Help! My tank is scaring me!

AndyPlom

Reefing newb
Hi Guys,

I need some advice... I have a 30l Marine BiOrb and I put 2kg of live rock in their. The tank has been cycling for a few weeks now and I'm three weeks away from my first fish and I'm getting concerned that there is too much life in my tank. At the moment I have Spotted:

1 small starfish
lots of bristle worms
Some kind of tiny baby fish
and some other strange living things

and none of this I have added, it all seems to have grown on the rocks. Needless to say, the tank is pretty little so I don't want to much stuff filling it up, I'm considering adding my first fish early so that it might eat some of this stuff but I really don't know, I'm rather worried...

Help! Any constructive advice is amazing
 
I don't suppose you could catch a pic of the little fish? It does happen when you get live rock - you get all sorts of hitchhikers on there. So far, none of the things you've described seem harmful. The tiny fish thing is intriguing :D
 
Where are you in your cycle? I wouldn't be concerned with the livestock just yet. That doesn't seem like much rock though. With such a small tank you're going to need to do frequent water changes anyhow,
 
Thanks for the response, It was two weeks and two days ago that water was put into the tank, the live rock was added almost immediately and I added a fire shrimp last week, I'm scheduled to add my first fish in 4 weeks, but it looks like there are some baby fish in there already. My friend, who is a marine biologist said, "Never be worried about too much life", but I'm slightly worried!
 
I don't suppose you could catch a pic of the little fish? It does happen when you get live rock - you get all sorts of hitchhikers on there. So far, none of the things you've described seem harmful. The tiny fish thing is intriguing :D
It is incredibly difficult to get a photo of the little fishes, they are very nimble and tiny, however a part of me is kindof chuffed that I've got some freebies?! I think I might have to just wait for them to grow a bit before deciding what to do with them...
 
I don't think they are fish, but they sound more like pods (amphipods and copepods). All of the things you listed are normal hitch hikers on live rock, and are a good sign that the rock is healthy and "alive". It's nothing to be worried about, you want these guys in your tank.
 
Your friend is right.. sort of.. never be worried about the quantity of coral, snails, pods, shrimp, bristle worms, star fish and such. They are not bio load but bio fixers.

You can absolutely have to much life in the form of fish bio load!
 
I don't think they are fish, but they sound more like pods (amphipods and copepods). .

+1


Baby fish (fry) are very delicate and die easy and being dropped into a new tank with out even being acclimation . I don’t think it’s possible that they could be fish:shock:
 
Biffer is right- its probably pods- very common hitchiker. the rest are fine- even though I'm not a fan of bristle worms
 
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