Holly

OMG Jay, that's impressive. Perfect tank. =0 My sebae's grown nonstop but my bubbles stay the same size. No idea why... Guess I need to tweak things. I LOVE to see those BTAs that get so big that their tips are long arms and not bubbles.. It's incredible. <3 Please post pics! I'd love to see your anemones...

I'm getting shudders of repulsion all over my body just reading "..picked up a rock he had moved to and he crawled on her hand..." ACK!!!

I've got the trap set, but thus far I've only caught my dottyback (in the first five minutes!!(flame) I guess it likes scallop)> Had to break it down, get it out, then set it up again. PS THANKS to Patrick for making the trap for me!! At Fanta-Seas, someone filled me with hope saying that it might be a molt from a pistol (my two died, and I flushed cadavers, so if it's a pistol, it's one I don't know about). I HOPE I'm wrong and they're right, but I have to say.. The molt was long with no body curve to the back, two hooked front arms, and a small fan-like tail. I IMMEDIATELY recognized it as the bludgeoning type mantis--like the one a had a few months back that I caught and boiled out of a rock. I've only found some hermit parts and a decrease in peppermint sightings lately, so if it's preying, it's not hurting my fish yet. I suspect that maybe that rock also had eggs or babies that got out before I treated it, because I haven't added any corals or rocks since then. Is that possible or has it been too long?--For it to only be around 2" long by now? (The molt was longer than an inch, so I figure the mantis is prob 2" or so) If I get it alive, I'll drop it off at Patrick's in a jar and whoever wants can have it. I don't need to kill it; I just need to get it out of my tank.

THANK YOU! I'll be at home until 2:45. Gotta pick up daughter from school then take her to swim class between 3-4. You can reach me on my cell during those times (it's on Patrick's caller ID) You're godsends (icon)

I stabbed it and it seemed to deflate a little more. That anemonee was on the backside of my rock, so it could've completely gone wild replicating itself before I found it, had I not started frantically searching for the mantis. I've looked everywhere now and haven't found another one (anemone), so maybe I got it in time. Only time will tell. The only unaccounted-for fish is my tiny (1.5") yellow watchman, but he often goes days at a time w/o coming out of his hole, so I'm holding some hope that he's not a mantis victim. (fingers)

Patrick said that Neil's was a Corallife mantis trap and it sckd, so Patrick's gonna try to make me a homemade one. The anemone is still whithered into that little crack. Hope that's taken care of, at least... Thanks for your help Bob

I squirted a little less than 2mL of the vinegar right into the middle/mouth area. It closed up under the edge of the rock. How do I know if I killed it? I guess I just keep waiting to see if it opens back up..? Man. I feel like such a noobie idiot today. :(

Patrick said he thinks Neil has one. He's gonna call and see if he can reach him. Thank you

OMG - I have a parasitic anemone TOO?! Could this day get any WORSE?! NEXT I'll put my hand in and get bitten by a surprise blue-ring octopus, then fall dead onto the floor. I can't just pluck it off and flush it? I'm supposed to take a syringe of apple cider and squirt it onto the anemone after taking it out of the tank - or IN the tank?? Please excuse my ignorance; I've never heard of this before. Thanks.. DOH!

The molt looked like it was the battering--not the harpooning--kind. The crinkled molt was an inch long, which means it's not tiny. Molt floated behind the rocks and I was unable to catch it, and now I can't find it anymore. (I wanted to inspect it closer) Do you know if Patrick (or anyone else) has a mantis trap I can go get?

And while I'm in a panic, searching frantically in every crevice in the hopes of spotting the killer, I found THIS and have no idea what it is Please tell me I'm not also infested with some weird killer anemone that's harder to annihilate than the Crown of Thorns (flame) Can you tell I'm in a TOTAL panic! I know what a grown mantis will do to all my livestock! (flame) NO - I have NO IDEA and my rocks are FILLED with holes. He could be anywhere. (sad) I have NO idea what to do. What's a mantis trap??

PS HOW do these things keep SHOWING UP!? I haven't added any rock or corals in FOREVER.

Today when i got home, I found a molted shrimp skin floating around in the tank. It's a MANTIS molt. A MANTIS. What can I do? Any ideas? I have little crabs (emerald, pompom), peppermint shrimp, and even some very small rock fish. HELP! (scary)

Good news - Thank you! =)

I just googled - It looks a lot like Capnella If it IS Capnella then I have to make sure I feed it, as it has less symbiotic algae. :( I purposely avoid anything that lacks or has very limited zooxanthellae; My reef skills aren't up to that level. I hope it'll do with one swish of a big swish of Cyclopeeze weekly, cuz that's my routine...unless any of you have a better suggestion...

Spotted this just now. ??

