PROBLEM Now you need to post pictures of your rock and hitchhikers

B.

 

[patsan]

NO PROBLEM Now you need to post pictures of your rock and hitchhikers
B.

I agree! We love seeing pictures from everyone. It's a friendly bunch posting there, so why not join us?
I'd also like to see and hear more about the keys rock vs the bay rock.

 

[Color Me Up]

I've started a member gallery.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=89910&thumb=1

Of course, right now it's just der rock.

I'll post more pix when shipment 2 arrives and we do some aquascaping.

These photos aren't the best, but I'm sure we'll get better at photographing the tank as we go along. We never tried to shoot the previous tank.

Spotted a good sized hitch hiker serpent star today. But "girl with camera" (henceforth GWC) had gone home.

My buddy who got me into aquaculture thinks my possible pistol shrimp may be a mantis, and wants me to try to trap it. Advice on traps appreciated. Won't be feeding the tank til it cycles and new species are added, so he's bound to be hungry before long.

Other hitch-hikers include snails (no whelks that I can see, so far), many sponges, lots of macroalgae, small featherdusters, small soft-bodied stars, a "curlie-cue" (big sucker, aptasia-looking), possible gorgonian, lots o' small soft-bodied stars, but no sign of crabs.

 

[phil519]

With an 8 gallon display, if you don't mind, I think removing the LR the mantis is imho the most effective method.

Upon removal, you can...

1) try a small amount of hyposaline water to encourage the mantis to exit

2) try a small amount of RO water to do same

Of the five mantis I captured - two were caught with method 2 above, 2 were caught as the LR was being moved out of the tank (thereby they tried their luck swimming...but only found my net) and the last one was smart enough to jump off the rock before ever getting into the display. All five (2 inches or so) were caught 48 hours after part 2 went in. I caught two pistols in part one (very very small - less than 1/2 inch).

If you desire to kill the mantis - well, I've read some folks spearing the critters with a sharp object - but I'm not the guy to ask.

Finally - mantis shrimp appear strikingly different from pistols.

Neogonodactylus Wennerae Mantis (2 inches):

Magnified Unidentified species Pistol (1/2 inch):

 

[Color Me Up]

Thanks, phil.

So far I'm just hearing the pops. No sightings yet so wouldn't know which rock to target or which pore(s) to flush.

Dunno if it's pistol, mantis, or NOTA. So I think trying a lure/trap in a few days might be the best thing for this situation, unless I see something in the meantime.

Probably should not have added the mud from the LR bag! D'oh!