beefytang

An interesting observation. A shame you didn't find a watch or some pirate booty while you were at it. On this page, a lot of the companies are open about the iron content in their sand: http://www.azgardens.com/newsubst2.php They claim it isn't harmful to saltwater setups. I suppose if you have lingering concerns, maybe contact the company that markets/distributes it? I used black sand in a pico and liked the appearance but had doubts about the viability of it as a substrate in the long run. It's nice for contrast, no doubt. Makes coral colors pop out like crazy.

I understand. But I kind of have a fascination with studying these things in an informal way, I suppose. But mostly, I'm queasy about killing things in the tank that I'm not 100% sure they're going to wreak havoc. Same approach I take when going to HEB. =) I'm looking for them now...they don't seem to be in the familiar places (side of the glass). I really like nudis, mostly the ornate ones with the vivid colors. As I mentioned, mine are mostly pure white and very smooth. If they had the surface features of known nudi-eaters, I would have acted by now. I'm mostly curious if anyone else has had similar nudis before. I know pics would help...working on it!

True. On average, nudibranchs have monolithic diets. Typically eating only one specific thing, like you mentioned. What they're eating I'm unsure of. I'll try and get a picture of the nudis and mussels today. They've (nudis) been in the tank for at least 15-30 days. That's the amount of time that I last introduced anything in the tank that they could have hitched on. The mussels came in on the piece of rock that I've had for months. Amazing I missed it. I spent a good deal of time hand-picking some bubble algae off the rock. Never once saw it.

Hey there! I thought of that possibility at first but they don't resemble any of the known zoanthid predators I've seen before. All the zoa eaters I've seen have surface effects and textures that mine lack. You've probably seen these before: http://zoaid.com/index.php?module=Gallery2&g2_itemId=384 The nudis in my tank resemble this one, only mine have a small elliptical pattern of black dots behind their antennae: http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=cadllaev Not dismissing your concerns or anything. You may be right and they might indeed be a zoa eater that isn't well documented. I just hesitate to kill anything before I determine if it's friend or foe. I haven't noticed any decline in my stock so far. From my observations, this one nudi isn't too bright (or it's a thrill-seeker). It climbed towards one of my korialas, got sucked in, shot across the tank and landed safely on the other side of the tank. Didn't seem to injure it. It was pretty funny. But I'll keep an eye on things to see if any zoas start disappearing.

Yeah they are pretty cool looking. At first I thought I was just seeing things. I haven't read anywhere about this kind of hitchhiker before so it was unexpected. Doing a search I came across this article from NOAA and then got a little concerned. http://www.noaa.gov/features/earthobs_0508/zebra.html I just spotted another hitchiker...a white nudibranch. Really small, about 3/4" long. Wish it was a Berghia but it's completely smooth with a small sprinkle of black dots behind it's antennae. Seen anything like that before?

Over the past few weeks I have observed what appears to be a pair of small mussels attached to the live rock in my 20g. The first one I spotted was under a ledge, barely observable since a piece of rock overhangs, casting a shadow on it. The second one I spotted the other day, in a more visible location. I'm not too concerned about how to care for these creatures as they seem to have done quite well without any special attention from me. However, I'm kind of curious if over the long term that they may pose some problems...like multiplying/spreading out of control. Appearance-wise they strongly resemble Zebra mussels, although I'm under the impression they are freshwater creatures. Has anyone had any experience with these things?

What color is the yuma? Might trade you some money for it. =)

Thanks! Looking forward to putting this to use.

Alright! I'll buy the skimmer. Let me know when you wanna do this. I'm up late tonight or we could meet tomorrow.

I've read good things about these. How tall is the skimmer? Does it skim the surface too? Let me know asap. and I might buy it. Only hitch is my tank is 12" tall so if it's too tall, I have to pass on it. Thanks

I have a frogspawn that needs a good home. Willing to trade for a ric or an interesting mushroom like a rainbow tonga. If you have a rainbow tonga and don't want a frogspawn and you're willing to sell, let me know? PM if interested. This frogspawn inflates nicely when happy. But my tank has been getting crowded and it would benefit from having more space to stretch out.

I'm no clam expert. Couldn't really advise you on what to do in this instance. I have never had the proper equipment or knowledge to keep a clam. Maybe some wise clam sage can advise.

It's probably a defensive posture. I've heard of fish getting snagged by clams when they shut. I don't think the clams eat them but rather they accidentally trap fish. It happened to me once. I'm missing a finger from an overzealous clam. It grew back though.

These are very nice. The urchin photo is really outstanding.

The mandarin's mouth is really tiny. I have a hard time imagining they could eat a sexy. I haven't seen a sexy as small as mysis before, maybe baby ones are that small I guess.

Yeah. Hiding is one thing us guys aren't all that great at. But as the octopus can squirt ink, we have the ability to spew our own. Intestinal flora. Just scarf down some steak with beans, jump up and down while chewing gum and you have an instant wife-repellant. They say that healthy adult males can do this about 10-15 times a day. I'm incredibly healthy. =D

I probably don't know any more about them than you do. But I've read that often LFS will train them to eat frozen before they sell them. That's probably your best bet. If you can get them to feed one in front of you before you buy it, all the better. I also hear that having a refugium is the best way to go with these fish. They like their food to be live. Hatching brine shrimp eggs, pods, that sort of stuff you taught me how to do last summer. My scooter blenny is related to these fish and have similar feeding habits. I've been tossing it pods and hatching brine eggs but last night I found it was eating a piece of frozen brine shrimp. Very encouraging. This is happening after hatching eggs once or twice a week. But I doubt I'll be able to fully ween it off live pods and brine eggs in lieu of frozen.

I believe they are. You getting one? =D

More Octopus!

I got a real kick out of this story about an octopus. "Once we saw him juggling the hermit crabs in his tank, another time he threw stones against the glass damaging it. And from time to time he completely re-arranges his tank to make it suit his own taste better - much to the distress of his fellow tank inhabitants." More at this link via telegraph.co.uk http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...ecks-havoc.html

Sold! Thanks Blindside...nice to meet you. =)

I loved this thing! But I really got myself into a mess with too many tanks. Gotta reel in the reef addiction. =(

I recently combined all the corals I have into my 20g long and now have an empty 12g nano cube dx with matching stand laying around. Comes with some live sand and live rock. $50.00 PM if you're interested!