A reef-ish setup designed for: Calinus Laevimanus or C.tricolor, and/or an Ophuroidea

Ruttle · #1 01-10-2006, 07:07 PM

Hey, (this is my first time posting here - hello everyone)

I was doing research reciently on some reef aquariums. But first a short story

When I was little my parents had (among many other freshwater tanks) a 55 gallon saltwater tank. It wasnt a reef though. One time we were at one of those large department stores (whom had a interesting aquatic section) I remember there being a serpent starfish probably Ophioderma (or is it Ophuroidea I have read sites with differnt names) brevispimum or somthing similar. We didnt purchase one---we had no idea what it actually was. Anyways I have always been interested in differnt types of inverts, but not neccissarilay corals or sponges.

Now, I was wondering if you could make a small aquarium for the sole purpose of keeping some sort of Serpent Starfish or maybe hermit crabs like the dwarf blue legged. Would it be easy to keep some of these in a nano type reef? If so (or maybe if not so) how would you go about doing this?

Obviously, you would need to setup up a fish tank, like any-other. But what I was wondering about more so was: lighting, size, filtration, feeding, ect.

I can't seem to find much information on keeping these species specifically. Thanks!

muck · #2 01-10-2006, 07:14 PM

Welcome to Canreef!!

demon666 · #3 01-10-2006, 07:25 PM

welcome to canreef.....

i have a brittle star in a 36g with live rock and 3inch sb for filtration and it is under 1 175watt mh light.. i feed him/it frill every other day when i feed the tank. he is in with a few other fish and corals. doing great.

Ruttle · #4 01-10-2006, 07:29 PM

to muck: Hey... not the informative reply I was looking for

jk, thanks for the welcome!

And what was that your name is Ryan? Notice my loggin name is "R"uttle... wonder what "R" stands for...

to Demon: What is 3 inch "sb"? Sorry, I am not in on the abbrivations.

christyf5 · #5 01-10-2006, 08:14 PM

sb=sandbed

And welcome to Canreef

Jaws · #6 01-10-2006, 08:16 PM

SB means sandbed. We tend to forget sometimes that new people won't understand abbreviations. I remember my first time on the board. I couldn't understand a thing. I thought everyone who used abbreviations were hardcore geeks and now I've joined the ranks. Welcome to Canreef.

For something like a starfish and a hermit crab, minimal lighting, and filtration will do just fine. Most starfish and hermit crabs can survive with little or no lighting. Some people even use them in their sump without light to feed on detritus or bad algae. I've had a chocolate chip starfish in my old 70G tank for three weeks now without light, waiting for all the hair algae to die and waiting for the starfish to eat all the aptasia. Both starfish and hermit crabs are pretty hardy animals that can survive in poor conditions. Introducing them to an aquarium is usually the hardest task. Adding them to water with different parameters than what they were in before, like salinity, alkalinity, and temperature, can be too big of a shock to their system and they can die easily. A slow acclimation is best. JMO (just my opinion)

fakename · #7 01-10-2006, 08:24 PM

Welcome to our board!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruttle

I have always been interested in differnt types of inverts, but not neccissarilay corals ...

Yet.....you are not interested in corals, yet. HEHE Keep looking at the tanks on here and you soon will be

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruttle

I can't seem to find much information on keeping these species specifically. Thanks!

There is not too much info, mostly because they are pretty easy to keep. If you set up a small tank hermot crabs in particular will be easy......They will basically scavange on the leftovers from any fish you are feeding. If you don't want fish.....you can feed them directly......A little tank with a small rock pile and a gang of hermits will be fun too watch (at least until you become addicted to corals!).
Cheers,
Aaron

demon666 · #8 01-10-2006, 08:37 PM

yup i agree with aaron, i too was just wanting to setup a liverock (lr) w/ fish style of tank till i saw edhollands tank and a few others on here. then i wanted corals as well meeting ed was the best/worst thing that has happened to me on this board......(being friends with him is way too expensive......he always has something i want or can get it for me) but at the sametime he is very informative and helps a guy out tones..... give it time and you too will want corals in your tank..... may ppl on here will help you out with frags and info on what you want...... and yes there will be alot of abreveations to get to know....... i still dont understand most of them as i too am fairly new to this hobby only around 9 months in. good luck to ya.

