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Ron Reefman
Lets Go Snorkeling!
Reef Squad
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Article Contributor
Tampa Bay Reef Keepers
MAC of SW Florida
Most of the new frags went onto one new rock added to the tank. They all seem to be doing very well. But you know frags... they take a long, long time to grow into colonies. The coral banded shrimp molted the very first night in the tank. And now hangs upside down under an arch in the rockscape.
Last week I was at Bunche Beach taking sunset photos. The day before we had super high tides due to a strong low pressure system. There were baseball sized, soft orange sponges along the water's edge. So I took a towel I had in the car, picked up 3 sponges and brought them home (the sun had set, it was getting dark... and cold, and the no-see-ums were coming out). Now I've done the harvesting of pistol shrimp, porcelain crabs and tiny sea stars from sponges like this many times. But always while out on the Sanibel beaches, after a cold front and wearing dive gloves (due to the cold). I never had any issues. But this time I tore the sponges open in my garage with my bare hands. BAD IDEA! Sponges have spicules that are super fine. They got into the skin of my thumbs and first 2 fingers of both hands. They didn't bother me at all that evening. But the next morning they were slightly swollen, red, the skin surface was hard and they stung like crazy whenever I touched anything! The sting faded over the next 3 days. But even now, over a week later, they are still a bit touchy, still a bit swollen and the skin surface is still hard. I'd say I'm about 60% of the way back to normal. All that for 2 pistol shrimp, a few tiny porcelain crabs and 5 tiny sea stars. I'll know better next time!
But this is one of the photos I got that evening.
I think seeding dry rock is the way to go if you want a clean tank without hitchhikers or algae. That's what my cube is. And that's why I don't even have any fish in the tank... yet. But the breeder gets a variety of 'stuff' since it's my 'local' tank. But even there I'm pretty careful. But any live rocks from the places we snorkel almost always have curly-cue anemones which can propagate just like aiptasia. I brought home a very small rock that has a small red feather duster and now I have curly-cue anemones. But being in the 'local' tank, all I do is keep them under control and don't try to eradicate them.
Last week I was at Bunche Beach taking sunset photos. The day before we had super high tides due to a strong low pressure system. There were baseball sized, soft orange sponges along the water's edge. So I took a towel I had in the car, picked up 3 sponges and brought them home (the sun had set, it was getting dark... and cold, and the no-see-ums were coming out). Now I've done the harvesting of pistol shrimp, porcelain crabs and tiny sea stars from sponges like this many times. But always while out on the Sanibel beaches, after a cold front and wearing dive gloves (due to the cold). I never had any issues. But this time I tore the sponges open in my garage with my bare hands. BAD IDEA! Sponges have spicules that are super fine. They got into the skin of my thumbs and first 2 fingers of both hands. They didn't bother me at all that evening. But the next morning they were slightly swollen, red, the skin surface was hard and they stung like crazy whenever I touched anything! The sting faded over the next 3 days. But even now, over a week later, they are still a bit touchy, still a bit swollen and the skin surface is still hard. I'd say I'm about 60% of the way back to normal. All that for 2 pistol shrimp, a few tiny porcelain crabs and 5 tiny sea stars. I'll know better next time!
But this is one of the photos I got that evening.
I think seeding dry rock is the way to go if you want a clean tank without hitchhikers or algae. That's what my cube is. And that's why I don't even have any fish in the tank... yet. But the breeder gets a variety of 'stuff' since it's my 'local' tank. But even there I'm pretty careful. But any live rocks from the places we snorkel almost always have curly-cue anemones which can propagate just like aiptasia. I brought home a very small rock that has a small red feather duster and now I have curly-cue anemones. But being in the 'local' tank, all I do is keep them under control and don't try to eradicate them.
