sand dollars....are they able to live in mytank ?
- Thread starter slb11106
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Charlie97L
Well-Known Member
definitely not. i made a post about this a few months ago.
they need dirty water, and you'll never ever see them, if they live long enough.
let me see if i can find it.
edit: i can't find it, i think it was one of the ladies that asked initially.
from what i rememeber, definitely not. they will eat your corraline, much like many species of urchins. if you had a 200+ i'd say, possible you could get away with one, but in a 90, it would wipe out your corraline. not a good thing.
here's a great article on enchinoderms i found
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/cav1i4/echinoderms/echinoderms.htm
check it out. it's pretty dense, but the upshot is, no, it's not recommended. something else i remember, sand dollars are pretty aggressive, and may attack invertebrates/coral/shrimp. so no. plus they prefer dirtier conditions that your coral won't like.
anyway, yeah, i wouldn't recommend it.
are you looking for something different? if that's the case, let us know, there are a lot of uncommon options that are safer than enchinoderms.''
EDIT 2: after looking some more, it says almost all sand dollars won't accept target feeding, and depend almost solely on buried organic matter for food... which is something you should never have in your aquarium.
they need dirty water, and you'll never ever see them, if they live long enough.
let me see if i can find it.
edit: i can't find it, i think it was one of the ladies that asked initially.
from what i rememeber, definitely not. they will eat your corraline, much like many species of urchins. if you had a 200+ i'd say, possible you could get away with one, but in a 90, it would wipe out your corraline. not a good thing.
here's a great article on enchinoderms i found
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/cav1i4/echinoderms/echinoderms.htm
check it out. it's pretty dense, but the upshot is, no, it's not recommended. something else i remember, sand dollars are pretty aggressive, and may attack invertebrates/coral/shrimp. so no. plus they prefer dirtier conditions that your coral won't like.
anyway, yeah, i wouldn't recommend it.
are you looking for something different? if that's the case, let us know, there are a lot of uncommon options that are safer than enchinoderms.''
EDIT 2: after looking some more, it says almost all sand dollars won't accept target feeding, and depend almost solely on buried organic matter for food... which is something you should never have in your aquarium.
Charlie97L
Well-Known Member
a tuxedo urchin can be cool, if you don't mind it eating your corraline somtimes. if you supplement with nori, which you need to do if there's not an abundance of algae in your tank, you might be able to train it off corraline completely. most places don't mention they eat that. 
also, they tend to knock over stuff, so make sure your coral frags and rock are secure and are well mounted.
http://www.fishpalace.org/M_globulus.html
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=595
lobters are also unusual, but usually will do better in a coral/larger fish with live rock tank, as they will hunt small fish and inverts... but they're not the HUGE difficulty that like, scallops/oysters/sand dollars are. you just have to stock your tank accordingly. also with lobsters, usually you need to provide a cave. and they can get big.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=506
i would advise against things like sea apples, sea cucumbers and nudibranches because they can nuke your tank if they die and you don't catch it quickly enough. plus, most have highly specialized diets (ie eat only aiptasia or flatworms) and once that food supply is exhausted, they die.
you can also get some interesting shrimp, the ghost boxer, which is like an albino coral banded, is cool. there are also some interesting crabs.
basically, anything you get that's going to be unique and interesting, is usually that way because it's only semi-reef-safe, and most people don't want to take a chance on it, so not many sell, leading to lower collections and higher rareity. it's up to you... personally, if i had a big tank, and wanted to do something cool, as much as i love shrimp and gobies/smaller fish, i'd ditch them, and the smaller fish, and get a blue lobster. that would be neat. there's a purple one too, but i can't remember how big it gets. just remember, that sucker will end up over a foot, if things go well.
without making changed to your current setup, a tux urchin will probably integrate the easiest, if you don't mind some corraline loss.
also, they tend to knock over stuff, so make sure your coral frags and rock are secure and are well mounted.http://www.fishpalace.org/M_globulus.html
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=595
lobters are also unusual, but usually will do better in a coral/larger fish with live rock tank, as they will hunt small fish and inverts... but they're not the HUGE difficulty that like, scallops/oysters/sand dollars are. you just have to stock your tank accordingly. also with lobsters, usually you need to provide a cave. and they can get big.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/scateg.cfm?pCatId=506
i would advise against things like sea apples, sea cucumbers and nudibranches because they can nuke your tank if they die and you don't catch it quickly enough. plus, most have highly specialized diets (ie eat only aiptasia or flatworms) and once that food supply is exhausted, they die.
you can also get some interesting shrimp, the ghost boxer, which is like an albino coral banded, is cool. there are also some interesting crabs.
basically, anything you get that's going to be unique and interesting, is usually that way because it's only semi-reef-safe, and most people don't want to take a chance on it, so not many sell, leading to lower collections and higher rareity. it's up to you... personally, if i had a big tank, and wanted to do something cool, as much as i love shrimp and gobies/smaller fish, i'd ditch them, and the smaller fish, and get a blue lobster. that would be neat. there's a purple one too, but i can't remember how big it gets. just remember, that sucker will end up over a foot, if things go well.
without making changed to your current setup, a tux urchin will probably integrate the easiest, if you don't mind some corraline loss.
Warnberg
Well-Known Member
I believe it is leagal to collect 1 and only 1 live sand dollor speciman in the state of Florida. They may have changed the law but I do believe you may collect 1, I would check the regulations to be sure, however you must have a valid saltwater fishing license to do so and as stated above you would probably never see it and it would be difficult to care for.
Here is a link to the regulations:
http://myfwc.com/marine/recreational/recharvestmls.htm
Here is a link to the regulations:
http://myfwc.com/marine/recreational/recharvestmls.htm
MarbleShark
Active Member
Sorry to hijack but I hardly see anyone from Tampa on here.. where do you all go for your LFS?
Fish and other ichthy stuff has real good live stock but very slim on anything else, marine warehouse is a large store and i go there quite a bit. both of those are my pics out of the area.
there is also Creative Oceans, Coral Reef Aquariums ...these are ok, i dont have much info on these as i have only been once or twice, and never purchased.
there is also Creative Oceans, Coral Reef Aquariums ...these are ok, i dont have much info on these as i have only been once or twice, and never purchased.