our reefs at night

Has anyone really noticed how much our tanks change after the lights go out? Last eve I was trying to feed my NPS corals at 11:00ish as it's the only time the sun coral is even partially open. I fed them and came back to see if the sun was opening. The dendro moved a bit and caught my eye. There was an icky little crab? spider? sitting right next to it digging out it's food!!!!! I tried to catch the tiny beast but he ran off into the rockwork. ARGH!

All sorts of creepy crawlys come out at night!

Spider crab! Might have to set a trap for that one. I get super creeped out when I find an unexpected crab or worm thing in the tank. But sometimes you find an odd creature and have to look them up. Did your sun coral open up at all yet? Mine finally did ever so slightly this morning and I got a few heads fed, I've been doing a lot of feeding, waiting, feeding, waiting and did a big water change yesterday to make up for all the nutrients in the water.

No. My sun coral is yet to open all the way but it's getting closer. I finally resorted to trying to feed every single night and same as you, feed and wait and feed and wait. And, also, same as you, big water changes to make up for the nutrients. I find that all that attention to the NPS tank makes it really dear to me. It's like hand feeding baby farm animals or something.

So, as for the spider crab. Has anyone ever set a trap for one? It gives me the eeby jeebies. I'll check online and post up here what I find to catch the little bugger. I know Holly made a fish trap but it's probably bigger than what I'd need for this little creep.

It seems like some good options are set my rock out on a towel and see if he runs for cover or to set a trap like Holly's fish trap made out of a plastic bottle. I'll probably try the towel thing first. I hope it works.

I had another incident last eve only this was with my emerald crab. I got a new little plate coral probably the size of an eraser. I carefully placed it in a shell so it had a cup shaped holder and wouldn't blow around or get buried in sand. I checked a couple of minutes later and it was gone! I looked and looked, dug all around, picked up rocks in a panic. Nothing. A bit later I came back to check again and noticed the emerald sitting under the rock structure just back from where this little coral had been. He was holding onto something and picking at it. Geesh! I shooed him away and he dropped it and sure enough it was my new coral! It is now under a glass for protection. I hope it recovers. What a nice welcome it got in my tank huh?

Problems are persistent in this hobby for sure! I've heard of people setting a glass cup next to some live rock with food in it. The intention is that the crab will go in to get the food but the glass is too slippery for it to get out.

That sounds like an easier solution. I'll try that first. I hate spiders! I really had the creepy crawlies after seeing that minibeast.

The spider crab made an appearance again tonight. So, trap will be set tomorrow eve. I feel creepy, crawly for hours after seeing that thing. I'll prolly have nightmares tonight. Yes. I will be a murderer. You can hate me.

I fed my 20 gallon Lionfish tank last night and was horrified by the bloom of bristle worms. They were everywhere. I counted at least 2 dozen. One big fellow was over 4 inches long and as thick as a pencil. I took him out. Too creepy. Can yo have too many of them? Should you have none at all? Do they eat algae. If so they may be my saviours.

I've not heard of them being much for clearing out algae. I think they are better for eating detritus and stuff. From what I remember reading, their poplution will grow if there's a lot of food available. I would think the lionfish feeding habits and that small tank, there's probably a lot of food available for those buggers.

They had a lot of them at Hazelton a month or so ago. During a water change, we plucked a lot of them. They are icky when they're all over the place.



Update on my spider. I put food in a jar and fell asleep. In the morning, the food was still in the jar but he was not. My poor NPS corals had to sense food in the tank all night and not get fed. And, all for nothing! I'll find a way!

I did some more research on the bristle worms. Mine didn't show up until I fed the Lion flakes. Otherwise he is hand fed with raw shrimp, so there isn't any excess food, from that. On my reading one guy said on bristle worms. "Who else is going to clean out the rocks" So for now I'll leave them as long as they don't do a lot of daytime crawling.

Bristleworms are harmless, their population will depend on how much spare food is around so you'll see blooms and then none.

Entertained by my tank yes, but equally entertained by the discussions here. Constantly chuckling out loud with the dialog. Thank you for making my day.

There's always something going on if you have a reef tank, right? And, if there's nothing going on, then you're not paying attention! LOL

I think I'm going to try the cup trap again this eve. I haven't fed for a couple of days so maybe he'll be more desperate and fall for it.

Bristleworms are a nice plus in a tank. They are scavengers and will eat anything dead, keyword....dead. They do not kill to feed from what I have read and only bad thing is they can sting but it doesn't hurt us. Like a mild BTA sting. And Cammie, boo! watch out for the spider next your u! lol. jk I too was chuckling and laughing as I read this thread

Hey, if it's creepy it's creepy. I still think you all might have been a little taken aback, by the big one of mine, all thrashing around on the end of the tongs and snarling. And when dozens and dozens of those pink bristle worms pop out of every hole there is, well it sure makes you reconsider looking too closely. But maybe it's just a girl thing. LOL

BUAHHHHH she said it was snarling!!! OMG too funny. I believe you tho, my lionfish roars from time to time lol

Since we're talking about this, I still haven't caught the bugger and now, I put an emerald crab in this tank so maybe he'll be the one I catch. Sigh.