Live Rock Alive With Life
I dont think i'v seen a piece of LR that is so jam packed with such an array of life. It cost me about $15 (@ $13 p/kg) and so far I have discovered (in no particular order:
3 tunicates, 5 Mojano nems (i like them :), numerous green star polyps, a crab, bryopsis (which cant get out of control since the crab eats it), electric blue dictoyota dictoma, several small bristle worms + 1 large green 1, a heap of different tube worms + different coloured feather duster worms, orange sponge-like things, the usual encrusting algae & just last night i noticed an oyster/mussel shell open & close so i have 1 of those too.
I'v also noticed in one of the dead corals, that 3 (that I've counted) very large amphipods are cohabiting - they are the size of baby cockroaches!
I am wondering if they (or something else) are breeding since I have also noticed, in the water column, what i suspect to be larval forms of something. The first type are white & wriggle through the water. They zip up to the surface, float for a bit then wriggle back down to where they hide for a bit. I only see them when i 1st put the light on - after 10 mins theyv hidden so that tells me theyr nocturnal. The other 1s i noticed this morning look like & move like newly hatched brine shrimp only theyr transparent. They disappear after lights on too. So in all, i feel I've gained a definite bargain with my LR - & no doubt theres beasties I've thus far missed. Stay tuned.......
3 tunicates, 5 Mojano nems (i like them :), numerous green star polyps, a crab, bryopsis (which cant get out of control since the crab eats it), electric blue dictoyota dictoma, several small bristle worms + 1 large green 1, a heap of different tube worms + different coloured feather duster worms, orange sponge-like things, the usual encrusting algae & just last night i noticed an oyster/mussel shell open & close so i have 1 of those too.
I'v also noticed in one of the dead corals, that 3 (that I've counted) very large amphipods are cohabiting - they are the size of baby cockroaches!
I am wondering if they (or something else) are breeding since I have also noticed, in the water column, what i suspect to be larval forms of something. The first type are white & wriggle through the water. They zip up to the surface, float for a bit then wriggle back down to where they hide for a bit. I only see them when i 1st put the light on - after 10 mins theyv hidden so that tells me theyr nocturnal. The other 1s i noticed this morning look like & move like newly hatched brine shrimp only theyr transparent. They disappear after lights on too. So in all, i feel I've gained a definite bargain with my LR - & no doubt theres beasties I've thus far missed. Stay tuned.......