A 55G link in the Golden Chain

[hma]

Originally Posted by goldenmean

HAAA HA!

I got another another crab last night!
I don't know if he was the same one I tried stabbing 3 times yesterday or not but he was on the outside of that same rock. I use a 12" wooden kitchen skewer to spear them. I have made a trap out of a plastic water bottle but it is so much more fun to spear them

Hienz - that is one mean looking BIG crab.
The crabs I have been dealing wioth are more like the little one in the glass underneath the monster

...Looks like a monster crab, but she is not a monster. In cm approx. 3.5 - 4 cm in Inch approx. 1.3 - 1.5. Today she lives in my fuge beside my Manti (other section) and has grown rather well.

[hma]

Originally Posted by goldenmean

I owe a couple Cool Discoveries of the Day:

I think this may be some type of sponge but I dont really know.
I love its use of the goldenmean in its shape


This little guy was swimming around the other day.
Looks like some type of shrimp
1/4 inch in size. mysis?

On the first pic looks like Eggs of spanish dancer. these are certainly no eggs of a spanish dancer, the colour isn't right, they are normally red like themselves. However, it can be the egg mass of another snail?

[goldenmean]

Crab Hunting was good tonight!
I tried taking pics of two different Gorilla crabs that came out of their rocks to feed. Unfortunately I am still learning how to take pics in this tank with the MH lights. It is very different from taking pics in the nano with the 50/50 pc.
The 20 pics I took of the 2 crabs are all too blurry or washed out in light to post.

I could not shoot the crab I had been hunting the last 2 days with my camera.
I was sucessful with my spear.


This evening's test results
Remaing stable
Ammonia Elos - 0 FasTest - 0
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 5

I stopped at my LFS and got 6 mexican red leg hermits and 6 astrea snails as my preliminary clean up crew.

Cool Discovery of the Day:
The Hermit Pigs from the nano have cleaned the green hair algae from the barnacle's rock. They are still alive and feeding. I know they dont usually survive long in an aquarium. They really are cool! I don't think my camera is capable of taking a picture of them feeding.

Last week I mentioned the brittle star that i have seen after lights out but last night I was able to get some pics. With flash.

[Dentoid]

Originally Posted by goldenmean

Crab Hunting was good tonight!
I was sucessful with my spear.

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[ScubaDrew]

Argh, crabs. I think I have a dozen gorilla crabs in my tank. Well done!

[goldenmean]

So far I have speared 5 crabs
and I know of 3 more.

They dont have much of a chance!
I am rather enjoying the crab hunting.
Maybe a little too much?! ehh ehh ehhh.

[goldenmean]

I did not test on Wednesday/
Last nights test results Remaing stable
Ammonia Elos - 0 FasTest - 0
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 5

Last night I also set the trap for the Rascally Rabbits. . . .errr. . crabs.
It works!
This morning I had an enemy combatant in custody!


Not a good pic of the crab.
I'll try for a better shot when I remove him.

[bluespotjawfish]

Good catch! I still have a monster crab in the 125 and a baby in the 50 that I know of. Can't get them out for nothing! I like your trap design, maybe I will try another trap. They were too smart for the last one I used, I just caught all the other crabs instead.

Hope the battle continues well for both of you.

[ScubaDrew]

Wadda ya using for bait?

I've got one of these traps made up, so I'll be putting it back in with what ever your using!

Only caught my hermits with freeze dried brine... lol

[goldenmean]

I had thawed a cube of frozen food (Prime Reef? I dont remember for sure but it is not the frozen brine. it has clams and shrimp, etc pieces) to feed the Red open brain and fungia in my nano and what I did not use I put into the trap. Then I put the trap near the rock and excavation work of one of my know crabs.
I was expecting to have a hermit or two also but they stayed away. Those lil pigs are so full of hair algae I dont think they can move to find more food. LOL

I like your trap design

i found a link tampabaysaltwater.com/trap.gif to that design on the TBS website. It is just a 16oz water bottle with the top cut off then take the top piece and place it into the bottom section. I also poked a few small holes in the bottom of the bottle so water (and the scent of the bait) could flow through it.

[Dentoid]

I've got to try that too! I have a gorilla that is over turning my zoa frags. It's amazing how much they can move heavy objects. One of my frags was 5" from where I had it placed. I know its the gorilla because I saw it pick up a frag 10X bigger like it was Fay Wray. I tried to spear it, but it was too fast.

[goldenmean]

Very Cool Discovery of the Day:
I Have a mantis shrimp!
I think!
I removed the crab trap with the enemy combatant in it after work today and I noticed movement from a little burrow under the rock behind where I had set the trap. I watched it and then this small black creature crawled forward just a bit and disappear when I moved. But he kept coming back. I thought,"must be a mantis or pistol shrimp. If i feed him maybe I can coax him out of the burrow"
I had a freshly captured crab and why waste him. He would make a good meal. I placed the now deceased crab by the entance and the little guy came out a bit. I do not think he is yet an inch long, probably 3/4 inch.
All black. I could make out his eyes and a tiny green spot. I could not see a large pincher like a pistol shrimp would have and his body shape seemed
like a mantis. He would come and pick at the crab and then go back into his burrow. I also saw him moving some grains of sand from inside his burrow to the opening.

I have been kind of hoping I'd get a mantis or a pistol and I do not plan on trying to catch him. I know a few others have keept a mantis in their reef tank and I really am excited at trying too!
Brings back memories of 20 years ago when i had a fw tank with piranas.
I had 2 pirana for over 6 years and one of them survived for over 8 years.

[ScubaDrew]

Sounds like my mantis, he will use sand, shells, rock to close off the entrance to his cave.

[goldenmean]

I did not do any testing for 3 days and all is well.
Last night I did a 20% WC and then tested.
Ammonia Elos - 0 FasTest - 0
Nitrite 0.5
Nitrate 5


Cool Discoveries of the Day

I have discovered a couple of interesting hitch hickers the last couple of days.
I saw this long white line on the back of my tank yesterday and thought they were snail eggs then when i got closer I saw that it was moving - reaching outward. It was probably 9 or 10 inches long and started at the substrate. Then as I got closer it started to withdraw and it soon disappeared. It must be some type of worm. Anyone know?


The other HH i have seen twice. I remember seeing a ID thread on a similar creature some time ago but I dont remember what it is called.
Some type of sea slug?? Here he is on the back of the tank and the pic was taken thru the overflow. Just a few inches away was one of those white round and wavy growths (see Cool Discovery of the Day for 8/20/07 for pic). Actually come to think of it the first time I saw this creature on a rock there was one of those egg ?? batches nearby too. HMA suggest snail eggs.

[Anselth]

It's hard to tell from that pic, but the second one sort of resembles a chiton, with the scalloping at the outer edges. Does it move? A chiton is a mollusc with a segmented shell. It moves like a snail and is an algae grazer.