Mixing local inverts with tropical, I need suggestions!!

[howman1]

so,
I took the day off with my 6 year old son, and we went to a nice bay (just north of boston, Massachusetts) and collected hermit crabs, snails, something that looks like emerald crabs, seaweed and kelp......we brought it home,

Can I put these critters into my reef tank? Knowing that they probably won't survive long due to temperature, we thought it would be fun.....to add a few new friends....

[ August 29, 2001: Message edited by: howman1 ]

 

[Anonymous]

If they came from a tide pool, where temperatures vary a lot and sometimes go very high- they might be fine. One species of nassarius snail is frequently collected for reef aquariums that comes from mid-atlantic states but I think its northern limit is cape cod- so you have the more northerly version. But I have seen it and periwinkles in very warm tide pools. Periwinkles might climb out...

 

[howman1]

thanks dan,
all the stuff came from a tidepool, well, i could not help it and put in some green seaweed, and my purple tangs seem happy!!!!

 

[kaotica]

careful not to pollute your tank though... some of the critters u find close or on the shore sometimes are "dirty" and this might negatively affect your livestock.

i had this issue with water i was using from the bay here. it ended up having traces of diesel etc in it.

 

[Cabreradavid]

Hi,

In my opinion you need to be really carefull when introducing locals into any tropcal set up. I had a friend who killed every fish in her tank when she introduced some local fish and inverts into a Fish only tank. You never know if the inverts you refer to are carrying any parasites or heavy metals, petroleum etc.

 

[howman1]

ok,
i am concerned, so i am skimming the surface water (which is oily!!!) and i put a poly bio marine pad near my overflow

-i will skim more water later, hopefully the protein skimmer will also help