Hitchhikers in Live Rock Question for Article

[Gregg @ ADP]

Ended up with a mantis shrimp in a tank out of boxed Fiji rock. For those who aren’t aware, many suppliers ship this rock ‘dry’ (it’s actually moist) in 50lb boxes that sit at their facility for who knows how long before being shipped to dealers.

So...who knows how long that shrimp was hanging out in there. A couple of weeks?

 

[bump3rb33tl3]

I picked up some LR from an area LFS that came from Marshall Islands that were LOADED with hitch hikers. Wild brains, sponges, pods, sea fans, various algae, star fish, urchins, and welso's. There was a new discovery almost everyday for weeks.

 

[CrashOverride]

Off the coast of Miami

This guy didn't survive the shipment.

I wish this guy had not made it.

 

[choss]

I had a very good experience with Gulf Live Rock. I would say all positive hitchhikers - a few small corals (cup, brain) lots of sponges, feather dusters, and a small N Wennerae mantis shrimp. The Mantis is now housed in a 10 gallon tank, and is one of my favorite animals in my system. For me so far its been all good hitch hikers and nothing bad.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Other than some brittle stars, mine would have been a small mantis shrimp. Thought my pumps were intermittent and pulled them and kept hearing the clicking sound. Hmmm....not sure. Then I noticed my 1+ year turbo snail shells were all going empty. Hmmmm???
Then one day I saw something scurry under a rock and realized a cave of some sort was formed and I set a trap and yep- 2+" Mantis shrimp
Gave it to my LFS

 

[KenO]

I ordered 10lbs of LR from KP Aquatics this summer and ended up with more than a dozen Bobbit worms (and a bad Isopod). I saw a large Bobbit in the bottom of the box when I opened it, then saw another so I broke open one of the rocks and several small ones fell out. I just wanted to seed my dry rock, I ended up just tossing out all the LR, not worth it.

I had a similar experience, several bobbit worms the black and white ones. I also had several fireworms which made a meal of my zoas. I did have some small crabs and a pencil urchin. I’ve had the rock isolated now for 7-8 months. I haven’t seen a bobbit or fireworm for a few months now. I do have to say that the coralline algae is really beautiful. I’ve also seen a number of colorful sponges. I’m still planning on using it to seed my new setups with the colorful coralline that’s growing on the rocks.

 

[ThunderGoose]

For my second tank I got a small amount of live rock from TBS (Tampa Bay Saltwater). I wish I had gotten that for my bigger tank. It came in with all kinds of cool hitchhikers. Yes, I did get some Red Gorilla crabs that I had to rehome. I also got two mantis shrimp - one I rehomed and the other is in my big display tank where he doesn't bother anything except my clean up crew. And even that is only a slow pruning of the crew. I also got lots of small feather dusters, mini brittle stars, some corals (including a nice cup coral), lots of little crabs that have not grown bigger than a penny, spaghetti worms, peanut worms, a nice turkey wing clam that is still alive after 1.5 years plus a bunch of urchins. Mostly long spine urchins that got rehomed but I have a smaller one that I still have in my display tank.

I'm sure I've forgotten something. Those rocks are FULL of life and new things are still showing up as they get large enough for me to see.

 

[Jay York]

Tons of life...this is REAL live rock! https://www.tbsaltwater.com/thepackage/organisms.html

This is true! I just received part one of the package from Richard and got the coolest porcelain crab! It really goes crazy when I feed the tank, waves his little net hands around for all it is worth. Received many crabs and snails as well. Can't wait for part two of the package (hopefully coming this week)!

 

[Marie7]

Gulf of Mexico (Tampa Bay Saltwater rock)

Good: feather dusters, cup corals, porcelain crab, rock boring urchins, pistol shrimp, corraline algae, yellow and orange sponges

Bad: eucinid worm, polyclad flatworm, gorilla crabs, whelk, nudibranch

Thank you for the pictures and video. It's awesome

 

[liverock]

Shipping is going to be a challenge for a week or more most likely as all the airlines stopped accepting freight due to the extreme temps....many flight also canceled.....and after the weather does finally straighten up to some more normal temps, there is also a big backlog of dry freight that will take priority first.

Like anything in this hobby, only bad things happen fast ......

 

[Subsea]

Bad crabs/good crabs.

Even the “reef safe” Emerald Crab, identified as a herbivore, can go rogue. Not being familiar with all things crabby, here is a general crab rule. Look at crabs most potent tool, it’s front claws. Then look at the tip of the claw. If both tips are flat, that tool is best suited for scraping & pulling algae. On a claw with two pointed tips, that claw is to capture prey by grabbing hold and puncturing to kill. You don’t want crabs with two pointed tips in your reef tank. Gorilla Crabs are extradinarily ferocious and are to be eliminated before it eats your reef janitors and fish. In one case, I removed > 100 lbs of mature live rock before finding offender. It took unexplained loss of three well estabished drawf angels before I reacted.

