[Green Marine]

about 2 weeks ago i purchased what the lady said green striped mushrooms from the lfs. so for 2 weeks now they have been looking good and even my clowns are hosting them. then a few days ago i noticed one of the mushrooms pulsing..wich was akward to me because ive never seen them move before. i watched it for several minutes and then though nothing of it. The next day in noticed a small white polyp like thing which looks like some sort of feather duster next to that same mushroom, but that mushroom was like smooshed in unlike the others which were puffed out real nice. so i again i thought cool im having mushroom babies. then today i woke up to find that the white polyp looking thing was gone and the mushroom had moved itself under the small piece of rock and the large piece of live rock... so it was smooshed inbetween them and it is the brightest green i have ever seen. i havent touched it yet, because i figured if it got itself under there surly it can get itself out. iv tried reading up on it but i cant find any info. and my lfs said it was unlikly that they would breed... and ideas at all?? please help

oh and by the way i have had no new additions and everything in the tank is normal. residents-- 2 clowns -1 hawian strawberry crab who gets fed well

[Green Marine]

wow as a matter of fact another mushroom is beginning to pulse.....

[FishPharmD]

I've got the same species of mushrooms. I started with one and now have ~15. They will frequently "close up", especially when you lift your hood or turn off your lights or they are touched. I think it's best just to leave them where they are....they will propogate through splitting or sometimes you will see a tiny mushroom growing next to a bigger one, or in a different part of your tank. They are beautiful but they do spread fast.

[Green Marine]

Well now i see that they are moving around....but i have no clue what this little white poylp looking thing is. It is small and feathery and when i make a noise or open the hood it shoots in real quick...it actually looks like a worm of some sort because when it comes out it comes out of a hole and then fluffs back up...baby mushrooms or worm??? anyone seen this??

[FishPharmD]

Without seeing a picture, that is almost certainly a common feather duster worm. They are harmless filter feeders, most LFS's will sell larger ornamental versions of them. They hitchhike in on live rock and will propogate through your tank as it matures. There are probably over 100 in my tank. It's a good early sign that your water parameters are where they need to be. Good work!

[Green Marine]

Well thats good to hear!! yeah i searched the web for hours last night trying to find out what it was. Im sorry for all the questions. I am so terribly new to this hobby , but i cant get enough of it. Iv only had my little tank for a month or so now but i love it and im always learning new things. oh and I have just one more question. nothing important, but just out of curiosity i have a hawain strawberry crab, and every night he does the same thing...he comes out of his cave that i have for hime...and he either does one of two things

Either 1. He will stick his claw deep in the sand and flip his body completly sideways torwards the glass and just stay like that..kicking and stuff

Or 2. He will climb up my vertical bubble stick until the bubbles shoot him off,and then he will climb back up it and do it again...I could almost swear that hes doing it on purpose.
Is that a sign of stress or wanting to get out of the tank? He seems happy its just that I wouldnt know if that is a sign of stress or not and i would like to know.

[romunov]

You mention that your tank is new. Perhaps the parameters (NH3, NO2, NO3) are not stable yet...

[Green Marine]

well no i took my water to my lfs just 3 or 4 days ago and he said every thing was fine except for that my ph was 8.0 and since then i have done one test....surely that cant be it though. I talked to an older friend who is experienced in this hobby and he said that he thought it was because my tank was so small ( which it is). So he sold me a 35 gallon with a ehiem canaster pump for just 40 $$!!! Has a light (not sure what kind) and he even gave me a gravel vacuum. So now im going to start over and get this tank up in running and surly the crab will be alot more confortable. Thanks alot to everyone whos helped me out on here. Wish me luck

[FishPharmD]

Originally Posted by Green Marine

So he sold me a 35 gallon with a ehiem canaster pump for just 40 $$!!! Has a light (not sure what kind) and he even gave me a gravel vacuum. So now im going to start over and get this tank up in running and surly the crab will be alot more confortable. Thanks alot to everyone whos helped me out on here. Wish me luck

GM,

Sounds like a pretty good deal. I started with a 30 gal tank, but it only took me about 3 months to realize that 30 is still too small to maintain good enough water conditions to do what I wanted to do (keep coral). So I got a 55 setup and it is much more stable.

I would like to offer you some advice. Keep your current tank up and running while you set up the new tank. Don't just throw everything in the old tank to the new one. Instead, go slow with the new one and make sure everything is perfect before you transfer over....and then only a little at a time.

That's just my opinion, but I think most would echo this advice. Keeping saltwater aquariums is a great hobby and I think that's awesome that you have the will to learn and do things right. I've had a reef tank for 3 years, and even then I'm still just a newb myself. But even those old pros on this site are learning something new every day.

[Green Marine]

Iv been reading previous threads about mixing fish together....my list for this tank that i am making is this:

1 saddle valentini puffer
1 dwarf lion
1 flame hawk fish

live rock only...does anyone know if that will work? Im defanitly keeping coral out if it....seriously if anyone has and good advice give it to me im willing to do almost anything to have a succful tank. Im the kind of person that if i learn a hobby i keep at it until im at the top. If its to crowded please tell me.
Iv been reading the forumns, and they have said that the valentini doesnt get along with larged finned fish. Would the dwarf be ok>?
My plans were to add the dwarf and the valentini at the same time and then the flame later on...keep in mind this is going to be in weeks seeing that my tank is just beginning to be set up. Im pretty sure the flame isnt a problem seeing that the flame and the dwarf were in the same tank at the lfs, other forumns have said this was ok. Also I am having the biggest problems getting my 2213 eheim to start working. Plain and simple, i have no clue how to do it. I cant find anything online to tell me. Sorry about the long thread..im just a little stressed out from not knowing how to work the filter and im spending to much cash. Please help...thanks alot.

[FishPharmD]

Originally Posted by Green Marine

Iv been reading the forumns, and they have said that the valentini doesnt get along with larged finned fish. Would the dwarf be ok>?

I don't know much about puffers (somebody help out here please), but I have a dwarf zebra lionfish myself, and I would DEFINATELY classify him as a large-finned fish. Sounds to me like the puffer will try to pick on the lion, but trust me, the puffer would probably lose that battle to the tune of death from envenomation courtesy of the lion. These guys can get harassed, but WILL usually retaliate from what I've heard.

The other fact that is to your disadvantage is the size of your tank.....smaller tank, better chance of more encounters and less area in which to hide or what not. I'd say if you were bent on keeping these two together, make sure they are juveniles when you get them and add them at the same time. No guarantees, but this way they would be more accustomed to each other from the beginning. I've heard stories of incompatable fish living together in harmony, but I'm sure that's the exception rather than the rule. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

[Green Marine]

well i cant tell you how happy that makes me to hear it from some one finally. As a matter of fact the puffer i just purchased today is a little bitty thing. I believe he is 4 months old. As for the lion ...iv yet to find him, but liveaquaria.com has the small ones for like 15 $ . Ive never used the web to buy a fish so im a bit finicy on this. Any who thanks so much for the help FishPharm. Youve helped me out alot.