Bought live rock, now I need some ID's please

Alot of people including myself consider kenya trees a pest coral.They drop branches and multiply very fast suffocating other desirable corals.The peppermints should belong to the family Lysmata wurdemanni but that doesn't necessarily mean all of them have a taste for aiptasias.
 
I just got my self some Kenya and I like it. I my self want things that will take off quickly and the pink and purplish color I dig it. Just as much as I dig my zoa next will be shrooms and that will probability be it for me. Sure I would want more extravagant coral's but not till I get a bigger tank fully set up for my self.

But finding any thing coral, sponge, some stars, and other things you get on them are kool in my book. One mans pest is another "fish friend" I say. but then again thats the gamble you get with live rock. So yeah every last one of us takes that chance to get what we call "pests" with what live rock we do get. That's why we all have CUC ;)
 
Well, went and picked up what I needed from the store and just found out the hard way that Sally lightfoot crabs are not just omnivores (not sure I spelled that correctly) :frustrat: . He really liked the peppermint shrimp :(
We had some hair alge at the start of our aquarium and the other guys sold me a sally lightfoot.
Better stick with you guys for info, before I buy.
Ok, off to figure out how to trap a crab before he gets my other peppermint.
Any tips, or tricks would be greatly appreciated.
 
I had bad luck with sally lightfoots myself. I bought a pair years ago (when I thought they were reef safe) and they started taking out my smaller fish one by one. :(

You can make a trap out of a plastic soda bottle. Cut the bottle in half where the neck begins, and invert the neck part into the bottom part of the bottle. Then put some bait in it, and leave it near where the crab lives.
 
The one thing I didn't consult with you guys on, or buy from the usual sources and look what happened. LOL.
Well, my first experience in crab fishing :grumble: .
I'll give the water bottle a try, i'm a little concerned though because of his size. He's about 3 inches across. Thanks for the advice.
 
Sally Lightfoots are creepy to me. And there was a certain employee at our LFS who I didn't really believe a lot of the time. He was trying REALLY hard to talk me into a lightfoot. No thank you!
 
I have an aptasia problem. I zap them with aptasia-x and it works great but in my big tank I cant get it all, so I have to do it every few weeks. The thing I found with my peppermint shrimp is I over feed my tank a bit, because I worry about my scooter blenny getting enough food. And the pep's would just eat the food and never touched my aptasia :frustrat:
 
That is exactly my same scenario. I overfeed too and the Peppermints never touch an Aiptasia. I haven't replaced them since my tank drain and I lost everything, EXCEPT the Aiptasia!!!! Go figure.
 
Sally Lightfoots are creepy to me. And there was a certain employee at our LFS who I didn't really believe a lot of the time. He was trying REALLY hard to talk me into a lightfoot. No thank you!
Yeah they are creepy looking (my husband thought he was really cool looking), but it did a great job on the hair algae I was having an issue with at the time. But now I know, find another means of getting rid of the hair algae, LOL.

Not to mention this guy is really giving us trouble getting it out of our tank. He's a greedy little bugger and really wants the food in the bottle, he just hasn't gone for it:frustrat:. I was thinking I would have better luck in the evening.
 
That is exactly my same scenario. I overfeed too and the Peppermints never touch an Aiptasia. I haven't replaced them since my tank drain and I lost everything, EXCEPT the Aiptasia!!!! Go figure.
Yeah, my little peppermint that's left hasn't really gone for to much. I figure he's getting used to the tank. I don't usually feed this tank to much, but since the sally ate the other peppermint I have made an exception to try and keep the other alive. :grumble:
 
Maybe if you cut down your feeding a bit, instead of increasing it, it will help. Both to catch the crab because it wont get as much scavenging, and the pep will eat at the aptasia more. Of course if you have other guys that need the feeding don't make them go hungry. But it might help to cut it back just a bit. Maybe even just for an extra day or so to catch that crab.
 
Maybe if you cut down your feeding a bit, instead of increasing it, it will help. Both to catch the crab because it wont get as much scavenging, and the pep will eat at the aptasia more. Of course if you have other guys that need the feeding don't make them go hungry. But it might help to cut it back just a bit. Maybe even just for an extra day or so to catch that crab.


So, it's official. He's to big for the trap (it was so close!). But, I think I can get a bigger bottle in there, it might be tight though. I think I am going to cut back on the food, like you said. Only food going into the tank will be going into the trap. Hope that will work.:?. My only fear with the cut back on food, is he will go after the other peppermint. I hope not.
 
You might also try a glass bowl...like a fish bowl. Put it next to some rocks it hangs out on and it might crawl off and into the bowl after some food in the bottom of it. Then it wont be able to crawl out of the bowl.
 
You might also try a glass bowl...like a fish bowl. Put it next to some rocks it hangs out on and it might crawl off and into the bowl after some food in the bottom of it. Then it wont be able to crawl out of the bowl.

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I think I even have one floating around here. :moped:
 
Ok, so there's 2 more things that I have found.
1 is some bubbles we found (removed because of some reading on bubble algae, so rather be safe than sorry). But, would like to know for experience.

The other i'm totally unsure of. It's about 4 inches tall and a little over 1 inch wide.. It's the piece all of the mushrooms are sitting on. I thought it was a piece of metal at first, my husband said it felt more like bone. Black and brown in color. reminds me of a shoe horn, as far as shape.
But, anyways at night with the lights out it opens and closes. What could this be:question:

I'm going to try for a better pic. but this is what I have now.
 

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