Have you ever had a cool coral, fish, invert or other critter hitchhike in?

[pseudorand]

I had a large shrimp come on liverock from my lfs: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/peppermint-shrimp.667956/

It got ID'd as the sort we eat. He disappeared a few months in though. I've actually never been able to keep any sort of shrimp for more than a few months. No idea why, but perhaps it's some hitchhiker I don't know about yet. Or maybe I should stop dosing lemon butter.

 

[i cant think]

I had a large shrimp come on liverock from my lfs: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/peppermint-shrimp.667956/

It got ID'd as the sort we eat. He disappeared a few months in though. I've actually never been able to keep any sort of shrimp for more than a few months. No idea why, but perhaps it's some hitchhiker I don't know about yet. Or maybe I should stop dosing lemon butter.

Lemons mess everything up!
I mean come on, have you ever eaten one on it’s own?! They’re so sour, no wonder shrimp don’t like it!

 

[Sean Clark]

Or maybe I should stop dosing lemon butter

 

[aggrofish]

Post fiji live rock days, this maxi mini nem is probably it. the rock was in my tank for months and I only noticed when I rearranged the rock work. It was under the rock deep in a crevice.

 

[i cant think]

Post fiji live rock days, this maxi mini nem is probably it. the rock was in my tank for months and I only noticed when I rearranged the rock work. It was under the rock deep in a crevice.

Dang… and I spent the equivalent price of a RFA to end up with a green MMA.
And yet people out here are getting anemones and whatnot on LR!

 

[aggrofish]

Dang… and I spent the equivalent price of a RFA to end up with a green MMA.
And yet people out here are getting anemones and whatnot on LR!

lol. Yeah this was live rock from a LFS. I have no idea where is came from but it was covered in coralline. I got a few pieces to seed a tank. That rock is in it's 3rd tank now and the nem never ever moves. Not sure it can

 

[Isolatedreefer]

Oh man, a comb jelly?!
How long did you manage to keep it alive for?

Yeah, it was cool! It stayed alive for a couple years or more, and only died when I ended up having to dip my plate coral

Are these pretty rare to hitch hike in do you think?

 

[Kmst80]

I had so many hitchhikers on my live rock, and to my surprise some corals too. Most noticeable and she pulled through dry stages is my galaxea.

 

[Screwgunner]

You know there are critters that only come out at night! So I like looking with a flashlight at night. I found this.

 

[hmcsbonner]

This week we're going to be talking about reef tank hitchhikers! They are normally thought of in a negative sense, bad critters, but they can also be very cool, and good! I thought today we could start with the "good" ones!

What's the best hitchhiker you've ever had and how did it hitchhike in? Could be coral, fish, inverts or anything you like!

image via @LgTas

Literally log in to ask about this…what is this?

 

[DeniseAndy]

Excuse the photo skills but this came in on my live rock. Not sure exactly what it is.

If it was from the Gulf, they call it rose coral.

 

[wademan27]

I had a tunicate come with a toadstool I purchased. I’m not sure what kind it is, but it’s kind of neat watching it filter feed.

​

 

[Screwgunner]

He is much bigger now . He looks like a black hole in the rocks .

 

[Sharkbait19]

Literally log in to ask about this…what is this?

Asterina star.
It’s perhaps the only true sea star that isn’t impossible to keep, and they multiply very fast. Mixed reviews on if they are reef safe or not.

 

[i cant think]

Asterina star.
It’s perhaps the only true sea star that isn’t impossible to keep, and they multiply very fast. Mixed reviews on if they are reef safe or not.

Correction it’s an Aquilonastra species.
Aquilonastra and Asterina are part of the same family however Asterina is the genus of slightly larger species than Aquilonastra is. Some species are reported to eat coral however I have yet to come across any that does so.

 

[bsagea]

Coolest ones we've had was a blue glaucus and scutus snail. Scutus grew to about 5" and one day was never seen again.. He was so beautiful and graceful as he went through the tank never knocking anything over. Still trying to find the pics of the blue glaucus. Gorgeous creature who died when we warmed his water too much ;(
bsa

 

[RobMcC]

I miss proper live rock. The whole point was the critters you got, good or bad. I've had loads of inverts sneak in and even one vert (goby)

Over the years, I've had:

colonial tunicates
acro shrimp (Coralliocaris sp.)
unidentified brown goby
various orange NPS
sponges
limpets
chitons
plating coralline algae
sea apple
brittles stars
Rhodactis sp
Discosoma sp.
tube worms
porites
mysid shrimp


plus all the usual ones folks think are bad, but aren't really. e.g. fire worms, bobbit worms, palys, various soft colonial octocorals (except aiptasia - they suck). When I broke a tank down in 2015 I found a bobbit worm that was longer than the tank (the tank was 6 feet). Actually, some of the daisy polyps are really annoying hitch hikers too. I'm battling with those now in one tank right now, even though it was started with dry rock and aqua cultured frags...

I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the hitchhikers I've had over the years.

edit: just remembered some more - mussels, a favia

 

[PeterEde]

I was present when my LFS got a stock of LR.
Had 2 octopi on the rocks.

I got 2 urchins, heaps of snails, crabs, bristlestars/worms, cucumbers, dragons breath and a partridge in a pair tree

 

[PeterEde]

I had some cool ones over the years. This one was the craziest as it ate about 4 fish before i managed to find it. The tentacles on this guy glowed and radiated lights to attract fish. So, I found it one night watching the tank. Super cool, but super deadly to my fish.



This was just a cool rose coral from Florida Live Rock. It colored up to red and green. Very pretty.

deadly bristlestar?

 

[LiverockRocks]

Our hitchhikers come in on freshly harvested live rock from the Gulf of Mexico.
Good hitchhikers on top of our list are porcelain crabs and sea hares.