Fiji Rock - No critters (yet?)

[toejam]

Just started cycling (3 days) with 25 pounds of Fiji. I haven't noticed anything creeping out at night. Will things like brittle stars start showing up in time or did I just not get any hitch hikers? I was hoping to get some night life...Am I just expecting too much too early?

[omard]

Give it time.

[toejam]

About the only thing I've noticed on the rock is a few "hairs" reaching out...I assume that they are baby feather dusters or something. I just remember my roommates tank a few years back...when the lights go off all kinds of stuff would show up....and if you stomped your feet the brittle stars would put on a light show....I hope I get some of that going on...

[Tangster]

You best just hope what creeps out is a good creeper.. And not a killer creeper.

[JustPhish]

It's going to take a while. After a while you're going to get macro algaes cropping up and stuff but I bet the majority of the actual critters will come as hitchikers on rocks corals are attached to since they're coming from established tanks and are not being subjected for long periods of time without any water.

Congrats.

[toejam]

Besides Mantis shrimp - what are some other scary things that might eventually show up?

I've read some stuff on this site about bristle worms....How can you tell the good kind from the bad? I've heard that some are very beneficial....

Send links if you got 'em! I'm still discovering the site....

[JustPhish]

Could be anything, bad crabs, worms, flatworms, aiptasias, etc. Bristleworms are nothing to worry about unless you get some fire worms or big honking bristles...like 1-2 inch in diameter and stretch to more than a foot long. The vast majority of things you're going to come across are probably going to be benign and have a purpose in your tank. I wouldn't worry too much.

[Tangster]

Its crabs that I worry about the most.. I had a 55 reef set up a elem. school for yrs it was nice and a teacher was in a LFS one weekend and a person there sold her on a piece of L/R ): it had stuff on it (: About 4 months later things started to disappear fish corals and such. We It was shamed faced crab and I had to tear the whole tank down to catch it.. It wiped out some nice fish ): I've had them all at some point As Phish mentioned many unwanted things will come in on corals also in a larval state and it will grow ..
Not nto mention coral eating bugs and such wormws are no biggie

[toejam]

Looks like I'll have some fun keeping a lookout. Thanks for the replies.