Hitchhikers

ingtar_shinowa · Jan 16, 2015

"Asterina starfish are great members of a clean up crew" "Only a couple species eat zoas, the rest are beneficial" Boys and Girls, kill anything you don't purposefully put in you glass boxes. This is why. Worms are bad, crabs are bad, starfish are bad. PS: I did get a baby torch coral hitchhiker, its the first beneficial hitchhiker in 15 years, of course its growing on the side of a nice chalice so thats not so awesome.....

Wiz · Jan 16, 2015

hitchhikers are one of my favorite parts of this hobby. I've had quite a few and the ones that are bad are not too difficult to get rid of. Microlife is an integral part of any ecosystem. What was your experience that caused you to kill everything? why do you believe that all stars crabs and worms are bad?

GHill762 · Jan 16, 2015

Wiz said:
hitchhikers are one of my favorite parts of this hobby. I've had quite a few and the ones that are bad are not too difficult to get rid of. Microlife is an integral part of any ecosystem. What was your experience that caused you to kill everything? why do you believe that all stars crabs and worms are bad?

+1 to this

without hitchhikers our tanks would be sterile piles of rock and coral.. diversity of life in a reef tank is what makes them so interesting. I actually want my next tank to be filled with gulf live rock for that very reason..

ingtar_shinowa · Jan 16, 2015

Oh so young and full of life! I used to be like you, marveling in macro algae, and neat worms, snails, starfish. Well starfish eat my sps, the snails were whelks that only showed themselves to eat my tridacna, and the worms? A bobbit worm that grew to 3 feet that I never saw untill i removed the rock he hid in. He ate everything. Steril is ok for me.

GHill762 · Jan 16, 2015

ingtar_shinowa said:
Oh so young and full of life! I used to be like you, marveling in macro algae, and neat worms, snails, starfish. Well starfish eat my sps, the snails were whelks that only showed themselves to eat my tridacna, and the worms? A bobbit worm that grew to 3 feet that I never saw untill i removed the rock he hid in. He ate everything. Steril is ok for me.

paulb's tank is over 40 years old and he's no spring chicken, his tank is full of diversity and he'd have it no other way. a bad experience or two seems to have tainted your view of random critters :hippie:

Wiz · Jan 16, 2015

I've been in the hobby for about 8 years now. And I am obsessed meaning I do at least one or two things with my tank or others tanks or projects everyday. Yes the worms and bugs and hitchhikers do excite me. But it's not because I'm new it's because I don't just look for color they are much more interesting than most corals. Corals are great don't get me wrong but the bugs are too. I would have to agree that you have let too many bad experiences change your views. The Bobbit worm must have been something to behold though lol. Anyway I was just interested in why you had your view. Thank you for answering

Palting · Jan 16, 2015

Yup, it seems you've had some unusually bad luck there, bud. My tank is 5 years old, started with mostly live rock. and it still comes up with some surprising hitchhikers. Ricordeas, a toadstool, even some kind of chalice. Diversity of the flora and fauna is what keeps the tank going. Old tank syndrome is when the diversity is lost and you have a mono culture in your tank. I've even gathered a cup of sand from an ocean tidal pool and put it into my tank. There's an old coot here with a 40+ year old tank, and he regularly dumps all kinds of things he picks from the ocean into his tank.

ingtar_shinowa · Jan 16, 2015

My tank in those pics actually has a healthy breeding population of peppermint snails as well. It took me hours to ID those little guys (discovered in my colossally small worm trap) and I'm obviously dripping in hyperbole here, but why isn't there a product like Starfish Exit on the market when you need it?

Paul B · Jan 17, 2015

paulb's tank is over 40 years old and he's no spring chicken,

Spring Chicken!

There's an old coot here with a 40+ year old tank, and he regularly dumps all kinds of things he picks from the ocean into his tank.

Old Coot! I beg your pardon. While it is true that my hermit crabs have pimples on their face older than most people on here and I have socks older than most tanks here, I am not that old. A Coot, yes. I also never had any hithchikers in my tank that I didn't like except for a few crabs that I could have had for dinner. Everyone who is not an old Coot, and has an older, healthy tank, raise your hand. Higher.
It's awefully quiet in here. :humble: