critter opinion

[Frank N Beans]

i`d like your opinion on my critters in my 125gal reef. i recently moved and in doing so i threw out my old 1"sand bed (it was a mess) and added a 4"-5"southdown sand bed, it has about 150lbs of 4yr old live rock.

this is what i have in it from ipsf:
24 strombus grazers,6 trocus grazers,24 micro hermits, 24 nerite grazers,13 hawaiin turbo grazers, 20 baby bristle worms, 20 sandbed clams, 6 mini stars, 2 orders of wonder mud, 2 orders of amphipods, 2 orders of livesand activator.

1 detritivore kit from inland aquatics

from ffexpress: 9 turbo snails and 48 true alantic nass snails.

7 serpent stars, 1 black brittle star and 3 cleaner shrimp that were there from before the move.

thanks

 

[Mouse]

I would watch out for the brittle star, they can be a bit cheeky if they dont get fed.

 

[yznhmr]

get rid of the hermits, !!!!!! tey will grow and kill off the snails..

 

[Rich-n-poor]

OMG this hermit hating is bordering on bigotry hermits only have killed snails for shells in my expierence i solved this by throwing a handful of various sized shells in the tank and WHAMO docile hermits ! perhaps the hermits you had were not reef safe hermits ?
I did however have a nasty expierience with a green brittle star who grew so large that he would eat anything within arm's reach (read $35 lunch)

sounds like you have nice diversity how about a Cucumber ?

_________________
Andalucia Forum

 

[White-Queen]

I have to agree with that last post, my hermits are fine and two of them are now walking around in shells I provided. And my snails aren't dying anymore since I put them in.

But the brittle star will not only eat your other critters but he'll feel no remorse for doing so. (poor little peppermint shrimp...)

What livestock are you thinking about as far as fish go?

 

[fishfarmer]

Give your sandbed a year and it should be great. FWIW I have some of those microhermits from IPSF. They have stayed small. I think some haven't even grown. They don't swap shells as much as my bully left hands hermits do. IPSF used to sell those in their package. These hermits are so small I can't see how they could overpower a hawaiian turbo or a trochus. I've never SEEN them do any damage but I don't stare at my tank 24 hours a day. They are omnivorous though, they come crawling when I feed my tank.

I agree with getting rid of the big brittlestars. I've also heard negative comments about shrimp eating sandbed critters as well.

I've also heard that the nerite snails prefer cooler tank temps below 80 degrees.

 

[pathos]

86 the turbos. they tend to bulldoze things. also be weary of the brittlestars once they start getting of substantial size. sounds like you have a very lively critter community.

 

[Frank N Beans]

well temp wise i shouldn`t have a problem with the snails. i keep my tanks in a basement and have no problem keeping the temp around 76*. the black brittle star never comes out, the only reason i know it`s there is that i just moved the tank. but if i see him maybe he`ll have to take a dive into the trigger tank of death

 

[Anemone]

FnB-

I wouldn't worry about the brittle star. As someone mentioned, the real culprits are the green serpents.

FF-

Interesting that IPSF isn't selling the same hermits in their "micro" hermit or live sand activator packages. I was just about to advise watching that group closely, because I bought a package from IPSF several years ago, and now my largest hermits are ones I could hardly see when I got them from IPSF. I have several that live in the full-size turbo shells (the 2-3 inch variety) - shells that were formerly occupied by snails. I have to say, now that there aren't any larger snails for them to "dehouse," my snail population in this tank stays pretty constant (tells me the hermits weren't hungry, just looking for housing).

FnB -

Overall, sounds like a good mix - although not exactly sure why you'd buy bristle worms (no, I'm not anti-bristle worm - I think they're about the best detrivore out there, I've just found you get plenty from live rock without having to actually "buy" any).

IME, the trochus snails last waaaaay longer than the turbos, so I'd slant future snail purchases that way.

Let me know how the sand bed clams work out - they sound interesting.

Kevin