Some help with TBS live rock

[Quintin]

Hi guys.

Got some really great live rock from TBS full of life, sponges, micro brittle stars, ect.

But have a problem with a number of undesirables that also arrived on the rock.

Upon initial inspection I removed an octopus, 2 mantis shrimp, a couple of gorilla and decorator crabs…. And some whelks.

However, now that the rock is in the tank and cycling, I found a couple other things.
A clutch of octopus eggs- which can easily be removed.

But….
From what I can see it looks like 20+ mantis shrimps ranging in sizes from 0.5 inches to another big one at 2 inches. Also suspect some more nasty crabs as well as the initial cleanup grew is all but wiped out in less than 4 days.

Any suggestions on how to get these critters off the rock?

Obviously, I will take the rock out again and inspect by hand but don’t want to do anything as drastic as a fresh water dip as that is gonna kill a lot of beneficial flora and fauna as well.

Any suggestions and advice welcomed.

 

[Tired]

Oh, that is immensely impressive. We need pics!

You might want to keep the decorators. Depending on species, they may stay tiny enough to not bother anything. I have a cute little micro decorator that will max out at a size that fits neatly onto a quarter, and is too slow to catch anything but the occasional unwary amphipod.

Bottle traps work well for mantises and crabs. They should also beat each other up pretty good in a confined space and reduce their numbers for you. Just be sure to kill them humanely when you have them, if you can't find them homes- clove oil (properly used) works, or a quick crush.

You might offer those mantises up in the sale forum here. I'd wager you'd get at least a few takers. Though, how sure are you that those little ones aren't some sort of large amphipod? Because that is a LOT of mantises. Unless you've got a few hundred pounds of rock.

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

That's crazy. How big is the rock? Seems like you got the whole ocean in there lol. But I don't know. The whole reason you get live rock, is for looks, and probably mostly for the beneficial bacteria, so you definitely dont want to do a fresh water dip. Taking out the rock and removing the most stuff you can see is probably the best option. Eventually, you will get most to all of it. If I were you, I would take the challenge and raise the mantis shrimp, because normal ones sell for 20-69 bucks, but some rare species can go for upwards of 500 bucks. Whatever you do, I wish you the best of luck!!! Send pictures if you can!!

 

[driciladr]

waiting for video

 

[Quintin]

Oh, that is immensely impressive. We need pics!

You might want to keep the decorators. Depending on species, they may stay tiny enough to not bother anything. I have a cute little micro decorator that will max out at a size that fits neatly onto a quarter, and is too slow to catch anything but the occasional unwary amphipod.

Bottle traps work well for mantises and crabs. They should also beat each other up pretty good in a confined space and reduce their numbers for you. Just be sure to kill them humanely when you have them, if you can't find them homes- clove oil (properly used) works, or a quick crush.

You might offer those mantises up in the sale forum here. I'd wager you'd get at least a few takers. Though, how sure are you that those little ones aren't some sort of large amphipod? Because that is a LOT of mantises. Unless you've got a few hundred pounds of rock.

This is the clutch of octopus eggs.
The octopus itself has already been donated to someone who wants her.

Will do the same with the mantis shrimps when I get them out, as ideally I’m not planning on killing anything anyone wants to keep in a species only tank.

Will take additional pictures when they open up their holes again, as they’ve all gone to sleep for the night.

 

[Quintin]

That's crazy. How big is the rock? Seems like you got the whole ocean in there lol. But I don't know. The whole reason you get live rock, is for looks, and probably mostly for the beneficial bacteria, so you definitely dont want to do a fresh water dip. Taking out the rock and removing the most stuff you can see is probably the best option. Eventually, you will get most to all of it. If I were you, I would take the challenge and raise the mantis shrimp, because normal ones sell for 20-69 bucks, but some rare species can go for upwards of 500 bucks. Whatever you do, I wish you the best of luck!!! Send pictures if you can!!

60 pounds of base rock at this stage.
Arrived beautiful and full of life.
Loads of things in there I want to keep but also things we don’t really want in our tanks.

If it was just one mantis, not a problem as they grow to a max of 2 inches and only take out CUC.

 

[X-37B]

I will be getting 100+ pounds of TBS base rock for a new system.
I plan on doing a high salinity dip in a container for 2 minutes.
Most everything will exit for easier removal. 1.040

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

60 pounds of base rock at this stage.
Arrived beautiful and full of life.
Loads of things in there I want to keep but also things we don’t really want in our tanks.

If it was just one mantis, not a problem as they grow to a max of 2 inches and only take out CUC.

What did you do with the octopus?

 

[Tired]

How in the world did you end up with 1 mantis for every 3 pounds of rock?

If you have a spot, I suggest keeping a gorilla crab in your sump. Only one, or they'll probably kill each other, but they're rather fun animals if you get a lively species. Impressively strong, and food-motivated enough to come out when signaled once they learn you have food.

Make sure to keep any live gorillas separate from anything else. They'll eat other crabs, and smaller mantis shrimp. I got a full 7 decorator crabs off my rock, put them in a divided breeder box, and then wound up with only 1 (fortunately the most interesting one) once a gorilla crab got past the divider.

