Macro Algae & Corals 25 Gallon Peninsula

[OldRed1]

I bit the bullet on some inverts. I have a few small aiptasia in my live rock, so I bought two peppermint shrimp from my LfS. While I was there, I also bought two cleaner shrimp, two emerald crabs, and a humorously large purple short spine urchin. I may ultimately ask to exchange this urchin because it is much larger than I realized! She all ready mowed down two large pieces of seaweed and shows no signs of slowing!

 

[OldRed1]

Ursula, the purple short spine urchin, is on the move this morning!

 

[OldRed1]

If anyone has tips on how to feed urchins neatly, I am all ears!

 

[OldRed1]

Target feeding Ursula with some seaweed banded to a rock. Hopefully this causes less mess in the tank…

 

[OldRed1]

Ursula is doing well. We had much better success today binding the seaweed to a rock with a rubber band. The tank was a little bit cleaner using this method, but not by much. Once the next set of live rock comes we’ll all be much better off, since that rock should have a great abundance of algae for her to munch on.


Nessy, our nassarius snail, is also doing well! She’s finally started to burrow under the sand, which is much needed. I’ll likely grab one or two more of these sandmowers for the tank.


Lastly, our little porcelain crab made an appearance tonight. We first spotted her the first night we added the live sand and rock. About a week ago, we saw a similar shell floating around the tank and thought that she had died. Turns out that she was just molting! This little crab is honestly my favorite tank inhabitant. The shell she carries always seems a little too big, but she wears it well!

 

[OldRed1]

We have decided to name our cleaner shrimps Pain and Panic. I have really enjoyed target feeding them. For now I use forceps but will eventually try feeding them by hand.

 

[OldRed1]

@LiverockRocks Looks like our friend Sally is a Shellback Crab. Huge thanks to @ISpeakForTheSeas for helping us to ID this adorable hitchhiker. This could be a great addition to the roster of hitchhikers on the TBS website!

 

[LiverockRocks Verified Sponsor]

@LiverockRocks Looks like our friend Sally is a Shellback Crab. Huge thanks to @ISpeakForTheSeas for helping us to ID this adorable hitchhiker. This could be a great addition to the roster of hitchhikers on the TBS website!

@ISpeakForTheSeas Thank you for this id!!!!
We have not seen these cuties until this month.
Will add to Hitchhiker list.

 

[LiverockRocks Verified Sponsor]

@ISpeakForTheSeas Thank you for this id!!!!
We have not seen these cuties until this month.
Will add to Hitchhiker list.

@ISpeakForTheSeas Do you know the scientific name?

 

[OldRed1]

@ISpeakForTheSeas Do you know the scientific name?

The document linked here gives a lot of great information.

https://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/sertc/HYPOCONCHA%20som.pdf

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas Do you know the scientific name?

I know there are at least three species of shellbacks in Florida: Hypoconcha arcuata, H. spinosissima, and H. parasitica. Based on the photo there, I would guess H. arcuata or H. spinosissima. I'm leaning toward H. arcuata in this pic, but the differences are subtle to my untrained eye. With regards to differentiating H. arcuata from H. spinosissima: "This species does not have the strong postorbital spine or the spines on the frontal margin of the carapace as found on H. spinosissima."

Quote from page 77 of the PDF linked below:

https://www.gsmfc.org/pubs/SEAMAP/A%20Picture%20Guide%20to%20Shelf%20Invertebrates%20from%20the%20Northern%20Gulf%20of%20Mexico.pdf

 

[OldRed1]

I know there are at least three species of shellbacks in Florida: Hypoconcha arcuata, H. spinosissima, and H. parasitica. Based on the photo there, I would guess H. arcuata or H. spinosissima. I'm leaning toward H. arcuata in this pic, but the differences are subtle to my untrained eye. With regards to differentiating H. arcuata from H. spinosissima: "This species does not have the strong postorbital spine or the spines on the frontal margin of the carapace as found on H. spinosissima."

Quote from page 77 of the PDF linked below:

https://www.gsmfc.org/pubs/SEAMAP/A%20Picture%20Guide%20to%20Shelf%20Invertebrates%20from%20the%20Northern%20Gulf%20of%20Mexico.pdf

Thank you for posting this PDF! What a great resource! I’ll be taking delivery of more TBS live rock next week, and I’ll use this document to help ID the newest hitchhikers!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

The document linked here gives a lot of great information.

https://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/sertc/HYPOCONCHA%20som.pdf

Forgot it had ID info in that link too:
"Among the three mentioned species, Hypoconcha spinosissima is very interesting as it has several spines distributed on the body that may be seen in ventral view. Thus, one can easily recognize H. spinosissima by searching for the spines on the chelipeds (first claw) or covering the ventral portion of the carapace. These features can be seen even in a very small juvenile."

 

[OldRed1]

@ISpeakForTheSeas So, it seems we have a second crab in the tank! I went through the PDF you shared to try and identify, but didn’t see anything that matched close enough to positively ID. Any thoughts?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas So, it seems we have a second crab in the tank! I went through the PDF you shared to try and identify, but didn’t see anything that matched close enough to positively ID. Any thoughts?

Unfortunately no. As I mentioned in the other thread, I'm actually not very good with ID'ing crabs. I recognized the shellback because of it's visible, unique behavior (the wearing of the bivalve shell). Without some clearly distinctive, visible attribute like that, I'm afraid I'm at a loss with crabs.

 

[OldRed1]

I knew it would happen eventually, but the outcome is no less sad. I have officially lost my first tank mate; one of the emerald crabs died at some point during the night. I bought two emerald crabs to keep a patch of green hair algae from expanding, and I suspect there wasn’t enough viable algae in the tank to keep both crabs alive.

In a fascinating display of ecosystem optimization, Nessy (the Nassarius snail) and Ursula (the urchin) were each quick to move on the dead crab. Within just a few hours, all evidence of the crab was completely erased. Fascinating to watch, if not in a macabre way.

 

[OldRed1]

Feeding time with Ursula, Nessy, Pain, and Panic!


@Parsely, if it eases your worry about your own Nassarius snail, this is the first time I’ve seen Nessy since Saturday.

 

[Parsely]

Feeding time with Ursula, Nessy, Pain, and Panic!


@Parsely, if it eases your worry about your own Nassarius snail, this is the first time I’ve seen Nessy since Saturday.

Haha thank you!

 

[OldRed1]

Before I say anything else, I just want to wish our friends down at @LiverockRocks the best as they prep for the hurricane. Hope you all stay safe as best you can.

Today, my second order of salt water from TBS arrived. I’ll post a longer review later with more detailed pictures, but I wanted to share this video ASAP so that they could see how beautiful their rock has made my aquascape.

 

[OldRed1]

It’s hard to describe to non-reefers how much joy it brings me to see our little porcelain crab friend. After a day when there was so much disruption in the tank, I am grateful that our crab friend survived.