walsh@ihuxi.UUCP (B. Walsh) (04/09/84)
Does anyone have experience with marine invertebrate aquaria? I have four freshwater tanks now, and am considering converting one to marine. I like starfish, coral shrimp and anemones; I know it's OK to keep shrimp and starfish together, but I don't know about anemones with those. I'd also like to know about feeding them: what (Formula 2?) and how often. The books I have don't go into much detail on feeding and what's OK to keep together (I've found that to be true of all aquarium books). I'd also appreciate info. on particular genera and species, eg., banded coral shrimp vs. cleaner shrimp, blue sea star vs. red spiny star, etc. I realize this is a specialized hobby and I wouldn't be surprised if there's no one on the net who keeps marine invertebrates, but I can try! Thanks just in case, B. Walsh
chuqui@nsc.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach) (04/11/84)
Speak of the devil, if the net gets large enough, you'll find someone with
an interest in anything...
I am currently running one tank, a 55 full of ciclids, with a 15 in
storage. When I move in a month or so, I am planning to convert both to
salt water tanks. My original plan was to use the 15 for inverts and the
bigger one for lionfishes and other things that catch my interest. On the
advice of an aquarium shop I trust, I am going to be picking up a 35 for
the inverts instead because they tend to be very sensitive to water quality
and the small tank can change too rapidly (this is especially true for
seahorses). One suggestion that they made was to run the tanks with fish
for a couple of months to get the cycles started prior to introducing the
inverts. As far as food is concerned, daily feeding or twice daily is
probably a good idea, with fresh, fresh frozen, or Mrs. Pauls Fish Sticks.
Ocean Nutrition is supposed to be quite good as well, and should be used
occasionally to make sure that the inhabitants get enough greenery in
their diet. If you have things that don't move well (anenomes et all) use a
pusher stick to make sure they get their food before the swimmers eat it.
Filter feeders (muscles) can be a real problem, but I've heard a turkey
baster full of brine shrimp just upstream of their intake is a real boon.
chuq
--
From under the bar at Callahan's: Chuq Von Rospach
{amd70,fortune,hplabs,menlo70}!nsc!chuqui (408) 733-2600 x242
A toast! To absent friends... {clink}