[smallaussiereef]

Hey guys obviously i am new here, about a month ago i started my verry first reef aquarium, it is just short of 2 ft long and has a capacity of about 18 gallons.

It is actually custom made to fit inside a television.... lighting is taken care of 2 aquaone power compact flurescents (one bright white one blue), which seem to be dooin the trick i have these set up on 24 hour timers what lengtth of the day do you's recoment these to be timed on and off...

About 3 and a half weeks ago i purchased 5.5KG of live rock from my nearest aquarium joint that stocks marine gear..... in the past weeks we have discovered that this rock contains tons of life.. including about 3 different types of crabs ranging from about 5mm to 2cm...... also i have discovered at least 3 mantis shrimp.....

my bigest concern is weather i should remove these???? will they do any harm?????....... i have just recently added a bubble tip anenomy and 2 small percula clowns.............

how am i going to catch the crabs and shrimps....?????
Should i remove all of them???

Thanks in advance....

[scubadude]

Welcome to reefland!

Your lighting seems to be fine for simple low lighting animals, as far as the time frame I would start about a 10hr (lights on) on photoperiod and 14hr (lights off) off photoperiod to simulate day/nite. If your tank gets too warm (above 84) you might want to decrease you photoperiod.

You might want to get that mantis shrimp out, as he might do some damage to everyone else and rearrange your whole tank. If you can get a small plastic soda bottle and cut the top third off (the funnel part) and flip it around and put it back into the bottle inverting the mouth piece into the inside of the bottle. You can use some silicone or superglue to glue it this way. put a small piece of bait inside the bottle and place in your tank. Your crabs may take the bait and get stuck inside the bottle/trap. Good Luck and I hope this helps.

Rocky

Originally Posted by smallaussiereef

Hey guys obviously i am new here, about a month ago i started my verry first reef aquarium, it is just short of 2 ft long and has a capacity of about 18 gallons.

It is actually custom made to fit inside a television.... lighting is taken care of 2 aquaone power compact flurescents (one bright white one blue), which seem to be dooin the trick i have these set up on 24 hour timers what lengtth of the day do you's recoment these to be timed on and off...

About 3 and a half weeks ago i purchased 5.5KG of live rock from my nearest aquarium joint that stocks marine gear..... in the past weeks we have discovered that this rock contains tons of life.. including about 3 different types of crabs ranging from about 5mm to 2cm...... also i have discovered at least 3 mantis shrimp.....

my bigest concern is weather i should remove these???? will they do any harm?????....... i have just recently added a bubble tip anenomy and 2 small percula clowns.............

how am i going to catch the crabs and shrimps....?????
Should i remove all of them???

Thanks in advance....

[Ninong]

Hi smallaussiereef, welcome to Reefland!

The crabs should be removed if you want to play it safe. The mantis shrimp MUST be removed. The mantis shrimp are a threat to kill your fish.

Since your tank is so small and since it has just been set up, I think you might try removing all of the live rock to a separate container to try to get the crabs and mantis shrimp to evacuate the rock. Use a plastic tub (Rubbermaid, etc.) with a piece of eggcrate or something similar elevated a few centimeters above the bottom with whatever is handy (small glass bowls, spare PVC fittings, etc.). The specific gravity of the saltwater in this container should be at least 1.032. This should cause the crabs and shrimp to leave the rock and fall to the bottom of the container.

You will probably want to have two containers set up. Make one of them specific gravity of 1.032 and the other with specific gravity the same as your aquarium. Remove two or three pieces of live rock at a time from your aquarium and place them on the eggcrate or other grid material in the container with the high salinity. Allow one or two minutes for all of the crabs and shrimp to evacuate the rock and then place that rock into the other container, the one with normal salinity. Remove any crabs and mantis shrimp that happen to fall to the bottom of the container as you proceed. Once you have done this with all of your live rock, you will have to decide if you think you have removed all of the crabs and shrimp or if you think a second run through the high salinity might be necessary before returning the rock to the aquarium.

This will not do permanent harm to the live rock as long as there are no valuable corals or other inverts on it that you want to preserve. The alternative is to try to trap the crabs and mantis shrimp in the aquarium but that may take forever and may not work. Since your tank is so small, you might want to go with the hypersalinity method.

Good luck,

[miareefer]

Originally Posted by Ninong

Hi smallaussiereef, welcome to Reefland!

The crabs should be removed if you want to play it safe. The mantis shrimp MUST be removed. The mantis shrimp are a threat to kill your fish.

Since your tank is so small and since it has just been set up, I think you might try removing all of the live rock to a separate container to try to get the crabs and mantis shrimp to evacuate the rock. Use a plastic tub (Rubbermaid, etc.) with a piece of eggcrate or something similar elevated a few centimeters above the bottom with whatever is handy (small glass bowls, spare PVC fittings, etc.). The specific gravity of the saltwater in this container should be at least 1.032. This should cause the crabs and shrimp to leave the rock and fall to the bottom of the container.

You will probably want to have two containers set up. Make one of them specific gravity of 1.032 and the other with specific gravity the same as your aquarium. Remove two or three pieces of live rock at a time from your aquarium and place them on the eggcrate or other grid material in the container with the high salinity. Allow one or two minutes for all of the crabs and shrimp to evacuate the rock and then place that rock into the other container, the one with normal salinity. Remove any crabs and mantis shrimp that happen to fall to the bottom of the container as you proceed. Once you have done this with all of your live rock, you will have to decide if you think you have removed all of the crabs and shrimp or if you think a second run through the high salinity might be necessary before returning the rock to the aquarium.

This will not do permanent harm to the live rock as long as there are no valuable corals or other inverts on it that you want to preserve. The alternative is to try to trap the crabs and mantis shrimp in the aquarium but that may take forever and may not work. Since your tank is so small, you might want to go with the hypersalinity method.

Good luck,

Welcome to Reefland

True True True
Dont take the risk with the mantis You will regret it .It would be such a shame for you to lose a fish so needlessly and the crabs can cause all types of destruction and problems .Excellent advice given by Rocky and Ninong play it safe and take it . You could always put the mantis in a small tank thats what i do they are very hardy and longlived and are amazing to view .What part are OZ are you in ime in Tom Price Western Australia 1600kms north of Perth.
Mia

[MasterBlaster]

Hey, it's a small tank already. You might want to take a gander at this site...

http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/

Mantis shrimp need loving, too!