CCR - My maroon female splits her time between it and the sebae, so it's hosted about half-time. oldbrownies - It was too closed up for me to get silversides (or anything else for that matter) near its tentacles:(, so I just left it alone. As soon as it opened up tho I fed it Ron - My BTAs don't ever seem to grow despite the feedings, but I guess if it doesn't hurt them to feed them regularly and they seem to take it all, I'll continue with the every-other-day thing for now. Thanks for the info. The sebae's definitely growing. I'm glad that the browning is good!! Bleaching sounds harsh; seems like it'd kill it. This morning for the first time I found a "kill" in the sebae. One of my biggest hermits! :eek: (Good thing, cuz he was getting big enough that it was nearing time to unload him). It was half-in, half-out of the sebae's mouth, the soft body almost already consumed. The maroon female was having a FIT trying to rip it off her sebae. Still no idea how it caught that big thing, though. Predator is right (scary) Thanks for all the help!

It's been a month...how's your fish doing now?

I LOVE that second shot, showing the eggs. Beautiful! What an amazing BTA too. Wow. More pics please!!

Beautiful!!

How often and how much do you guys feed yours? I've been giving each of mine a little sliver of silverside every other day. ? They seem to eat it, but is that too much? I've 2 BTAs and a sebae (which was bright white but turning brownish-beige as it grows, for some reason; I assume this isn't detrimental, since it's the fastest-growing anemone in there). One BTA curled up in a death ball for more than three days but luckily never let go of the rock. I thought for sure it was dying but couldn't figure out why (water tests all fine). Today, it's fully out as if nothing was wrong. Does this just happen sometimes? Thanks for any info... I'm gonna go google some more, but so much info is conflicting on the net...

A man left work one Friday afternoon. But instead of going home, he stayed out the entire weekend playing golf with the boys and spending his entire paycheck. When he finally appeared at home, Sunday night, he was confronted by his very angry wife and was barraged for nearly two hours with a tirade for his actions. Finally his wife stopped the nagging and simply said to him, "How would you like it if you didn't see me for two or three days?" To which the husband replied: "That would be fine with me." Monday went by and he didn't see his wife. Tuesday went by and he didn't see his wife. Wednesday came and went with the same results. Finally on Thursday the swelling went down just enough where he could see her a little out of the corner of his left eye....... (laugh)

Who is Steve? Where in Oregon is he? 850g? Jezuz. That's giganticonormous. :eek: Seriously, if you all had unlimited room, time, and funds, how big would you guys go?

We got our first reef tank less than a year ago. We started to buy one from a guy who had an ad in The Oregonian, but we decided we wanted a bigger tank. This guy never mentioned PNWMAS when we went to his house. (He may not have known about it either) We eventually got our set-up from a LFS, who never mentioned PNWMAS to us. When that LFS would give us no support when we needed it, I thumbed through the yellow pages and found a different LFS . They were very nice and quite helpful, but they also never mentioned PNWMAS. We were in Portland one night this Fall, and I noticed some tanks in a shop window. It was after 7, but Patrick and few others were still milling around Fanta-Seas. They were SO NICE, very helpful, and almost immediately mentioned PNWMAS. If we hadn't noticed the store and met Patrick, we might still not know about it. If the average noob has to meet four reef hobbyists before they hear about PNWMAS, then I'd say that word-of-mouth isn't very effective, either... (whistle) As for the meetings, my husband and I have two tots, 2 and 4. We just can't come to meetings with them. We tried it once, at Fanta-Seas, and it was a nightmare. It's not fair to other people, either, as it's very distracting. We can only come if we can procure a sitter, and even then only if it's in the Portland/Vancouver area: Our 2-yr-old was recently diagnosed with serious allergies (in addition to his asthma diagnosed this Fall). We have to carry albuterol and epi-pens in case he suddenly can't breathe.:( We just can't be 2hrs from home, from him, in case of an emergency. To be fair, this is my hobby, not my husband's. I mean, he enjoys watching the tank and thinks it's soothing, but once I start babbling endlessly about my cardinals doing this today ("Oh, they're brooding again!") or my sinularia looks like that ("It opened back up finally!"), he rolls his eyes and threatens to put his head in a blender. (laugh) He loves to watch tennis, but if he tries to make me watch it, I want to stab my eyeballs out with a pen!!! DOH! I'm sure there are a few other folks on here whose spouses fall into a coma upon hearing details of the most recent sexual macro (whistle) We want to support PNWMAS as much as possible, but our attendance at lectures and meetings is limited by all of this. I'd like to be able to be there more; I have tons I need to learn to be a better hobbyist. BTW, the people I've met through the Fanta-Seas meeting, the LFSs, and this site especially, are some of the nicest I've ever met in one group (cheer) ..PNWMAS definitely has that going for it!.. Great peeps with tons of knowledge as a whole (clap)

Sorry about the loss. That sure was a beautiful wrasse. Maybe it was depressed and suicidal (whistle)