"the Package" has landed!

[Raggamuffin]

Pictures will have to wait until tomorrow at least my water is too cloudy. Tonight I risked getting canned, a raging blizzard, tickets, and all sorts of minor and (if my wife ever found out) major life threatening incidents but it was every single bit worth it and for what I got I would do it again in a heart beat... and this was just part 1!

Highlights: TONS of hitch-hikers one of which is a hermit so big it should have had to buy a seat on the plane (and that came in the sand not the rock!), multiple corals with full polyp extention ,get this, in the bag it was shipped in before I even put it in the tank. Keep in mind it was 10 whole degrees out so how is that for packing live rock? a few sponges, snails, more hermits, a little fish I only caught a fast glimpse of, crabs, worms, starfish, and I am hearing a really loud popping sound comming from the big rock not sure if it is a mantis or pistol shrimp.

I am literally stunned at the amount of life on this and I know there is no chance of sleep tonight and I am dreaming of part 2 already.

Thank you Richard!

 

[susan92368]

lol very nice!11 its only TEN DEGREES there??????????? yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[liverock]

Awesome!

Awesome!

Delta did a good job getting it there

Sioux Falls is one of those airports that is real hard to get freight too....kudos to them.

The fish is most likely a tiger goby...I had a customer pick up some rock last week here and drive it home......over 40 hours in the box, and when he got home everything was ok, and there was even an alive tiger in one of the boxes.....amazing....

Now we need some pics!

sea ya

Richard TBS:lolspin::lolspin::lolspin:

BTW send some cool weather here...was 95 here yesterday, and I almost had a heatstroke working in the bilge of the boat on the gas tank....is SOOOO hot here for october....and I still have a few days to go before the Critter Getter gets back on the water...

 

[Raggamuffin]

Delta did an above and beyond job, that was one of the incidents I had.

The plane came in at 8:50pm, I left work at 9 and came home to check the website and it had not updated since 3pm. At 9:30 I called the local desk with no answer (our airport is a whole 400 feet long). I then called the headquarters and they said the plane was in an unloading so went on in since it's only a 15 minute drive. I get there and nobody is around so I wait until 10:30 and call headquarters again and get the news they closed at 10, the lady on the phone called everybody and thier grandmother and ended up calling another airline in to come get my package from the storage area, it took her over 45 minutes but she got it done!

 

[Raggamuffin]

Need some advice Richard, I need to remove some Mantis shrimp (MUST be a live capture) I know for sure I have at least 4, I plan on keeping 1 maybe 2 but I can't afford the hermit/snail cost of 4+ in a nano tank. Do you have a way to make them get out of the rock without hurting anything else on the rock? I have a tiny tiny one that can fit on my thumb nail he has to stay and I have a freindly one that crawled right on up and said hi on day 2 he might just have to stay as well.

 

[lionbacker54]

rags-
here is a useful link for removing mantis shrimps. http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pest/catch.htm

as a tip, you can find willing homes for these guys by posting on your local reefer's club, or by posting on the mantis shrimp forum of reefcentral.

 

[Raggamuffin]

yeah thats why I need a live trap, I have a few guys looking for mantis before I ordered rock and since I have a few they get new homes

 

[liverock]

Need some advice Richard, I need to remove some Mantis shrimp (MUST be a live capture) I know for sure I have at least 4, I plan on keeping 1 maybe 2 but I can't afford the hermit/snail cost of 4+ in a nano tank. Do you have a way to make them get out of the rock without hurting anything else on the rock? I have a tiny tiny one that can fit on my thumb nail he has to stay and I have a freindly one that crawled right on up and said hi on day 2 he might just have to stay as well.

Until you actually see them....can be pistols also...same noise...one pistol that comes in the rock is VERY smal....bright yellow, but sounds the same as a mantis..

Easy to get them is simply remove the rock they are living in....and probe him out.....replace rock...

sea ya
Richard TBS:lolspin::lolspin::lolspin:

 

[Raggamuffin]

ok, thanks and yeah I have been watching 2 of them every day not sure where the other ones are tho /prays for the intactness of his fingers

 

[webdizzy]

Where's the pics???

