2k3Taco Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 I jus bought a 3lb live rock for my nano tank, its a new set up... i have found no real signs of life on the rock, yet. Well, it is doing this weird thing... Sometimes I watch it, just looking for a little worm, or maybe SOMETHING... Theres one part of it that was obviously broken from a larger piece, and its more porous than the rest... about once every couple of hours, it farts out a puff of brownish particles (smaller than sand) into the water, the particles vanish in a second.. its just weird. i turned the HOB off, thinking it was just some kind of build up from the circulation, but it did it without the HOB running. Is there a little flatulent animal on there or something? Link to comment
ejmeier Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 Just tagging along, as I'm interested in this too. I have a piece of LR (okay, its just a regular rock with tons of holes in it, but it has been in my various reef tanks for years, and probably has more life on/in it than any other pieces of my LR) that does the same thing. I saw it happen only once or twice though. I noticed before I had any sort of surface skimming (overflow box) on the tank that this stuff that was squirted out collected at the top to form a disgusting layer of gunk. Link to comment
jjharrisx4 Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 Maybe a mantis shrimp cleaning out his new burrow? Link to comment
ejmeier Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 Maybe a mantis shrimp cleaning out his new burrow? Funny you should say that, as I hear clicking noises at night. At first I thought it was the heater coming on, then I realized "wait a minute, heaters don't make clicking noises!" It may also be a pistol shrimp or something else, but I have never seen anything come out of the rock. As I said, that rock has been around for probably close to two years in various reef tanks, who knows what it has picked up. I don't know though, I just had a Cherub Pygmy Angel mysteriously disappear a few days ago... probably completely unrelated, but you never know. Link to comment
2k3Taco Posted June 24, 2003 Author Share Posted June 24, 2003 Its a pretty small rock... maybe 7 inches wide, 2 inches deep, and 3.5 inches tall. the rock didnt smell pleasant, but it didnt really stink. Link to comment
jjharrisx4 Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 clicking sounds.....missing, smal fish...sounds like a hungry, actively feeding mantis Link to comment
FlyGTI Posted June 24, 2003 Share Posted June 24, 2003 That would be my guess as well. Mantis shrimp, as you probably well know, can take down animals several times their size. They're mean little bastages. Link to comment
2k3Taco Posted June 24, 2003 Author Share Posted June 24, 2003 another forum said "spaghetti worms" hmn.. Link to comment
archimed Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 son of a *****! I KNEW I heard a sound in my tank! I've been re-curing some completely uncured LR for the last month. For the last couple of weeks I've heard a clicking/popping sound, and I just assumed that it was bubbles popping on the surface. I turned off my powerheads, and the sound continued! I think I'll spend some time hunting in my tank afterhours and finding that mantis shrimp. I had given a FW bath to my rock (yes, yes, I know..) to remove debris and encourage some inevitable dieoff. It scared out a few mantis shrimp, but a couple must have survived. Thanks for the heads up. Link to comment
Dennis_said Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Are MANTIS SHRIMP the ones that burrow? Or are those Pistol shrimps? I have a shrimp that's in my fuge... he's "stuck" at the very bottom of the sand. Very small.. maybe 3/4 of an inch long and pretty thin. Link to comment
FlyGTI Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Mantis hide in rock. Pistols dig holes. Link to comment
Dennis_said Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Ah awesome, thanks.... so can I throw a gobey in my 4 gallon fuge and let him chill w/ that pistol? Or hope he does? Just pretty much wondering if the refugium parameters are safe? Link to comment
Toooloud Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 If you have a Mantis, just be carefull and try and remove it now while you can.. Once he gets started he will go.. Killing your snails and fish.. I remeber i recided to remove the rock he was hiding in.. I was soo mad becouse i tried everything to get rid of him as he killed a Blue tang i had.. he was about 2 inches in size.. So i finally said screw it.. i got a bucket of hot water and went to pull out the rock.. and when i did i got the rock out of the water and the bastard turned around came out and slashed my hand.. I had a 1.5 inch cut across my Finger.. But in the long run the bastard was Boiled!! Link to comment
cjm033 Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 "Mantis hide in rock. Pistols dig holes." not true about the mantis there are different speceies of mantis that burrow and there are ones that live in rocks o dennis the only real way for u to find out if its a mantis or pistol just post a pic of it here Link to comment
Dennis_said Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Thanks CJM, gotta buy a digi cam... if only the nano wasn't taking all my money away!!! >_ Link to comment
kennerd Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Actually, if you just get a good look at it, it's easy to tell the difference. pistols look almost exactly like a lobster or crawfish and have pronounced long extended claws, typically one bigger than the other: Whereas mantis shrimp have their raptorial appendages (smashers or spearers) tucked under their heads like a praying mantis (hence the name). In fact, when viewed from above, the mantis looks more like a caterpillar than any shrimp. Link to comment
Dennis_said Posted June 25, 2003 Share Posted June 25, 2003 Awesome thanks, I guess mine's a pistol then :-D Will a goby survive in a fuge? I want to experiment :-D Link to comment
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