Recent content by romunov

Probably a calcerous sponge (notice the specimen on the top right corner).

They are neat animals to have in a dedicated tank. :D

I don't think they're always epitokes. I see worms in my tank "swim" with the current, only to land at a different place. I'm guessing that they're in search of new habitats.

Does it invert into itself? If so, it's a peanut worm. Peanuts, get your peanuts! Peanut worms

Every lost spine is an open wound. How long have you had the urchins?

To keep all the "crap" in check, you would need a wide array of animals from all sorts of phyla. To accomodate them, you need a DSB with a nice sized tank, no or very little disturbance from fish or other animals (like a sand sifting star) and plenty of food to keep their breeding cycles going...

I feed them, although not intentinally. I just scoop some tank water in a cut-off coke bottle, add in food, stir and dump it in the tank.

If it's not live sand, just dump it behind your house. It won't do any good, and like Guy said, can cause only problems.

It is common for tanks with low/no maintenance schedule to produce this "sludge". If you're not running a DSB (if you are, the sandbed should have no or little "sludge") you can leave it alone, but restock with good live sand, with plenty of worms (some places sell it online, but not as good as...

Had you researched DSB, you would know that a DSB needs no maintenance from your side other than providing the animals to do the job. DSB 101

They are probably harmless and will eventually disappear.

I concider most crabs "non reef" safe and "sumpable". Yours would probably fall in that category.

Andrea, read it slowly: In short: You would have to cut a piece of skeleton, soak it in various chemicals to kill and clean the animal (to expose the skeleton). They, you will need a dissection microscope - $1000 one or better. Oh, you'll also need a reference (books, articles) and be familiar...

Actually, most graze in sessile animals, but some are nice algae eaters.

Copepods are quite common in new tanks.