Beach critters in Reef tank

[mling]

Has anyone any experience in placing critter one finds on the beach in a reef tank ? My 5 year old wants to put the Sand Crabs she finds on the beach in the tank.

Is this a bad idea ?

This is Bethany Beach in Delaware where the water is still rather cold. I don't think the critters she finds will survive in the 78 degrees of a reef tank. We go to that beach alot since we have a vacation home there, I would therefore expect her to want bring other critters she finds on the beach home to put in the tank now that she knows we have a Salt water tank.

 

[fishfanatic2]

hmm, theyd probably die soon with the temp difference, although i did put a puffer from the LIS and it did okay, but got sick and died. i dunno, who knows what they would eat, if they die its just more ammonia. personnally i wouldnt do it, too risky. :wink:

 

[Len]

Temperate water organisms won't live long in tropical waters, if for no other reason then accelarated metabolism. You also run the risk of introducing diseases that your tropical organisms don't ever come into contact with and thus aren't equipped to defend against. I recommend against it.

 

[Anonymous]

From personal experience, the sand crabs will escape 8O
Sand crabs need to come out of the water, they only go in to feed, so we set up a small 2.5g with one big rock and some live sand and about a gal of water. He's now a happy camper.

 

[Bobzarry]

But keep the faith. in mid to late summer the gulf stream swings in close enough that you may encounter some of the tropical species of sea life. One never knows what one will find but I have come across butterflies, angels, seahorses, big eyes, damsels, squirrel fish, nudibranchs, goat fish, and many others. Plus I usually grab a few shrimp since they seem to make a great clean up crew and also feed my other organisms with their spawn.


Bob

 

[Anonymous]

Stuff collected where the water gets very warm can do well. Grass shrimp from salt marshes etc do great.

 

[cdeakle]

Why not make a cold water setup just for this purpouse?

If you really want to do this make a setup as close as possible to the waters there and then you could throw a few crabs in there and whatnot from the beach......