19 Gallon Nano Diary - New Corals And Fish Etc

[QuotheRaven]

Heres some photo taken about 10 minutes ago of the new rock & the crab the one with the blurry rock with the clear rock at the back The clear rock is the back of the new piece

 

[QuotheRaven]

photos yayweird yellow sponge thingThe reason some has nice growth and other bits dont is the back was on the substrate, glass or not getting much light and the right side had a large weird coral thing or fake accessory not sureI have only seen three living animals on one big bit of rock...but only found the crab an hour ago so theres probably heaps of things hidden and I think the crab is a Calappa species as it has the "shame face" claws the 3rd last photo is the old LR not the new stuff and the 2 end photos are of the Crab

 

[SkiFletch]

A gorilla and/or rock crab most likely. Not the kind of thing you want in your tank. if it's hole isn't that big, you could try chiseling it out of there.

 

[QuotheRaven]

Ohk...Well at the moment I will keep it there as like a canary in a mining expedition just like me the only hitch hiker I get is a bad one!!!

 

[littleme1969]

Yup, crabs with big chunky claws tend to be bad news and will try to kill and eat fish and shrimp so get him out before you finalise your scaping and add any other critters or fish. The rock looks in good order and would say by the amount of growth you have on ther is fully cured Just keep an eye out for ammonia and nitrate spike and that wil tell when its safe to add anything else. But get rid of Mr Chunky Monkey first!..lol

 

[QuotheRaven]

I had to add extra water to my tank so boiled it to get rid of as much bad stuff as possible The water level was low getting close to the top of the rock


News on the Crab im not sure it is a gorilla crab It has the "shame face" claws that curl around and on the inside it is white while the claws & "arm" is lumpy but not hairy while the top of the crab has a yellowish line near the backside of the crab while the legs are very very hairy while the rest is lumpy & not hairy....evil looking crab though I will be buying a marine test kit this week haven't had the money until now

 

[QuotheRaven]

A few things have died off since I put the water in the sponge seems to have died along with some tube worm things on the rock etc...when I put the water in immediatly the crab came out of it's cave and began to move the crushed coral substrate around for a good hour and a half...putting it's back legs against the rock and pushing off...it also saw a bristleworm on the substrate and ignored it totally... I also found a tiny little harliquin like crab

 

[QuotheRaven]

New hitch hiker a large Mint green coloured shrimp...any help on identifying would be great it is black and dark green

 

[QuotheRaven]

.......well...bugger me....GUESS WHAT ELSE IS IN MY TANK!!! A MANTIS SHRIMP! Yay two evil killing machines as hitchhikers aren't I lucky?

There are very little hitchhikers in my tank but I manage to get a crab which may or may not be a carnivorous one and a Mantis shrimp...what a great start to my cured rock... I will be providing pics soon it's impressive but I don't want it lol

 

[QuotheRaven]

EVEN BETTER....A PEACOCK MANTIS SHRIMP woohoo....well I gather my large crab will be dead soon which annoys me as I like the crab and he (or she) has shown no aggressiveness with any worms or anything. The Mantis is about 2 inches long & "timid"...Im pretty positive it's a peacock one as it's green and has the red ring on it's claw or near it anyway....Well...this is going to be fun catching it... I could of got it last night easily but had no idea what it was

 

[QuotheRaven]

1st photo is the crab second is of the hiding Mantis shrimp

 

[QuotheRaven]

The shrimp is not as colourful as a peacock shrimp and has a red spot where a purple spotted mantis would have one....hmmm

 

[littleme1969]

The shrimp deffo looks like one of the varieties that grows large and will cause havoc in your tank. You will need better pics for a positive ID but with that much colour on it I would say its one of the larger varieties, and as for aggression..lol They seem very cute and peacfull at a glance but can pack one mean punch. Try Reef Central for a positive ID they have a Mantis section there and I had mine ID ed by the resident boffin
And your crab is deffo a trouble causer too..lol

 

[QuotheRaven]

Hehe Im lucky aren't I a bad crab & mantis shrimp....Im on a role...well I want to get rid of the shrimp ASAP...but the Crab can stay for the moment as there really isn't anything to kill except a smallish moss green shrimp

 

[SkiFletch]

Hummm tough to say on the mantis shrimp. Does have a pretty pronounced Meral Spot which leads me to believe its of the Odontodactylus (peacock) genus or maybe even a baby Gonadactylus Smithii...