My First Attempt At Marine (cheap Custom Tank 80ish Litres)

[gregswimm]

Pic 1 is some sort of asterina star (could be a zoanthid eater, I would check it out), pic 2 is a stomatella, pic 3 looks like a brittle star (possible Ophiocoma pumila).

But keep your parameters in line if you want any chance of keeping these guys alive through your cycle. None of my true stars survived my cycle. Also, if the stars weren't acclimated very very slowly, you can expect them to die within the month (unless you get lucky). Keep your ammonia undetectable and your nitrates under 10ppm,

 

[Xraymark]

Loud clicks. If I remember right, if its a few clicks at a time it's probably a pistol, but if the clicks are continuous it could be a mantis shrimp.

 

[creg]

stars werent acclimatised at all because they came in my live rock, managed to survive me putting a load of salt directly into the tank aswell suprisingly.

really hope its not a mantis shrimp, it is only a few at a time and quite rarely though

 

[gregswimm]

You will know if it is a mantis when you rearrange your rock or your cuc starts to go missing.

 

[creg]

ive seen some youtube vids of what they can do, very scary

but very cool

getting a couple hermits and snails later so will find out

 

[creg]

went to my lfs and got 2 turbo snails and 2 blue legged hermits, didnt realise hermits were so small kinda disappointed. got another piece of liverock aswell £20 for 1.5kgs lol

id?

id?

 

[creg]

did my first water change today, 12 litres a week ok for a skimmerless tank of this size?

my sand has turned a lovely brown colour

 

[Donya]

If I remember right, if its a few clicks at a time it's probably a pistol, but if the clicks are continuous it could be a mantis shrimp.

I have both and I honestly can't tell the difference between the sounds by either sound quality or clicking pattern except when my pistol colony freaks out (because it's lots off clicks from all over the place really fast) or when my mantis hits something that's not a rock (so not really a click). The big ornamental pistols sound pretty distinctive, but the little guys really do sound like something hitting a rock. The more certain differences are really what gregswim said. In the event of a mantis, the rock will start to have obvious knocked-off bits and things like that Bivalve will turn up smashed open and cleaned out.

 

[Xraymark]

My mantis has left my livestock alone. So far. Maybe getting enough food and still relatively small as a guess.

 

[gregswimm]

In post 51, pic 3 you have a feather duster worm. A type of polychaete worm. Pic #4 is some type of clam. Expect these 2 to die within 6months or so if you don't dose phyto.

As for your water changes, frequency will depend on your nitrate and PO4 readings.

 

[gregswimm]

If I remember right, if its a few clicks at a time it's probably a pistol, but if the clicks are continuous it could be a mantis shrimp.

I have both and I honestly can't tell the difference between the sounds by either sound quality or clicking pattern except when my pistol colony freaks out (because it's lots off clicks from all over the place really fast) or when my mantis hits something that's not a rock (so not really a click). The big ornamental pistols sound pretty distinctive, but the little guys really do sound like something hitting a rock. The more certain differences are really what gregswim said. In the event of a mantis, the rock will start to have obvious knocked-off bits and things like that Bivalve will turn up smashed open and cleaned out.

Or if you get smacked in the hand doing a rescape. The good news is, if it is a mantis it is most likely a smasher and not a spear type. Mantis shrimp aslo won't click as much as a pistol, the cavitation causes significant damage to their club so they have a set number of hits between molts.

 

[creg]

havent lost any of my inverts yet anyway so thats good news, just after i put my new snails and crabs in a heard a click or two but everyone is still there.

cheers for the id`s greg (cant quote messages on here for some reason) wow ive got a lot of things expected to die so far

 

[creg]

well ive got a mantis shrimp, possibly 2

finally saw him hiding in this hole here

how do i get rid?

 

[Xraymark]

What colour is it?

 

[gregswimm]

Mantis shrimps are notoriously hard to trap. Mantis shrimp are incredibly smart. I wouldn't attempt anything until you come up with a solid plan. If anything get them used to the idea that you aren't there to hurt them. I know the plastic bottle with an inverted top won't work on them, they are too clever for that.

People have used hypo/hyper salinity dips for the rock they are held up in. They tend to bail when they hit the water.