Noticed something new in my tank.

[mattybecks]

Hello guys.
I haven't collected anything for about two weeks now, but I suspect this has been growing for about a month now. I only noticed it yesterday though.
Its hard. So I'm guessing whatever it is involves calcium.

 

[MrWheelock]

It looks like a clam or bivalve to me but I'm no expert, good filter feeder

 

[Katrina71]

It looks like a clam or bivalve to me but I'm no expert, good filter feeder

+1

 

[Jon Fishman]

I say clam, but have no idea

Do you “wild catch”?

Probably all sorts of cool hitchhikers

 

[mattybecks]

I have at least about 20 clams/bi valves in my aquarium now (that I can see). None of them were intentional haha.
I only notice them a couple says after I have put things into my aquarium. This one I noticed before, but those frills only started up recently.
I didn't realize how "active" bivalves/calms are too. I'm really enjoying them. Those and tunicates.

The stuff I pick up is small, and its not rock or coral. More like clumps of shells or calcified things. All this stuff grows on them.

The tunicates (small orange ones) appear to spread to my other rocks surfaces too. There is one big bivalve in the picture below, you cant see it clearly , just the opening of one of the holes. Closes are squirts if my hermits crawl over it.

 

[MrWheelock]

Thats awesome! Great biodiversity

 

[vetteguy53081]

Clam. Possibly baby derasa or squamosa

 

[mattybecks]

I don't have corals, (just some soft mushrooms whom I often forget about) but I was thinking of making my aquarium into something of a biotope from the beach and rocks by me. Let me tank get colonized by these little bivalves/tunicates/clams etc. I really love the Polysiphonia algae growing with these things too.

 

[mattybecks]

Thats awesome! Great biodiversity

In the macro algae I collected (my gracileria and polysiphona) there were quite a number of pods and other little creatures I didn't recognize nor could get any decent photos of. Although my fish ate some, it appears that they can safely grow in it and there numbers seems to be stable. I enjoy watching them dart in and out of cover too. The fish now seem to be one of the least viewed organisms in my tank haha.