What a Hitch Hiker!!!

[FL Knifemaker]

Thanks again for the warm welcomes!

Nancy,

I'm going to borrow some night vision equipment tomorrow from a good customer of mine. I should have thought of that before!! Attached is a pic of the tank, he's in there someplace.

Fish Fad,

I'm not pushing TBS on anyone but I will say that they air ship several times per day and they are very close to Tampa Airport. Their rock comes in several times per week. If you check aound on some of the other marine forums you will find that they have a damn good rep.

 

[Octomush]

Very nice! Im sure ur octos cuiriosity will soon becoemt o much for him and he will come out and check u out.

 

[FL Knifemaker]

A Octo Update..............

Well first off, my little Hitchhiker is alive and well. Thanks to some night vision technology, I've finally managed to catch a glimps of him. Actually, last night I got a real good look at him!

It's easy to tell where he's hiding now, due to the pile of empty hermit crab shells gathering at the base of his liverock lair He doesn't seem to touch the shrimp I bought for him, I guess my cleaning crew is tastier!!!

Plan A is as follows.........I was planing on setting up a 20 long with a refugium as my first Nano tank. I guess I have to get moving on this ASAP. Once the tank is set up and filled, it will be easy to just transfer him in the liverock. My feeling is I can make a very tight fitting top for the 20 gal tank and it will keep him happy until I can properly set up a larger tank for him. He's still quite small.

Any thoughts or other ideas, greatly appreciated and considered !!!

 

[know-it-all]

from my research, a 20 long may not suit him for very long.

At the LFS I go to, they got in a small octo and decided
to put her on display in a 50 gal.
great display, very active octo, but is the size of a softball after 2 months.

 

[oscar]

wow, thats pretty incredible liverock!

im not an expert at all but that isnt aiptasia on the rock on the right in the first pic is it?

sorry if i am totally completely wrong as usual.

 

[cthulhu77]

Nice looking tank, FLK ! I can't see any aiptasia , but I also just woke up...
greg

 

[FL Knifemaker]

I only need him to stay in the 20 long for about a month or so. I have another BIG tank in the works. I might even set up the refugium that comes with the big tank for the Octo. My goal is to get the Octo out of my established tank ASAP and into a comfy temporary home until the big tank is set up. Setting up the big tank with the holidays coming is stressing the funds!!!!

As far as aiptasia............ The LR has lots of barnacles, attached clams and corals with clear tentacles. I'm not sure what they are called. The LR also has several spaghetti worms which are interesting to watch and seem harmless. There were several things that looked like aiptasia that I plucked off and they haven't come back. If any of them start spreading out of control, I'll start "pruning"

 

[oscar]

good they havent come back - the thing i saw must have been a coral or something

i wouldnt recomend 'pruning' if that involves scraping or cutting but i had success with taking the rock out quickly and burning them off them with a lighter - dont know what the greenies think of this but i didnt want my tank taken over!!! :?

so vengeful :x

good luck and again - really nice rock

 

[Cephkid]

DEAR GOD, NOOOOOO! DON'T "PRUNE" THEM! THAT'S HOW THEY REPRODUCE! (pedal-laceration) For every one you pull out, six more will appear... use kalk-wasser paste injections.

 

[Nancy]

Injecting them with boiling water using a syringe works too!

Nancy

 

[know-it-all]

I looked at those photos, they look more like a yellow polyp coral.

I don't think those are aptasia in the pic.

I'm not sure and would need a closer look.

 

[Cephkid]

yanow what...yer right-about the YELLOW things. if there are RED aiptaisa, it IS aiptaisa. The yellows are yellow polyp coral, very nice ones at that...

 

[FL Knifemaker]

OK, Pruning.......

Yes, I know they will grow back. My friend uses a meat injector syringe with the point ground off. He squirts a paste on the base of them, probably kalk-wasser as Cephkid mentioned. He'll be over this weekend with all his gear!

The large "patch" is yellow polyp, I didn't realize that's what you guys where talking about. I'll try to take some pics of the other not so friendly looking ones and post them. There is so much stuff on this LR new things seem to pop out or apear almost daily

 

[Cephkid]

Yep, they're Parazoanthus gracilis. (Worth a pretty penny in the right market- $15-20+)

 

[oscar]

right... yellow polyps... i knew those things looked familiar!!! lol

haha well there you go... i do know next to nothing!!!! lol

even better!!! those polyps are cool!