What’s the most unusual thing you have put in your tank...

[Cannedfish]

I’m one upping @pokerdobe and double jacking @Snow_Phoenix topic...

 

So what’s the most unusual/weird thing you have put in your tank? I’ll go first, I think the weirdest thing I have bought has definitely been my walking dendro...

 

 

[pokerdobe]

Hmm...

 

I once found a commensal shrimp that supposedly lives symbiotically with clams. Too bad I keep killing my clams. But he certainly wasn't purposely put in there. 

[Cannedfish]

@StinkyBunny I feel like you have definitely seen some weird sh$t...

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

Definitely snake polyps. They’re so odd looking, and their feeding response (only at night when they tank is dark) is something right out of the Kevin Bacon classic film from my childhood, Tremors. 
 

Side note - see the missus picture in the photo of the month contest with Bozo the Clown Goby making a bed out of them. 

[WV Reefer]

All of the coolest things I have put in my tank were accidents. Like:

 

The Creep

 

 

or the Skeleton Shrimp that looked like he was holding a beer:

 

 

or the Nudibranch that ate all of my Sympodium but I didn’t care because it was so pretty:

 

[Tired]

On purpose? Depends on the definition. Either this black, photosynthetic, branching sponge I have, that I've never seen anywhere but at that one LFS, or my candycane pistol shrimp. The sponge is the most unique, the pistol shrimp is (arguably) weirdest due to the physics of its little claw. 

 

Accidentally? Probably the sea squirt. My closest relative in that tank, excluding the fish, and it's just a little bag of nothing. 

[billygoat]

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I give you... the Maw. Look upon its countenance and know that your gaze falls upon a murderer.

 

 

How many fish has this beastly mushroom consumed? Two? Three? I can't remember. In fact it has eaten all sorts of things: porcelain crabs, shrimp, hermits, snails, the corpses of various animals... anything that swims, crawls, perches, or wriggles is a meal. Its size is tremendous, its crimes are numberless, its hunger remains unsated. It is ageless and probably indestructible. And the most ironic part of the entire story is that I actually got it as a freebie - a bonus specimen added to my KP Aquatics order.

 

Bonus! Hah! 🤣 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Many years ago, I purchased a very large acro skeleton for a new nanotank I was setting up for my mantis shrimp (at that time). 

 

The skeleton turned out to have a *lot of hitchikers, including various tiny filter-feeding crabs. I was lucky enough to have caught one of the crabs and it turned out to be very pretty:

 

 

It was super small. Roughly half the size of a pea. 🥰

[DISQUALIFIED-QQ]

6 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

All of the coolest things I have put in my tank were accidents. Like:

 

The Creep

 

 

or the Skeleton Shrimp that looked like he was holding a beer:

 

 

or the Nudibranch that ate all of my Sympodium but I didn’t care because it was so pretty:

 

yooooooooooo i want a caprellid!

[BearTheSquare]

Weirdest accidental addition has to be the polyclad hitchhiker that I just found while looking around my tank, thing has to be 5-plus inches. It’s eaten around 6 snails and an emerald crab since I started my tank and I’d always thought something was wrong, but couldn’t figure it out. Most likely going to have a few nightmares about it tonight and figure out how to catch it on fire tomorrow.

 

Weirdest purposeful addition has to be flucozanole to take care of a bryprosis problem. Never thought I would put yeast infection meds in my tank before, but it worked well. Plus, now I am the proud owner of an extra 19 yeast infection pills (sadly with no aftermarket value). 

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

19 minutes ago, BearTheSquare said:

Weirdest accidental addition has to be the polyclad hitchhiker that I just found while looking around my tank, thing has to be 5-plus inches. It’s eaten around 6 snails and an emerald crab since I started my tank and I’d always thought something was wrong, but couldn’t figure it out. Most likely going to have a few nightmares about it tonight and figure out how to catch it on fire tomorrow.

 

Weirdest purposeful addition has to be flucozanole to take care of a bryprosis problem. Never thought I would put yeast infection meds in my tank before, but it worked well. Plus, now I am the proud owner of an extra 19 yeast infection pills (sadly with no aftermarket value). 

 

Sounds like you haven't met Chad..

 

 

[BearTheSquare]

@NoOneLikesADryTang it’s funny because I read that last year and just thought I would’ve noticed something like that in my tank. Chad and other polyclads are quite possibly the most elusive player in saltwater tank history. I’ll have to read it again and figure it out lol.

[NoOneLikesADryTang]

Just now, BearTheSquare said:

@NoOneLikesADryTang it’s funny because I read that last year and just thought I would’ve noticed something like that in my tank. Chad and other polyclads are quite possibly the most elusive player in saltwater tank history. I’ll have to read it again and figure it out lol.

They are indeed - that was in my better funnier half's tank. If it weren't for a few beers late at night, we still may not have seen the damn thing. They don't come out with lights on much, and even when they do, they blend in so well. It took a few days after that to catch the damn thing. We pulled the rock and put it in another tank by itself and set a trap. Feel free to shoot me a message if needed. 

[EfrainChicagoDeepdish]

I once went to a fish store and while perusing the frag tanks I saw a thing.  (This back when old tank syndrome was a big buzz word and biodiversity was the goal).  After staring at a rock that happen to have a few mushrooms on it for an eternity, I bought said thing with three antennae for $10 but definitely told the employee I wanted the rhodactis mushroom rock (I don't care for mushrooms).  Threw it in my 28g cube and was extremely proud of myself.  I spent every spare moment of a month trying to looking up what I just put in my tank with my beloved jawfish who I felt was in imminent danger.  It was a type of eunice worm and I never saw it again in my tank.  I never noticed anything missing.  

 

Currently I have a few Christmas tree rock hermits and I continue to enjoy staring at rocks for hours.  I'm easily entertained. 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

50 minutes ago, EfrainChicagoDeepdish said:

I once went to a fish store and while perusing the frag tanks I saw a thing.  (This back when old tank syndrome was a big buzz word and biodiversity was the goal).  After staring at a rock that happen to have a few mushrooms on it for an eternity, I bought said thing with three antennae for $10 but definitely told the employee I wanted the rhodactis mushroom rock (I don't care for mushrooms).  Threw it in my 28g cube and was extremely proud of myself.  I spent every spare moment of a month trying to looking up what I just put in my tank with my beloved jawfish who I felt was in imminent danger.  It was a type of eunice worm and I never saw it again in my tank.  I never noticed anything missing.  

 

Currently I have a few Christmas tree rock hermits and I continue to enjoy staring at rocks for hours.  I'm easily entertained. 

 

That's so cute! Do they come out of the rock at all?

[EfrainChicagoDeepdish]

@Snow_Phoenix.  What I've read says they don't leave their holes in the rock however I did either have a new one show up or I had one move that I hadn't noticed before.  

 

They are called paguritta harmsi.  

[Tired]

Sessile hermits, huh? Interesting, and I love the feather antennae. Where did you get them?