What Are These

rob92 · Oct 10, 2013

Hello, I'm new to the marine aquarium scene and I recently set up my first marine tank 15g (More work I know lol) the tank have been up and running for about 2 months now and I just notice a few things I wasn't sure about. Can anyone tell me what the items are in the pictures. The first picture looks like a worm but not sure and I have like 15 of them living in the same piece of live rock. The second picture almost looks like a plant but the red parts on top go in a out of the small white base.

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

bristle worms,

rob92 · Oct 10, 2013

are they ok to have in the aquarium, and if not how do I get rid of them?

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

and the other may be aptasia but cant tell by the pic. also if you have alot of bristle worms it might mean you have been over feeding

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

and yes they dont harm anything. it makes a tasty treat for a coral banded shrimp. really all they are are bottom feeders but dont touch them. the bristles on them will ***** you and it sucks. and my advice is to buy 1 peppermint shrimp for any aptasia. they look cool and do a great job getting rid of pests

rob92 · Oct 10, 2013

now is that a form of coral? and ill start feeding a little less or cut down to feeding once a day

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

yes aptasia is a kind of anemone. they will sting other coral and they have been known to sting fish as well. one of my clowns died that way

usually i you put a peppermint shrimp in the tank the aptasia will be gone forever. unless you add more rock with aptasia on it

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

and id love to see a pic of your tank!

rob92 · Oct 10, 2013

can I put them in a tank that already has 2 clownfish?

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

yes, they get along with everything. they are also pretty cheap

rob92 · Oct 10, 2013

ok thank you and here is a picture of my tank how it is now and also a picture of the baby starfish that I used to have that came with one of the live rocks. my tanks stats are as follows: (1) 5-15 gallon HOB filter (1) 10-20 gallon HOB filter about 10 pounds of live rock 10 pounds of live sand mixed with a little regular black sand and a small wave maker for circulation along with a small bubble bar. I also have (2) 15watt full spectrum lights and some fake plants that my girl wanted me to add in there

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

chocolate chip starfish, if you plan on getting coral would take it out. i have alot of those in my reef tank and i throw them out before they start getting ballsy

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

and looks like your clowns have already paired up!! the bigger one is the female

rob92 · Oct 10, 2013

I would take it out but I have no clue where its at we haven't been able to find it for about 2 weeks we keep thinking that one of the fish ate it. do clowns eat baby starfish?

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

nah, and even if it was ripped up it wouldnt matter. if i chopped off all 6 arms and let waited a couple weeks i would get 6 new starfish haha. are you planning on adding coral?

rob92 · Oct 10, 2013

lol and im not sure on coral yet I want to but I just don't think I have the time to keep up with dosing the tank with the proper supplements, or could I get away with using reef salt instead of regular marine salt? I would like to because of how beautiful they make the tank but like I said I don't know if I would have the time anytime soon.

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

it doesnt really take much. i work at a professional aquarium and customers come in thinking coral is such a challenge. its really not i have over $1100 in coral in my tank and all i do is check selenity, drop some fish food in the tank and turn on the lights and thats it. and ive had my tanks selenity over .032 before and everything does fine. believe it or not freshwater is a lot harder in a way

rob92 · Oct 10, 2013

so I wouldn't neccisarly need to add any other chemicals or trace elements for them? and do I even have enough lighting for coral with the (2) 15watt full spectrum lights? I know some people say you need a lot of light for them.

ben canant · Oct 10, 2013

nah not really, go get a simple UAV light, remember coral feed of particles in the water and solar energy. any light you can get that creates solar energy will do great. i would prefer you get one designed for an aquarium though. and if you can put put fish in the water the coral should do great as well. but if you wana make your tank look cool with coral for a night light get some blue LEDs. they make the coral bio-luminesence really pop