shawn

Ruth · #9 01-10-2006, 09:21 PM

Welcome to Canreef!! I too started out being attracted to this hobby by marine fish and the exotic and vibrant colours they came in. Many thousands of dollars later I still love the fish, although now like more unusual or different fish my fatal attraction is to the corals.
I agree that you should not have any problem at all keeping hermit crabs and small brittle stars. A small aquarium will definately not be adequate to house any kind of linkia star and it is still hotly debated whether a large system can keep them alive. Other that for your own viewing pleasure you should not be limited by any type of lighting and could probably get away with none except natural room light. On the other hand if you want to add live rock to your system and see it all turn different shades of purple with coralline algea growth you may want to look at some kind of Power compact or Very high output flourecence (sp) lighting preferably with some kind of actinic suppliment.
Good luch and don't feel shy about asking questions.

Ruttle · #10 01-11-2006, 01:20 AM

There is so much I want to respond to... where do I start??!?

Jaws + Christyf5 SB = sand bed, thanks!

Jaws - Abbriviations are fine w/ me, aslong as I know them, heh.

Whats tough though is when you look up information on a non-forum website and they are like "just hook up the GBV to the NO, and then the HVO will go here... and the your GBA works like this with UVA and some UVB and why not toss a little UVC at you while where at it" and you can't ask any questions

"Introducing them to an aquarium is usually the hardest task. Adding them to water with different parameters than what they were in before, like salinity, alkalinity, and temperature, can be too big of a shock to their system and they can die easily" It always is isnt it? I have some pond goldfish (which I actually bred by accident lol) and I have put them through some awful acclimation periods. Thankfully, they are goldfish

oh and JMO and IMO I think I've heard of those before, "L.O.L."

fakename - Oh, I do like corals. The only thing I dislike is (like most saltwater) that they are so tempermental + expsensive. Anenomes are truly awsome critters too. Funny thing though, I tend to be interested in the side attractions in a setup if you know what I mean. Everyone else seems to look at the at the bright duster or the brain coral while I am pointing at the little microscopic copepod saying somthing like "look you can see its eggs.." I think you could give me a bucket of pond water and it would keep me occupied for days! Nevermind a bucket of live sand lol!

demon666 - Yea, I know what you mean. My problem is I seem to jump around from addiction to addiction! Actually I was wondering about Hydriods which I've read can grow on hermit shells? Not entierly sure what a hydriod is though, I dont think its coral. I know in fresh water there are Hydras I think, which are related to jelly fish or somthing.

Ruth - "A small aquarium will definately not be adequate to house any kind of linkia star" - Thats fine, I really like the brittle stars best anyways.

Ok I think that covers pretty much everything except for new questions!

Firstly lets start with tank size. How small is small? I know its a relative term. I would like to utilize a small cube shaped tank I have, I think its around 3.5 - 4 gallons (9in x 9in x 10in) - but that is probably too small, yes? no? I also have a 2 ten gallons, a five (this and one of the tens is cracked), a 1-3 gal (not sure what it is but its plastic) and a 20 gallon long. The problem with the larger ones is they are in the basement --- which also houses the wood stove! Goldfish, crayfish, and freshwater clams and snails seem to tolerate the temp fluctuations but I doubt anything SW would survive.

Secondly, are the common brittles and dwarf blue hermit compatible? it would seem they are, as they are often sold togeather - but in a small tank even?

Uh... so many things I want to ask...

Ok here is one. I have had a lot of setups (fish, dryland animals ect) but it seems VERY hard to make it look nice. It always ends up looking like its purpose is to keep the animals alive and not to look nice or asthetically pleasing in any way! How would you personally go about creating a small hermit and/or brittle star setup that looks nice?

I'm sure there is more but... thats all for now (folks)! thanks!

Edit: Ok I thought of somthing. I have read that dwarf blue hermits are anywere from 1/4in to 1in... Isnt that exremely small? Is that the size of the creature + the shell or just the creature? Does any one have a photo of one for size reference?