Adding pulsing xenia to my new tank

[Richard1999]

Aptasia spreads fast - you will want to remove that ASAP.
The star will most likely wind up being harmless.

Ghost shrimp are great at dying, I wouldn’t sweat it much.
There will always be a drawback for every fish and invert you can get, the trick is just to find the ones most suited for your tank.

Yah I bought this Red Sea killer kit that you feed the aptasia so I ain’t to worried about it, it’s just pretty upsetting that imma have to kill it. Since it flows on its own in the water with its long arms. It’s a really cool creature but it can’t stay if I want cooler corals.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Yah I bought this Red Sea killer kit that you feed the aptasia so I ain’t to worried about it, it’s just pretty upsetting that imma have to kill it. Since it flows on its own in the water with its long arms. It’s a really cool creature but it can’t stay if I want cooler corals.

They ar evil, but there’s plenty of even cooler stuff out there! FWIW, curlycue nems are a relative but noninvasive. It there are far better looking nems and corals.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

I haven’t kept salt water shrimp before but my sea snails are doing good only 1 died so far. When I used to have fresh water shrimp all of them died but they where only ghost shrimp. I honeslty would really like a small crab or shrimp that won’t bother the corals/fish/snails

I think you should just keep doing what your doing, I wouldn't want to short you any learning experiences

 

[Richard1999]

I think you should just keep doing what your doing, I wouldn't want to short you any learning experiences

Yeee lol Ill just try to use that Red Sea ARE22231 Aiptasia-X Eliminator Kit, to remove the aiptasia. I do tho worry about that snail that basically every chance it gets flips upside down. I feel like it might be dying or it may just be an extremely dumb snail. Like 3 times yesterday I had to flip it. And again this morning. I am scared I won't catch it one day and ill just die.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Yeee lol Ill just try to use that Red Sea ARE22231 Aiptasia-X Eliminator Kit, to remove the aiptasia. I do tho worry about that snail that basically every chance it gets flips upside down. I feel like it might be dying or it may just be an extremely dumb snail. Like 3 times yesterday I had to flip it. And again this morning. I am scared I won't catch it one day and ill just die.

Whats your magnesium levels? Nitrate levals?

 

[Richard1999]

Whats your magnesium levels? Nitrate levals?

I honestly dont know about magnesium but i think my nitrates are below 20 ppm since the corals are thriving and the rest of the snails are fine. And when i use one of the apr test strips just to do a quick test it shows normal reading. I might tho need to get a test kit for magnesium. I am pretty sure its a good amount since i use premade salt water from the fish store for my tank. And They are able to keep their corals and fish and snails alive with it. I am just a noob who has no clue what he's doing XD

 

[Sharkbait19]

I honestly dont know about magnesium but i think my nitrates are below 20 ppm since the corals are thriving and the rest of the snails are fine. And when i use one of the apr test strips just to do a quick test it shows normal reading. I might tho need to get a test kit for magnesium. I am pretty sure its a good amount since i use premade salt water from the fish store for my tank. And They are able to keep their corals and fish and snails alive with it. I am just a noob who has no clue what he's doing XD

In the future I’d definitely recommend a better test kit. Api (especially the strips) are known to be inaccurate.

 

[Richard1999]

In the future I’d definitely recommend a better test kit. Api (especially the strips) are known to be inaccurate.

yah i use them only for quick test, i have the red sea test kit but ngl i been quite lazy. I am thinking tho of increasing water changes to 2 gallons every Wednesday and every Saturday but idk if that would cause the tank to get to clean for the zoas/future pulsing xenias. And I been observing my clownfish lately and they have been getting really really aggressive towards each other lately. I saw one of them bite the fin of the other one during feeding. It did no damage but idk what's wrong with them or if they are just starting to pair up or something. Maybe its the fact that i only have a 13 gallon tank for them.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Clowns are extremely aggressive to each other, especially in smaller tanks. My female killed my male in my 13.5. Sounds like early pairing behavior at the moment but I’d monitor in case it gets worse.
Weekly water changes will be enough unless you have an extremely high bioload in the tank.

 

[Unitylover]

2 gallons a week is fine

 

[Unitylover]

its about 17% of tank value

 

[Richard1999]

I got good news everyone i used that red sea x stuff to kill that aspita or however its spelled, but the downside is that i got it all over that rock. The box says that it'll decay on its own and it'll be fine. Should I worry about leaving a dead aspita in the tank? or will it just provide more nutrients in the tank? My corals and my fish and my snails are doing great, and it's been about 1 month since I first added the corals. When will they start to completely cover the rock/frag plug? I haven't really noticed to much growth but I could be wrong.

 

[Sharkbait19]

I doubt a small aptasia will have any noticeable effect.
Honestly it all depends on the coral species and breed how fast it grows, as well as the tank conditions. Some cover the plug and spread like weeds in weeks, others in months. Most zoas should grow pretty fast and wouldn’t take too long.

 

[simprss]

I know this is an old thread, but I found it so people are still probably reading it. Just a few things I can add to the new readers.

Don't put pistol shrimp in with narcissus snails, pistol shrimp tend to close off many of there "homes" every night and don't really care with what...a live crab (they can just pull themself out), or a live narcissus snail (which other things in the tank will find tasty and get buried by the shrimp as a support beam). Anomia, nitrate bombs. Love pistol shrimp but you have to know there habits.

Blue, purple, UV lights are great for coral color but are also a migraine trigger for some of the population, yep, I'm one of them so I run around 10K range and while it doesn't do much to the color of the fish many of the WOW colors I bring home on coral just turn brown. Others keep that POP and a small few even get better.

Aiptasia is best handled with Lysmata species (Peppermint captive breed is the most likely to eat them, although Red Stripped Shrimp a few others will also), the further you get away from the captive breed the more likely they are "reef cautious". I just last week added a JF John Deere Leptastrea and as usual the Peppermint shrimp came over to check out the new addition. About 4 hours later I noticed he was still there and I went to check things out, she had eaten the entire mat by then...nothing but skeleton left.

As for Asterina Starfish if you catch them in 1-3 days manual removal is your best option, day 4+ and well now you might need some help. Pico tank = 1 bumble bee shrimp, no problem, just make sure he has a 1/2" snail to catch a ride on up to the higher spots in the tank. Really funny. Nano tank well now you are in the 1 shrimp per 1.5 gallon zone, less shrimp if you have a light breakout or are patient. Bumble bee shrimp will eat whatever but seem to prefer starfish if you have any. So once you run out of starfish I'd find them a new home or be willing to lose some softies.

I'm about to get some Xenia for the "lights on" part of my cycle, I've had fish in there for long enough and Xenia is a great first coral. Just put a rock out of the way and let it grow, trim as needed until your cycled up to the harder corals. Once you don't need it take the entire Xenia rock to your LFS or someone else cycling a tank.