I was just wondering if it would be ok for me to add some more livestock to my tank (maybe an invertebrate :?: :D ). So far in my tank i have my 5 mollies and their babes (about 10 or 12 I think) and i was hoping to add something else. These are my water parameters (which so far havnt fluctuated).

S.G- 1.025
PH- 8.0
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- <0.3 (thats the lowest it can go on my scale)
Nitrate- 25

p.s- if it is cool for me to add some new marine livestock to my tank any suggestions? :)

As long as thats the ammonia reading then maybe add a small starfish or something.. red or green brittle star?

How many weeks is this since the tank was started?

sounds good RT!!! I would go with our fearless expert opinion and add a brittle star...they are good for clean-up detail as well!
Glad to hear everything is working out for you with the tank...keep us posted!
Greg

ok, il go for one of the brittle stars. It has been about a month since my tank was started.

thanks

add a Common brittlestar (Ophiothrix fragilis), it get's to be 2cm in size.

maybe a Amphiura chiajei, Amphiura filiformis, or Ophiura albida.

any species from the Amphi or Ophi family.

haha :lol: perfect timing i was just gonna ask what species to get. Also, i just realized i dont know how to acclimate them. Is it the same as acclimating a fish?
Will i have to feed them, because i heard that they are simply scavengers?

Thanks in advanced

Yep, just treat them as you would a vertebrate...slowly and surely!! Good luck!
Greg

within a few days you'll see that the star will come out when you are feeding the mollies and try to catch flakes etc... dont add any extra as teh star is there to do a job and will get lazy otherwise LOL

Maybe add a hermit or two but be aware that the octo will prolly eat them, good to start a tank though

Thanks alot :notworth: . I acclimated my brittle star yesterday, and when i put him in my tank he IMMEDIATELY swam across to the other side of and hid from me. Every once in a while i see its arms poking out from the rocks, but he has not come out yet.
I assume he will start coming out later on when he feels more comfortable.

Also, i feed my mollies 3x a day, should i keep feeding them this much (i only give them a pinch every time though).

I would really like to have some crabs in my tank to (yes i am aware that the octo will eat them and im totally cool with that). Is it ok if i get them now?

Thanks in advanced :)

[quote="Rockthis11"]
I would really like to have some crabs in my tank to (yes i am aware that the octo will eat them and im totally cool with that). Is it ok if i get them now? quote]
yeah of course!! as long as the octo's okay with it though. :lol:

lol thanks. How many should i get?

lol thanks. How many should i get?
i'd stick with one that is pretty hefty in size, if you got more than 3 octo's then you'll need to get 3 medium sized crab's, lol.my octo is okay with just one large one(o.vulgaris).

ok il go get a big hermit crab today :D

ok il go get a big hermit crab today :D
that's a good choice, gotta say that it's a pretty fierce and exciting show when a ceph attack's a crab, it's really cool.

unfortuantly when i went to my LFS the only hermit crabs they had were not reef safe. So, instead I decided to get 5 snails.

So, instead I decided to get 5 snails.
oh :( , well no matter, it's still....somewhat entertaining, my o.vulagris crushes the snail's shell into some bit's and pull's it out and snap's the snail to bits with its beak.

sounds cool 8) . Im sure this question has been asked but whats wrong with putting a bunch of snails and crabs in a tank (that way u wont have to make frequent trips to the LFS to buy food)?

sounds cool 8) . Im sure this question has been asked but whats wrong with putting a bunch of snails and crabs in a tank (that way u wont have to make frequent trips to the LFS to buy food)?
well if you overfeed your pet's(which you most likely will if you put a lot of food at their disposal-I mean who could resist food, then they'll get lazy by the way, the ceph's i mean, because they know you'll give them all the food, he doesn't need to fight as hard to get it and so forth) you're done for, actually they are done for(me-gulp!!!)!

hmmm i see. A little off the topic, but i am worried about the snails that i just let into my tank. 2 out of the five of them stay on the glass and clean for me but the other three just stay on the rocks. I really dont mind if they hang out on my rocks but they seem to be leaving this white residue behind them. Check out this pic and let me know what u think.

Now that is a new one on me...I gather that the rocks were not that white before they were put in the tank? I have never seen that happen...

:( no the water rocks were not like that before :( . Now im worried i dont want these things to kill my rocks. Should I remove them from the rocks and put them on the glass!?! :cry:

first of all, don't panic, then you just remove those little snail's from your tank and go to the place where you bought it, ask what type of species they are, if they are one of those that carry bacteria which might possibly be the white stuff it might slso be able to do something maybe even harm your pet's.my internet connection suck's, the uploading takes a year lol.

ok, i just called the LFS and the guy told me that they are simply cleaning the rocks. He told me that the rocks were dirty and they are only cleaning them and not to worry about them.

i wouldn't trust that guy really, many people half of the time in LFS don't even know what they are really selling, this is especially true for octo's, i've seen "brown octopus" everywhere, basically meaning that they don't know what species it is.

So, should i take the snails out? the store is closed right now.

