Will my rock die???

[freshtosalt]

unless it smells food.??? What kind of food is it going to "smell". I thought it rummaged for food or ate algae. I already feed Phytoplankton, sparingly, for the clams, etc. Should I get some other kind of food for the star?

I got the Peppermint Shrimp to eat the Aptasia that are taking over my tank. I have not noticed any of them missing yet. Should I give it time, or should I be looking towards the fact that I got a "California Shrimp" instead of a Peppermint Shrimp?

Also, thinking of getting a Mandarin Goby for the tank. Good idea? I have heard several diff. opinioins from, "it will only live 6 mos.", to, "they are very easy to care for and will live a long time". Any advice? Will the Goby eat the little "bugs" that are crawling all over the sand, rocks, clams, etc... etc... etc...? I know the bugs are a good thing, just wondering if there is anything that will feed off them...

Thanks all...

[Diver_1298]

My experience with brittle stars is.. They will come out only when its dark, only when they sense (smell) food ie, shrimp pellets or meaty foods. When I feed my corals brine shrimp, or frozen food, or whatever, they smell the food and bring their arms out to try and snag it. They will not normally bring their whole body out to search for food during daylight hours unless they are very hungry or they have been taught that that is the only time they are getting food. Then they retreat back under their rock to consume the food.
IMO - Not very many people have luck with the shrimp idea on aiptasia. Buy some Joe's juice if you're real concerned and give it a try. There are NUMEROUS posts and you could probably spend HOURS reading them all. But go ahead anyway and become the resident expert on them. Then you can give other people advice on how to get rid of them. I have 2 they are not multiplying right now and I have had them for 6 months. So let me know how you get rid of yours.
Jim

[Birdlady]

I would say 'wait' on the mandarin goby. the will eat the little bugs in your tank, they will be gone in 2 days, then it will starve to death. Some people have luck getting them to eat other foods, but many more don't.

There are places to buy 'pods' but I believe the mandarin needs a matured tank of about a year.

[allaboutfish37]

I had 20 little aiptasie in my tank the were starting to take over but some i met on line said to try a copper band.so I did and he cleaned them up in a week . http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/aipatasia.htm
the only thing is to maker sure the copper band is eating before you buy one. after he ate all the aiptasie I feed him mysis shrimp he loved it.

[freshtosalt]

Will a copper band get along with the peppermint shrimp? Don't want any tank wars...

[freshtosalt]

disregard my last post, not thinking of a fish. I was thinking of the coral banded shrimp.

Will the copper band eat my feather dusters? I just bought a cluster that contains app. 10-15 very small feather dusters and I don't want them to be eaten...

[Birdlady]

http://www.marinedepotlive.com/383734.html


Possibly....

[allaboutfish37]

yes he might but better then the aiptasie taking over your tank and trying to injecting them is a really pain in the ***.they can take over a small tank really fast.

[freshtosalt]

O.K. I'll deal with it eating my feather dusters if I have to . Can I put the copper banded in first? There are no other fish yet because the tank is only 6-8 weeks old?

Was going to put in some Green Chromis this weekend and see how they do.

Fire Shrimp: do they eat aiptasia? Can I put them in yet? I was told to wait at least 3 months before putting a pair in. ideas???

There are only about 10-15 aiptasia that I can see, 2 large app. the size of a quarter and all others are very small. Should I be concerned yet, or do I have time to give the Chromis time to acclimate and then add the copper banded in app. 1 month?

I'd ask my closest LFS guy, but he's the one that told me my rock would die (which is what started this vein in the first place) and the rock is thriving and never spiked or anything. The next closest knowledgable LFS is app. 15 miles away. You guys are my source of knowledge and guidance...

I've researched just about everything I can online from Marinedepotlive.com to just plugging in the words you guys use in the search engine and reading what comes up. Please have patience with me, I am learning as fast as I can. I'll try to stop asking so many questions, as soon as I learn other places to look to get the answers myself.

I'll try to upload some pictures tonight so you can see what I have to work with.

Thanks

[Diver_1298]

Fire Shrimp: do they eat aiptasia?

Never have I seen mine even sniff at one
They eat everything I throw in the tank but not aitpasia.
Told you that rock would flourish. This is a good thread with lots of info and noone has totally hijacked it yet.