dcabboa Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 I have something in my 12 gallon Nano-Cube tank. I haven't seen it yet, but here's how I know it's there. The past couple of nights something has come out and chewed all the surface off a small section of live rock, all the way to clean white rock. It went across a piece of putty and left a grove maybe one half inch long. I've tried to look for it at night, but haven't caught a glimpse of it yet. Other denizens of the tank include a Watchman Goby, a Maroon clown, a humongous RBTA that I haven't figured out how to move into a larger tank because he's attached firmly in a cave, some xenia, some small Zoas and a couple of mushrooms. I also have a few small bristle worms, but I have gotten rid of several to keep the population down. The tank is going on ten months old and nothing odd has happened in there before now. Whatever it is has not bothered any inhabitants (yet). Anybody got any ideas? Thnx :*( Link to comment
Caesar777 Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 Sounds like the work of a small urchin. Maybe a limpet. Those are the two most common rock-scrapers. Bristle worms are harmless, and generally the population will control itself, but it's fine to take some out. Link to comment
dcabboa Posted July 3, 2005 Author Share Posted July 3, 2005 Thanks Caesar. I had a feeling it might be an urchin. Wonder why he didn't show up back when I had a bunch of hair algae and could have used the help to get rid of it? I'm going to try to sneak up on him at night. Link to comment
gpjoe Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 My emerald crab is a rock scraper. Link to comment
dcabboa Posted July 3, 2005 Author Share Posted July 3, 2005 I don't have one that I know of, but then I haven't seen what it is - some hitch hiker. Link to comment
Caesar777 Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 Some urchins prefer coralline algae over others. Also, many animals prefer short hair algae, and avoid the longer stuff. Emerald crabs rarely eat coralline, and when they do, they pick it very slowly. And they wouldn't leave the gouge marks in the epoxy like an urchin would. (Urchins will bore rocks, some minimally and some will make full burrows.) Link to comment
dcabboa Posted July 4, 2005 Author Share Posted July 4, 2005 Sounds like I have an urchin. I've seen some very small burrows in the rock with a bit of sand piled outside them in the past months. And there are grooves in this new activity, but small, so I think he's a baby. Maybe he's just now venturing out since I haven't seen him before. I tried to sneak up on him last night with no luck, but I plan to get a look if possible. Thanks for the help! Link to comment
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