I have three questions regarding my saltwater tank?
16 November 2008
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Waving hands coral - what do they eat ?
I see some multilegged "worms" coming out of my live rock - is this normal or something I need to get rid of somehow ?
Are coral banded shrimp normally agressive and bother corals and anemones ?
I have a 20 gallon tank with pink tipped anemone, curly q anemone and waving hands coral - plus some snails, and a clown fish, and a small little yellow fish I can’t remember the name of. I bought a scooter blenny and found it dead after one day and wondered if the shrimp got to him. He seems to pick on the clown fish when he gets the chance.
I can’t answer the other questions but the worms need to go. Don’t touch them they can sting you. IF they are what we had. Search salt water worms and you can find information on how to get rid of them. You’re supposed to trap them. We sucked ours out with our water changing hose. You can find websites with pictures of worms and pick the ones you’ve got and you can find out what to do about them.
1) waving hands coral is photosynthetic, t needs nothing more than light to live.
2) those sound like bristleworms. google bristleworm and see if that’s it. They are fantastic detrius eaters and will clean your tank but they look discusting and they WILL sting you if you touch them. If this happens run your sting under the hotest water you can stand until the burning subsides. This is the best cure. They sell traps for $10 or you can try getting them out with tweezers when you see one. They come out more at night. The larger ones CAN attack fish and certainly need to go but smaller ones are not bad, in fact, are beneficial… but I still hate them! You can purchase a 6 line wrasse (fish) and they will eat the smaller bristleworms…
3) No anemone should be kept in a tank smaller than 40 gallons and certainly not2 in 1 tank that small! Anemones get BIG. They also bother each other from all the way across the tank. They eat fish as well as sting the daylights out of them. The only fish an anemone wont sting is a clown fish.
4) Coral banded shrimp are the most agressive of the aquarium shrimp, they can indeed bother other shrimp, fish and coral as well as hermits and snails. If you are seeing a problem it’s probably best to trade it in for peppermint shrimp or cleaner shrimp. pep shrimp will keep your tank free from aptaisia and cleaner shrimp eat the bacteria (like ich) off your fish.
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