as far as coral goes

[nini]

how does this sound?
1.toad stool(coral)
2.christmas tree(coral)
3.devils hand (coral)
these are all soft corals that requier the same type of lighting ect.
do u think star fish, sea cucumbers, or even fiddler crabs may be a good idea for the tank ASWELL?, the crabs can be the octos food, when i add him to the tank,i kno that u should not feed octos crabs that r any larger then there mantle,but smaller,so maybe crabs would not be the best idea,considering that i will be feeding them, and caring for them, for quiet some time, this could make them quiet large.maybe shrimp, or crayfish would be best. i dunno, HELP!!!

 

[Nancy]

I'm not too much of an expert in coral so I'll just suggest some things that have worked for me.

First of all, lots of creatures come on your live rock, so you've have some from there. For instance, I have a little whelk, a small brittlestar and a tiny clam, all from live rock. Then, snails and little crabs are necessary as your "clean up crew" - hermit crabs are good. Avoid crabs that grow too large unless you're planning to use them as octo food.

Burgundy or brown mushroom corals are interesting and easy to keep. So is a featherduster.

A cleaner shrimp (skunk shrimp, red and while stripes) is a wonderful pet - will eat from your hand, learns to recognize you and comes right up to the glass to say hello - the downside is, how would you turn such a friendly little shrimp into octo food? Soooooo, that's how I ended up having a small invertebrate tank as well as a larger octo tank.

We have discussed this issue before on this site and it would benefit you to search for these posts, or just start reading back posts - we said no to cucumbers, sea slugs, sea apples and the like. A small brittle star (not a green one) would be OK. A small starfish is OK. A small pencil urchin is OK, too, but will eat your coralline algae. No pointy, sticky urchins, please.

Nancy

 

[nini]

thank so much nancy, u r a big help
nini

 

[nini]

so shrimps make good octo food?

 

[i got crabs]

hey nini, i would takhe nancy's advice. she as well as some of the other long term (residents) have helped me out trmendously since getting back into sw and in keeping an octo. from personal experience ithink that mushrooms will b a good choice as well as the feather dusters. for the starfish i personally like da chocalate chips. mine eats whole mussles out of my hand and will open them himself if i just crack da mussle a bit. however i think they have the potential to get very big. ive seen them with the diamaters of dinner plates. serpent stars/brittle stars are neat too but b carefull cause some of them are kinda mean line nancy said and may go after other inhabitants. i like shrimp too and yes they do make a good meal for an octo but they r very friendly and its kinda said to see em go. try some hermits and may b some emerald crabs both r usaully under 5$. talk to your lps. i know that some offer a clean up crew... 3 turbo snails,3 hermit crabs, 3 stars for like 30$ this is a great deal for a great start to your tank. the snails and crabs will b food but thats a great first meal.

 

[clownfish]

what about the coral reefs?????

http://www.nature.org/joinanddonate/rescuereef/

http://www.cdnn.info/news/article/a010911.html

Ocean Medallion Class

http://www.eco-pros.com/endangeredreefs.htm

If you check out thoughs sites you probably wont want to keep a reef the threat of the complete destruction of the ocean isn’t worth it if you truly love the reefs you should watch movies or get a divers permit because if there is no reef there is no habitat for fish or inverts wild octopus could be a thing a the past. Looking at the ocean in some odd years in the future and knowing that YOU helped make corals become enticed I couldn’t live with myself. corals grow slowly unlike fish so the population cant be brought back up as quickly instead of saying oh that fish should be in abundance in 20 30 years it is oh that corals should be in abundance in about twice as long as the fish. Also do you see the price on the corals!!! corals realy should only be kept by the best of keepers and the best, best of tanks and that is if you checked if it was indangered or elegaly caught alot of rearch is needed to get a reef tank half of it you dont need for an octopus. reef tanks are hard and it is just an extra mouth to feed and take care of with an octopus
Im not saying all reef tanks are bad but you must have alot more experiance. I am not the master of reef tanks but I now alot of xperts that say reefs arnt for the unexperinced shouldent keep corals.

 

[Colin]

Fortunately a larger proportion of aquarium corals are now captive farmed (fragged).

 

[interways]

Hi nini,

I'm keeping a large 300G reef tank for over 7 years now, with a lot of corals in it. By now I know pretty well which corals are hardy an what they require. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. BTW, my octo tank is connected to my reef tank, they use the same water cycle...

clownfish, read my other post regarding your questions/remarks: cuttle fish

 

[nini]

thanx interways!!!

 

[clownfish]

oh I am not aware they have breeded so well. if captive breed then there is now problem with me sorry

 

[nini]

this one place said that bimac were not reef compatable,is this true?

 

[Nancy]

Yes, in the sense that they're big enough to move your rocks (and creatures) around, so they can disturb things in your reef. When they're younger they'll eat your clean-up crew. They can eat fish, if you have them, and fish can eat your octopus. That's why we've been very conservative in suggesting things for you to get for your first tank.

Also, I don't know whether you mentioned it in this thread, but I'd avoid clams. Also, crawfish can't tolerate salt water for more than a few hours. Snails are no problem at all in a saltwater tank. Crabs and shrimp are OK.

Nancy

 

[nini]

great, crabs and shrimp will do just fine, thanks nancy
nini