Live Rock

[DOO-E]

I am thinking about buying some thive rock from J&L. Kanai, Fiji, and Dep Water Tonga is what they have. I read on another post that Kanai is stinky stuff and has no hitchikers other than Bristol Worms. I have ruled this out because i would like to get some rock with hitchikers. Now i know Fiji will come with Hitchhikers so no wroory there. Now my question is should i spend my enitre live rock spending money on Fiji or should i get Tonga as well. Another question has anybody got Tonga rock from J&L? If so what was it like?

[BMW Rider]

I got 140 lbs of Kanai from J&L, and there are lots of hitchhikers on it. I have tons of feather dusters of different varieties, at least one peanut worm and sone other unknown type of worm. I have seen pods and one bristle worm too. There is one hitchhiker that I have yet to figure out, it is some sort of polyp, the best guess at this point seems to be some sort of fungia. I also have some macro algaes growing on it. So far nothing that is confirmed as bad. I would like to get some more rock, but I may go with some fiji just to get some more variety, both rock and hitchhikers.

[AJ_77]

I read on another post that Kanai is stinky stuff and has no hitchikers other than Bristol Worms.
I think you should keep reading, as this is the opposite from what I have heard from buyers of that rock... this new report is the first negative one I've read. Others liked it because it contained so much life, for instance crabs they were catching for months, and different coloured sponges and polyps, etc etc etc...

I've seen some in person, it has good coverage and variety. I'd prefer someone else cure it for me, but I don't like rogue crabs. Oh, and it didn't have too many bristle worms...

[DOO-E]

Okay then maybe i will pick up some Kanai rock and some Fiji Rock. But what abou the tonga anything good on there?

[Quinn]

In another thread I suggested searching for "Kanai" - here, I've done it for you: http://canreef.com/phpBB2/search.php?mode=results&sid=f216d2c54d824f333a83e9c4579c9255

[DOO-E]

Okay thanks I think i will do some reaserch on what comes on different types of Live rock. Based on what area my tank will be based on will depend on the type of rock to buy.

[trilinearmipmap]

Has anyone figured out where the Kanaii rock comes from?

[shift_47]

it comes form by tonga i got some form jl it never even touched there hands. It went form the ocean to me and had a tonga news paper in it. I think it is a island by tonga or around there.

[Quinn]

I thought it was from Indonesia but you can't argue with the Tonga Times. I can't remember what mine came wrapped in but it must have been the same (also direct from the Pacific without being unpacked by J&L).

[trilinearmipmap]

For those who have gotten the Kanaii rock, how was it for unwanted hitchikers? I am ready for live rock soon in my new tank. I am wondering about mantis shrimp, flatworms, and also those crustaceans that latch onto fish and bite them, I forgot what they are called. Oh yeah isopods.

[BMW Rider]

I have not found any undesireable hitchikers yet on mine.

[psuedo]

Kanai rock is great to build formations with. When I said that it had no or little hitchhikers it wasn't a bad thing, as I like to only have desirable hitchhikers. I have noticed one hitchhiker as of late, it looks like a transparent nudibranch and is only about 1 cm long.

[Quinn]

I had a lot of hitchhikers and I suppose any unidentified hitchhiker is potentially bad. I did remove two Mantis shrimps from it the day I bought it, and I continually found crabs, right up until I took some to Jon's house, where we found a small crab walking around in the bottom of the box. So in other words, my batch had a lot of hitchhiker, and therefore a certain proportion are bound to be bad. For me though, it's well worth the trouble and risk.

[DOO-E]

Has anybody found any corals in this rock

[Quinn]

Plenty, members of the family Xeniidae, the family Fungiidae (perhaps the genus Cycloseris), the order Zoanthidea, the phylum Porifera, and animals which I believe were of the family Siderastreidae. It's hard to be any more specific.

As an aside, here's something fascinating I found on Wet Web Media. I thought of Tony/Jon's orange M. capricornis colony when I read this but I'm sure it applies to many of our corals here:

"If you are keeping live Stony Corals, boring (as in digging, not yawning) species of Sponges of the genera Cliona (pictured, Cliona delatrix, the Red Boring Sponge; and Variable Boring Sponge, Siphonodictyon coralliphagum (3’s) are definitely out. However, strangely enough, if you find the Orange Icing Sponge, Mycale laevis (pictured) growing under your plate-type corals, this is not a "bad thing". This Sponge actually protects the Stony Coral from Boring Sponge infiltration."
(http://www.wetwebmedia.com/sponges.htm)

[Aquattro]

Has anybody found any corals in this rock

I'm pretty sure nobody has found coral on rock for the last ten years now. Most rock harvested now is stripped of anything considered a coral, as it's worth money in it's own right. So free corals aren't likely to come on rock.
About the liveliest hitchiker you're likely to get would be a crab or mantis shrimp. Sometimes you get a polyp or three, but not much more.

[Quinn]

:lol: What I wrote should be tempered by saying, none of them were of any significant size nor did they grow, nor were they really that exciting to look at.