Memoirs Of A Chocolate Chip Starfish:

[timpetty]

Very nice... quick story you'd appreciate chris (non fish people I know didnt seem to get such a kick out of it as I did). I was here with the girlfriend last nite. As I walked past my tank I noticed one of the hermit crabs shed his shell and was running across the front of the tank "naked". I was excited because I had never seen this before. I yelled for my girlfriend to come see. She came in and we were watching when all the sudden another hermit came running up and mauled it and ate it haha. She FREAKED out. I thought it was cool to see but now she hates hermit crabs haha. Just thought I would share....

 

[chrissaysyes]

My girlfriend wouldve loved that

I've still NEVER seen a live, naked hermit I sat one day and watched one of my large hermits drag a nice pretty new shell out from behind the rocks, over to a little corner, clean it out, crawl almost all the way insiiiiiiidee...annnnd....change his mind Closest I've come right there. I did manage to snap a lot of good pics of that though

Edit: I promise I really do have more of a life than watching crabs lick shells

 

[Lynden]

Heh, reefs aren't the peaceful place they seem at first to be... something is getting mauled or killed at every turn. sama: The wonders of Nature.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Isnt it great?

 

[1entra]

Groovy pics mate, you just gonna have to be careful though or else upi aint gonna have no CUC left in the tank...!

Anyways whilst on the subject of the wonders of nature I was in a lfs just before xmas and I noticed a black and yellow lobster eating a skunk cleaner shrimp in one of the display tanks.

It was a right fascinating and freaky sight at the same time, as the shrimp was still alive moving it's claws and antennae etc although half it's body was missing as the lobster was chomping away on it whilst trying to drag it into a cave in some LR! The thing I found most amazing however was watching another cleaner shrimp; who I'm assuming was the mate of this victim; trying to pull the other free and out of the lobster's claws. Thay was there having a sort of tug-of-war with the good samaritan shrimp even trying to have a go at the lobster by jumping on it's back before quickly moving off as the lobster tried to grab it in a fruitless attemp to free it's comrade.

Nature at it's cruelest with survival of the fittest!

 

[chrissaysyes]

pwn3d.

 

[Lynden]

Heh... ever watch a triop eating a sea-monkey? Is not for the faint of heart.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Ive seen gold fish eating triops and buck wheat spaghetti noodles...this random hippie chick wanted to show me her fish and she swore it was a good diet for them...not very similar nor a good case of nature vs. nature BUT...an interesting experience none the less.

The tank needs some work as far as how it looks. I want to have a nice lush growth of various macroalgaes but Im not sure what would work out as far as them competing with each other. I also want to remove the large conch shell and replace it with a rock but Im not sure what to do with the shell once it's removed...seems a waste to clean it up and kill off all that good bacteria

 

[Lynden]

Dude, with the addition of carbon (changed regularly) the algaes could probably be maintained together. As for the shell, not sure what to suggest. Remember there won't be too much bacteria on it as there is a somewhat limited surface area.

 

[chrissaysyes]

I'll have to see what sorts of strange macros I can get my hands on. Probably going rock shopping Tuesday.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Rocks are expensive

Didnt happen to buy any as I was busy buying new corals. BUT all is well with the CCS. Im sort of behind in everything so Ill get some pics up asap but for now, all is well and happy in the CCS cube.

 

[timpetty]

Good to hear

 

[chrissaysyes]

I kinda fell off the face of the earth Just a quick update....NO NEWS AT ALL

The tank is getting dirty and needs to be scrubbed and such but the chocolate chip starfish is doing great. I havnt had time to keep up with much cleaning, just routine changes and feedings. I promise some pics soon guys

 

[Revision17]

Good to hear

I'm glad to hear that you're having success with properly target feeding a CCS, among all the tales of failure on the intarwebs (well, for people who didn't feed 'em properly). Maybe next year I'll try out some echinoderm (beyond the micro brittle stars that came with my live rock

 

[chrissaysyes]

Hello, hello! Long time no post. The CCS is still doing great! The viewable area of his tank now has no rock, only large macro algae fronds (prolifera maxima), and one blue legged hermit. The tank has become home to all of the baby nassarius I have been collecting from the large reef tank downstairs. Those friggin things are reproducing like bunnies, I dont get it. So it's to the point where I rarely feed the CCS. If I do then here is what I do:

I open the lid of the tank and leave it up for about 20 minutes. I dont really understand how he knows, but he knows now that if the tank is open then food is coming so he will meet me at the top and extend one leg completely out of the water. I will then place pellets on his arm and he will bring them to the center of his body and consume. Sometimes I will use mysid but I've been pretty lazy lately.

Another thing I've been doing lately, which is much easier...

My mushrooms in the reef tank have been growing a little out of control so I started clipping them and dropping them into the tank with the CCS...I invisioned this tank filled with shrooms and a CCS...it was such a lovely dream...and so wrong. One by one the shrooms turned up missing...viola, I found a new food source. The CCS seems to love them. Now I know what happened to that ricordea frag I was nursing in his tank a long time ago ugh. Anyways, all is well...I'll get some pics up soon, especially some of him feeding, it's pretty neat to witness!