 

[Raggamuffin]

I decided to hold off on the pics, I have all the rocks just laying here and there waiting for the last of first cycle to finish and I'm chasing 3 confirmed mantis's around (built me a new trap last night muhahaha!). When I get part 2 I will make it up to how I want it... we all know what a pain redoing rock can be especially when you have it looking nice then have to rearrange.

 

[webdizzy]

I decided to hold off on the pics, I have all the rocks just laying here and there waiting for the last of first cycle to finish and I'm chasing 3 confirmed mantis's around (built me a new trap last night muhahaha!). When I get part 2 I will make it up to how I want it... we all know what a pain redoing rock can be especially when you have it looking nice then have to rearrange.

I totally understand! I was already thinking that I'm not gonna be too fussy about placing the rock until I know I've gotten any/all pests out.

 

[alex1965]

the package "has landed

the package "has landed

I would like to fallow this thread. But I only see 12 page's, how do I get to the other post. On the package has landed?

 

[Raggamuffin]

Going to get some pics up this weekend, not sure if Richard is going send part 2 yet but there are some REALLY cool things happening in my tank! Most people scream there heads off trying to get more pods in the tank right now I can barely see through the glass there are so many. Got all but the 1 mantis that I'm keeping out, the pistols are clicking away, the gorilla crabs were banished to the mantis tank, the porc crabs are wandering around. My sponges are all open and feeding, every color of the rainbow except blue lol, even my oyster is open and feeding!

 

[webdizzy]

Going to get some pics up this weekend, not sure if Richard is going send part 2 yet but there are some REALLY cool things happening in my tank! Most people scream there heads off trying to get more pods in the tank right now I can barely see through the glass there are so many.

What do the "pods" you're referring to look like? I've had a lot of small white fluffy things floating in the water and getting stuck to the powerhead intake area. They seem to have a head of sorts (like a tiny fluff of cotton) and string body/tail but no real uniform form. I haven't been able to find any photos of them (or get any good ones myself) and a search for something similar in the forums hasn't found anything

Got all but the 1 mantis that I'm keeping out, the pistols are clicking away, the gorilla crabs were banished to the mantis tank, the porc crabs are wandering around. My sponges are all open and feeding, every color of the rainbow except blue lol, even my oyster is open and feeding!

How did you get the mantis shrimp? Although I still here occasional clicking, mostly when the tank is dark, I haven't seen anything yet. None of my 3 crabs (1 red mithrax and 2 porcelain) wander anywhere! They stay in their same little spot, though it appears they are feeding.

The yellow-orange tube things have been ID-ed as a sponge and are growing, so I guess that's a good sign!

 

[Raggamuffin]

The pods I was referring to are amphipods, though I do have some copapods, they are itty bitty tiny like very super fine sand grains but they have antenea and move around on the glass. The things you are seeing are barnicles that have died I would guess, the top looks kinda like a fan?


the Mantis were easy, I sat and watched. When I found their home holes I pulled the rock out and used a pipette of seltzer water and shot it in... they shoot out. Use a mixxing bowl to set the rock in when you do this then just net them up and put them into a tupperware tub of tank water, there are lots of people who will give them a good home. Look for new caves in your sand under the live rock if you can't seem to find one you know is around.

Word of warning: seltzer water is purified fresh water but still not good for the mantis or live rock so do it FAST and get the rock back in the tank and mantis in the tub of tank water.

 

[webdizzy]

The things you are seeing are barnicles that have died I would guess, the top looks kinda like a fan?

That makes sense! The "tail" end does look like the little feeder appendages that come out of the barnacles. I do have a LOT of barnacles. With the amount of those things I had that means a lot died.

Thanks for the tip on the mantis shrimp.

 

[Raggamuffin]

I just watched the coolest thing I have ever seen in a tank.... I have this monster hermit that came with my sand and I just seen him crawl out of his shell molt and pop back in. Unfortunately I didn't think of getting a vid till it was done . Also have about 50 baby snails hatching today from the eggs laid about 14 days ago.

 

[webdizzy]

Cool! It IS funny when hermits come out of their shell and seeing them "naked". When I first got my TBS sand, I saw something *I* have never seen before -- a SNAIL coming out of its shell and moving into another one! I didn't know they did that!

 

[Raggamuffin]

Pics! FTS, colonizing tunicates, cup corals, and just 1 feather duster... I have hundreds but the biggest ones are all in the sand!