View Full Version : need sand stiring inverts
yourmylunch
06-21-2006, 9:25 AM
so i am converting another tank to salt and i want to run a mud/deep sand bed, marcoalgae sump/refugium. i need to know what kinds of inverts i need to colonize it. can i collect some sand from a clean spot of tampa bay and if so what inverts should i look for or be able to see. i have heard alot of things like use sand stars and dont use them because they will eat everything. reef packs contain crabs that i read are not good to mix with corrals. sand snails? i need things to eat detritis, stir the sand, and provide food for the main tank, without being destructive.
Justin_James
06-21-2006, 12:11 PM
Well The things I am about to mention have all been in my tanks so I know they are reef safe for sure.
You should get 1 white sand sifting starfish,
a bunch blueleg hermit crabs or redleg hermit crabs,
a bunch of nassarius snils,
a bunch of certh snails,
and a green emerald crab.
Thats a good sand sifting pack.
If I were to know how big the tank is I could tell you how many you absolutly would have to have to more detail.
koliveira
06-21-2006, 12:49 PM
I know a lot of people don't like bristle worms but they are great at eating detritus and stirring your sand. They are also a good bio-indicator of nutrient levels in your system. If the population explodes your tank is dirty! LOL... IMO sand sifting stars ar overated they eat every organism that lives in sand and really destroy the biodiversity of the sand bed.
Pink ghost shrimp and mud shrimp? Mole crabs?
DeLgAdO
06-21-2006, 3:33 PM
Pink ghost shrimp and mud shrimp? Mole crabs?
what species of mole crab are those guppy??
they look the one i see at the beach when you grab a handfull of mud.
I did not check the species but sinces those were Atlantic shore they were probably E talpoda, in south Cal. you mainly get Pacific and Striated, H. pacifica and H. strigallata, or cold water, E. analoga.
yall call em mole crabs but they are sand fleas in my family :). I love watching them when you dump em in: Its straight form the top to hitting the sand and then they are gone haha. Funny little guys.
Dominuslive
06-25-2006, 1:39 AM
All crabs are opportunistic omnivores, and can eventually get large enough to do some type of damage. My tiny little blue legged crabs, after one year are down to 1/3 original purchase, and are about 1.5 inches out of the shell. Emerald crabs can get to 6 inches and will eat whatever they can catch, H ave seen them reach out and grab a clownfish...Poor Nemo....Son was pissed, no more crab by the way, he got fed to a trigger...... I currently have a little 1" white crab that looks like an emerald, but is more of a coralivore, took him about 6 months, but he finally ate an entire coral, and he is hard to catch, traps don't work. Also, on bristle worms, atlantic ones are a nono, pacific are ok, the atlantic ones actually eat corals, the pacific eat the dead.