Gulf of Mexico creatures in Reef tank?

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I live on the Gulf coast of Texas, and I went down to the beach with my
young son who enjoys net fishing for crabs and other critters. I found
some hermit crabs, and some reddish color macroalgae, and decided to
see how they do in my reef tank. After a week, they seem to be doing
fine. The macroalgae has been eaten by my yellow tang without problem,
and the hermits seem to be doing their thing eating detritus without
bothering other corals. Anyone else try adding Gulf of Mexico
snails/crabs to their tanks. Anyone with any reason why this is not a
good idea.

[kim gross]

wrote:
> I live on the Gulf coast of Texas, and I went down to the beach with my
> young son who enjoys net fishing for crabs and other critters. I found
> some hermit crabs, and some reddish color macroalgae, and decided to
> see how they do in my reef tank. After a week, they seem to be doing
> fine. The macroalgae has been eaten by my yellow tang without problem,
> and the hermits seem to be doing their thing eating detritus without
> bothering other corals. Anyone else try adding Gulf of Mexico
> snails/crabs to their tanks. Anyone with any reason why this is not a
> good idea.
>

The biggest problem that I could think of is the temp. Your tank should
be quite a bit warmer than the gulf so most of the creatures you collect
will be at the high end of there thermal range.

Other than that they should do fine, just make sure you never release
anything from your tank back into the gulf.

Kim

[RicSeyler]

Yep, I would pick up a hermit and snails and they were fine in my tank.
Santa Rosa Island
(Pensacola Beach). The water gets warm enough right up near the shore in
the shallow areas.

I'd be wary about the macro algae though, you can bring in stuff your
not aware of attached to it.
My neighbor got a terrible algae outbreak from a piece of macro or some
"plant" he dropped into his tank.
This was some wicked nasty stuff that took him months to eradicate. Plus
he was using water from
the break area instead of out past the second sandbar..

wrote:

>I live on the Gulf coast of Texas, and I went down to the beach with my
>young son who enjoys net fishing for crabs and other critters. I found
>some hermit crabs, and some reddish color macroalgae, and decided to
>see how they do in my reef tank. After a week, they seem to be doing
>fine. The macroalgae has been eaten by my yellow tang without problem,
>and the hermits seem to be doing their thing eating detritus without
>bothering other corals. Anyone else try adding Gulf of Mexico
>snails/crabs to their tanks. Anyone with any reason why this is not a
>good idea.
>
>
>

--
Ric Seyler

QUARANTINE anything you will add to your tank for a good month!

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>I live on the Gulf coast of Texas, and I went down to the beach with my
> young son who enjoys net fishing for crabs and other critters. I found
> some hermit crabs, and some reddish color macroalgae, and decided to
> see how they do in my reef tank. After a week, they seem to be doing
> fine. The macroalgae has been eaten by my yellow tang without problem,
> and the hermits seem to be doing their thing eating detritus without
> bothering other corals. Anyone else try adding Gulf of Mexico
> snails/crabs to their tanks. Anyone with any reason why this is not a
> good idea.
>

[Chip]

Hey rick......how goes it...This sal****er got me bit big
time.......Cuyrrently working on my 5th tank of 29 or greater in size
and have 6 pico tanks running beautifully now for some time.....


On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 13:12:57 -0500, RicSeyler >
wrote:

>===<>Yep, I would pick up a hermit and snails and they were fine in my tank.
>===<>Santa Rosa Island
>===<>(Pensacola Beach). The water gets warm enough right up near the shore in
>===<>the shallow areas.
>===<>
>===<>I'd be wary about the macro algae though, you can bring in stuff your
>===<>not aware of attached to it.
>===<>My neighbor got a terrible algae outbreak from a piece of macro or some
>===<>"plant" he dropped into his tank.
>===<>This was some wicked nasty stuff that took him months to eradicate. Plus
>===<>he was using water from
>===<>the break area instead of out past the second sandbar..
>===<>
wrote:
>===<>
>===<>>I live on the Gulf coast of Texas, and I went down to the beach with my
>===<>>young son who enjoys net fishing for crabs and other critters. I found
>===<>>some hermit crabs, and some reddish color macroalgae, and decided to
>===<>>see how they do in my reef tank. After a week, they seem to be doing
>===<>>fine. The macroalgae has been eaten by my yellow tang without problem,
>===<>>and the hermits seem to be doing their thing eating detritus without
>===<>>bothering other corals. Anyone else try adding Gulf of Mexico
>===<>>snails/crabs to their tanks. Anyone with any reason why this is not a
>===<>>good idea.
>===<>>
>===<>>
>===<>>


==============================================
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