My New Little "Friends"

Luckydawg · 01/25/2009, 06:28 PM

My tank is still in the cycling process and it is an 14 gallon Biocube tank. It has an deep sand bed and about 12-14lbs of live rock with no fish, but I do all of a sudden, have 2 small hermit crabs and a snail. So I was wondering, do I have to feed these guys and should I leave them in there?

Sk8r · 01/25/2009, 07:01 PM

Feed the tank just a tiny few flakes of food daily. It will go ahead and cycle, but your little hitchhikers are sturdy fellows and should be ok during it. Once algae begins to grow, stop feeding, because they will eat that. If you are going to have fish in this tank, you should start them in a plain little tank (an Eclipse will do) with good carbon filtration and daily water tests. Keep them under observation for at least 2 weeks, up to 4, to be sure they don't come down with ich or the like, and your tank will be healthy and parasite-free once they are ready for their new home. They're used to a barren tank: it's what they lived in at the distributors'. You can give them a little piece of pvc pipe to hide in, and they'll like that.

tims28gnano · 01/25/2009, 07:25 PM

and

To Reef Central

just read read read!!!! - - and then have fun!

01/25/2009, 06:28 PM	#1
Luckydawg Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 16	My New Little "Friends" My tank is still in the cycling process and it is an 14 gallon Biocube tank. It has an deep sand bed and about 12-14lbs of live rock with no fish, but I do all of a sudden, have 2 small hermit crabs and a snail. So I was wondering, do I have to feed these guys and should I leave them in there?

01/25/2009, 07:01 PM	#2
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Feed the tank just a tiny few flakes of food daily. It will go ahead and cycle, but your little hitchhikers are sturdy fellows and should be ok during it. Once algae begins to grow, stop feeding, because they will eat that. If you are going to have fish in this tank, you should start them in a plain little tank (an Eclipse will do) with good carbon filtration and daily water tests. Keep them under observation for at least 2 weeks, up to 4, to be sure they don't come down with ich or the like, and your tank will be healthy and parasite-free once they are ready for their new home. They're used to a barren tank: it's what they lived in at the distributors'. You can give them a little piece of pvc pipe to hide in, and they'll like that. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

01/25/2009, 07:25 PM	#3
tims28gnano Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Jones Beach Posts: 343	and *To Reef Central* just read read read!!!! - - and then have fun!