 

[TriggerFinger]

KPAquatics rock, I believe from the Florida Keys. I have many sponges, tunicates, unidentifed encrusting corals, 3 colors of coraline, at least 2 crabs that I keep finding molts for and they refuse to go in my traps, an urchin, many brittle stars; one is getting pretty big, stomatellas, pods, red and purple macros, feather dusters, spaghetti worms, bristle worms. I *think* I have dusters that look like Christmas tree worms. All kinds of stuff, I’ve had it for 3 months and keep seeing new things all the time.

 

[Subsea]

Shipping is going to be a challenge for a week or more most likely as all the airlines stopped accepting freight due to the extreme temps....many flight also canceled.....and after the weather does finally straighten up to some more normal temps, there is also a big backlog of dry freight that will take priority first.

Like anything in this hobby, only bad things happen fast ......

Not sure about how you deal with airfreight.

I pay for commercial airfreight same day delivery. The first 100 pounds cost between $80-$95, no matter if you want a 10 pound showpiece or 100 pounds of premium select. Everything after 100bs is $0.45/lb

In one case, I requested a very large showpiece for a 3’ deep commercial display that I was aquascaping. I was given the courtesy reward of being a good customer and a real time picture of my choice of select live rocks as dive boat returned from collecting at noon. Delta deliered that rock to me before midnight.

A 38 pound live rock saw sunrise in 30’ of water and 30 miles west of Tampa Bay, Florida. On the next sunrise, that same live rock was in 3’ of water within the city limits of Austin, Tx. While most of the inhabitants on GOM live rock is beyond the husbandry skills of the average hobbiest. Fifty years ago, soft corals were above the skill level of the average hobbiest. I strive to learn and provide for these uniquely differrent members of the Coral EcoSystem

 

[shred5]

I have been buying live rock since you could get rock still from Hawaii and Florida.
It to me is the coolest way to set up a reef aquarium.. I miss the high quality live rock they used to have in the hobby.
Now you choices are pretty much aquaculture live rock which can be cool but it is a lot less varied in shape and mostly heavier rock.
I have got so many cool things including fish with the rock. I love the macro algae and sponges that grow out of it. The pic is from some live rock I got in and is in quarantine.
This is a old picture it is crazy how the macros have grown.



I have had very few pest and have been getting rock in over 30 years. I have had a few mantis shrimp and crabs which are easy to catch. A few aptasia.
I quarantine all my rock first so I can observe and trap anything before it goes into my main tank.
It also allows the rock to cure if anything is dying in or on it.
you can not beat the biodiversity or the color of live rock.

 

[jda]

The BEST hitchhikers were the rarer forms of Coralline algae - yellow, orange, blue. Most of the rare colored coralline is long gone since they are not that hardy, but these used to be common in Pacific rock. Sponges are cool too. Of course, the porous, phosphate free structure of the rock is the real gold.

Anything else is no good, IMO. I can add the shrimp, plants and other stuff that I want.

 

[Subsea]

Five years ago, I set up a controlled experiment using ten 10G tanks to compare differrent media for nitrification processing using ammonia as nitrogen source. Coral rubble then closely followed by bioballs were the clear winners with SpongeBob then 1” special reef grade aragonite followed by pourous dry rock.

All tanks were seeded with Dr Tims bacteria in a bottle and all tank used common air pump to move water during 90 day test duration. I tested ammonia & nitrate twice a day and added ammonia twice a day as required using standard hobby test kits.

I said all of the above to make a point about nitrogen management. Ten pounds of CaribSea “Special Reef Grade Aroggonite” has 100 fold more surface area then ten pounds of the average Tonga live rock. In my experience, More surface area equals more area for bacteria to colonize equals more biofiltration and more nitrification. I don’t agree on how superior live rock is for biofiltration. I get more biofiltration from a high energy lighted macro refugium.

I use diver collected uncured live rock for biodiversity. Red, yellow & orange byozone are common on GOM rock today. Just look @shred5 post #34

 

[Oliver d]

Gulf of Oman live rock witch I collected.A few urchins some snails a mantis shrimp and a few small clams of witch one survived.

 

[KenO]

KPAquatics rock, I believe from the Florida Keys. I have many sponges, tunicates, unidentifed encrusting corals, 3 colors of coraline, at least 2 crabs that I keep finding molts for and they refuse to go in my traps, an urchin, many brittle stars; one is getting pretty big, stomatellas, pods, red and purple macros, feather dusters, spaghetti worms, bristle worms. I *think* I have dusters that look like Christmas tree worms. All kinds of stuff, I’ve had it for 3 months and keep seeing new things all the time.

Look up fireworms on google and make sure you don’t have them vs bristleworms. I had several that made meals of my zoas and Ricordeas.

 

[TriggerFinger]

They are the typical bristle worms with white tufts. I did remove a big one though