I will be getting 100+ pounds of TBS base rock for a new system.
I plan on doing a high salinity dip in a container for 2 minutes.
Most everything will exit for easier removal. 1.040

This is likely to damage a lot of the life that can't escape, and it may be hard to retrieve any mobile beneficial life (brittle stars, etc) before it's killed. Have a turkey baster, a net, maybe some tweezers (for snails), and a container of safe water on hand if you wind up doing this, and watch closely.

 

[Quintin]

I will be getting 100+ pounds of TBS base rock for a new system.
I plan on doing a high salinity dip in a container for 2 minutes.
Most everything will exit for easier removal. 1.040

Octopus got donated to Blaine at Top Shelf Aquatics.

If a hyper salinity will do the trick by getting things off the rock, it’s worth a try.
But don’t wanna dip it and kill off the good stuff as well.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

This is the clutch of octopus eggs.
The octopus itself has already been donated to someone who wants her.

Forgot to mention this when you brought up that you found an octopus in the rocks with the eggs - octopuses go through senescence after laying eggs (i.e. they die shortly after the eggs are laid/start to hatch).

So, the octopus likely only has a few weeks left at most.

 

[Tired]

Cute little guy! Lucky someone who wanted him was on hand- that'd be hard to contain.

 

[Quintin]

How in the world did you end up with 1 mantis for every 3 pounds of rock?

If you have a spot, I suggest keeping a gorilla crab in your sump. Only one, or they'll probably kill each other, but they're rather fun animals if you get a lively species. Impressively strong, and food-motivated enough to come out when signaled once they learn you have food.

Make sure to keep any live gorillas separate from anything else. They'll eat other crabs, and smaller mantis shrimp. I got a full 7 decorator crabs off my rock, put them in a divided breeder box, and then wound up with only 1 (fortunately the most interesting one) once a gorilla crab got past the divider.


This is likely to damage a lot of the life that can't escape, and it may be hard to retrieve any mobile beneficial life (brittle stars, etc) before it's killed. Have a turkey baster, a net, maybe some tweezers (for snails), and a container of safe water on hand if you wind up doing this, and watch closely.

lol, good luck or bad luck.
Depends on how you look at it.

 

[X-37B]

Octopus got donated to Blaine at Top Shelf Aquatics.

If a hyper salinity will do the trick by getting things off the rock, it’s worth a try.
But don’t wanna dip it and kill off the good stuff as well.

It should be fine. Do a search on it for more info. I have used it before and it works well.

 

[Quintin]

It should be fine. Do a search on it for more info. I have used it before and it works well.

Thanks.
Will have a spare bucket of 1.025 and a rescue bucket for things that fall off.

If anyone is interested in mantis shrimps ranging in size, or anything else that falls off I’m happy to pass them along.

Will do a dip this weekend and see how it goes.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

If anyone is interested in mantis shrimps ranging in size, or anything else that falls off I’m happy to pass them along.

Any pics of the mantises? There are a few different types of pods that can look like small mantises but which would be much, much less aggressive.

 

[X-37B]

Thanks.
Will have a spare bucket of 1.025 and a rescue bucket for things that fall off.

If anyone is interested in mantis shrimps ranging in size, or anything else that falls off I’m happy to pass them along.

Will do a dip this weekend and see how it goes.

Sounds like a good plan. Let us know how it goes.
TBS has enough life on the base rock for me.
In 2 years I wont be able to see the rock anyway, lol.

 

[CMMorgan]

My base rock came with a few new friends. None as fun as yours though! Generally speaking, nothing that is keeping me up at night now. We did have a murdering letch that took out Snuffleupagus in the first 24 hours. (Fighting conch) It also took a healthy chunk out of one of my leathers. After some hunting, we identified "Bundy", the gorilla crab. I was not messing around. We tried the nets and bottles. I was making a mess of the tank and all I had captured was "Timmy", the tiny eraser head sized gorilla baby. Meanwhile, Bundy was molting and getting bigger. He left the molt front and center as if to taunt me. I ordered a trap from Ultralife off of Amazon and baited it with some canned shrimp. The first night, I placed it too far from his lair. The second night, I found the opening - teased him with the shrimp and set the trap. At first he literally picked it up with his claw and slammed it down, closing the door. I was quick and used a pipette to reopen and set the door. I then placed a small rock on top to keep Bundy from living out his Hulk fantasy on my plastic Alkatraz. I cut every light and waited. Less than an hour later, Bundy was my prisoner. My daughter released him into the mangroves along the Tampa Bay the next day. Thankfully, we are in the same watershed as TBS. We still have Tiny Timmy in a mason jar. He'll either get released when he's bigger or become food if we get any mantis in the box of premium and branch that we are expecting when the weather warms up. I know that the ladies at TBS do a good hunt in the haul for critters. It is normal to get some hitchhikers but you definitely got an above average amount. Maybe the cold drove them into the crevice's? Here's hoping that no octopi show up in my box. If there are more gorillas or mantis shrimp, I have my trusty trap ready.
Here is a link if it helps you. Best $15 I spent this month.
https://www.ultralife.com/product/x-terminator-shrimp-trap/
Amazon Link

 

[CBonito]

Yeah, Tampa Bay doesn't play when they say their stuff is pulled straight out of the ocean.

 

[dadnjesse]

I will be getting 100+ pounds of TBS base rock for a new system.
I plan on doing a high salinity dip in a container for 2 minutes.
Most everything will exit for easier removal. 1.040

I did the High Salinity with live rock also it works really well. The vendor I bought from suggested that method.