Rockthis,

you should be able to take a big magnifying glass (something every tank owner should keep nearby and look at the white trail. You should be able to see whether the snails are eating off algae, etc and leaving the white rock, or whether they're leaving something behind them.

Nancy

So, should i take the snails out?
rockthis,
if it were me i would do so, anything that look's suspicious is best left alone, i would remove it as a precaution, but it really depend's on you.

you should be able to take a big magnifying glass (something every tank owner should keep nearby and look at the white trail. You should be able to see whether the snails are eating off algae, etc and leaving the white rock, or whether they're leaving something behind them.

Nancy
nancy that's a really good idea, unfortunately i don't need a magnifying, if theyre is any magnifcation going on then it's most lily because i'm looking at a disected ceph on a microscope lol.

I took a look at the white stuff and I really cant tell if it came form the snails or not, so i took them out. Unfortuanatly I have to keep them in their bag until tomarow. Im kinda sad though :cry: i really wanted to add something else to my tank and i kinda liked those little snails. Is there anything else safe for me to add? Maybe a scallop or some kind of coral or something :?: :!: .

thanks in advanced.

coral is fine, there are way too many little addition's you could add to a saltwater aquarium so no prob. there. :)

ok cool, because ever since i first got my tank i have wanted a beautiful piece of coral or something like that in it (i think everyone has). Can someone give me some advice as to which one i should get?

Can someone give me some advice as to which one i should get?
you should have more than sufficient option's at your LFS for coral. :)

Yeah i suppose so, but i would like to have a general idea before I go there. Simply because I dont and wouldnt know how to feed and/or take care of a sessil invert.

ok, here you can find some cool stuff.
http://www.fishsupply.com/cgi-bin/f2/common/store.cgi?dbname=f2&path=top/C

Alright thanks. I checked out that site and it says "Thrives with additions of Calcium, iodine and trace elements." what exactly does this mean? Is this just some pills or somehting i put in the water? And if so is that all i need to take care of them?

thanks in advanced :)

Alright thanks. I checked out that site and it says "Thrives with additions of Calcium, iodine and trace elements." what exactly does this mean? Is this just some pills or somehting i put in the water? And if so is that all i need to take care of them?

thanks in advanced :)
thrives is used as a term for many thing's, e.g. my turtle thrives on shrimp, it get's more matured,bigger, and so forth, with the nurishment.
it might be a pill and it might not, ask you LFS and check it out, i think if you just maintain em and keep em healthy they'll be allright. :D

I would say that as far as coral goes, you need to get something that is a low to moderate light coral to survive the lighting requirements for an octo tank. Also, if your local LFS sells this sort of thing, start with a small, inexpensive piece of whatever you like, try it out for a week or two, and see how it does. That way, if it does not like your tank and dies, you will not have wasted much cash. My LFS will give me free small frags and bits to try out. Mushroom polyps seem to be pretty easy.

BTW, will a Featherduster be okay in an octo tank?

Shannen

shannen i reckon a feather duster would be okay, but you should know that it might be trouble if he/she start's decomposing in the tank with the octo, although he/she will not die because they decompose only about 4/5 of their body and re-grow and regenerate the 1/5 of their body, they will soon-after be in the process of growing new feather's, but you should not leave the feather duster in the tank after spawning, no matter, feather dusters will shoot out their feathers in order to avoid eating their future offspring, in general you can keep a feather duster because i've seen it but you really just need to be careful lol.

Rockthis....

put the snails back in, they are doing fine.. they are simply eating the algae off of the rocks, i can see that from the pictures you posted, nothing is wrong there at all.

Corals are not such a good addition to a ceph tank, they need bright light which the cephs dont like and the excess waste from an octo will probably be too much for them to handle. ALSO an octopus is likely to dig and bury corals or turn them upside down etc.

Feather dusters are prone to being buried and moved too, i have tried them also.

O.vulgaris, do you have any pics of your octopus? I am really keen to see a pic of it snapping a snail in half with its beak!? :bugout: What was all that rubbish about feather dusters spawning, decomposing and feathers etc??? LOL :lol:

Hi all,

I can certainly second what Colin says given my current experience with a full grown bimac. He has rearranged, moved and turned over about every rock in the tank. He continually disrupts, moves and tosses large quantities of sand. He breaks off things trying to grow by just galloping over them. So I can't really have anything but him in the tank. (I also have a pencil urchin, who seems much by Ollie's activities, and a few snails.)

Now, maybe not all bimacs are quite as active as Ollie, but I really can't count on keeping much of anything else in the tank. On the other hand, one octopus is quite entertaining enough.

One of the best things I did was to set up a small (19 gallon) tank to house my cleaner shrimp (to save him from being a meal for Ollie). In this smaller aquarium I've been able to have all those interesting things that I can't have in the large aquarium. Otherwise, I think I might be frustrated!

Nancy

colin will get pic's some time soon, rubish, i was giving positive feedback on feather dusters.LOL :P
nancy, i have to say, it sound's as if you have a little spoiled hyperactive brat in your tank, just kidding,hehe. :roll: