jhildebrand
04/08/2009, 09:48 AM
So I buy a huge show piece of live rock at a swap from a young guy and I get it home and it turns out there's like 100 mushies on it. Upon putting the rock in quarantine I notice zoas and stubs of several acros on the rock and it eventually hits me that he was unloading a major problem. Fast forward several weeks and I've removed all the shrooms and chiseled and dipped the acro bits several times (evidence of pests eating them).
So now the rock has been observed and cleaned and enough time has gone by that I feel comfortable with it and I decide to do a final inspection before mounting some frags to it. I notice a peculiar thing - there's a snail shell lodged in a hole in a way that looks too perfect and unnatural. I take my frag tweezers and remove the firmly lodged shell to find a large void in the rock beneath - and more shells. Next comes the bolt cutter, followed by my introduction to this fella:
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq82/jhildebrand13210/IMG_0287.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq82/jhildebrand13210/IMG_0295.jpg
And here's what came out of his lair:
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq82/jhildebrand13210/IMG_0298-1.jpg
Nice little tridacna too, huh? The other piece is still lodged in the rock. He's going to reside in a separate sump compartment I have set up for the weird and interesting that's ruled not reef safe. Glad he's not in my display :)
So now the rock has been observed and cleaned and enough time has gone by that I feel comfortable with it and I decide to do a final inspection before mounting some frags to it. I notice a peculiar thing - there's a snail shell lodged in a hole in a way that looks too perfect and unnatural. I take my frag tweezers and remove the firmly lodged shell to find a large void in the rock beneath - and more shells. Next comes the bolt cutter, followed by my introduction to this fella:
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq82/jhildebrand13210/IMG_0287.jpg
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq82/jhildebrand13210/IMG_0295.jpg
And here's what came out of his lair:
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq82/jhildebrand13210/IMG_0298-1.jpg
Nice little tridacna too, huh? The other piece is still lodged in the rock. He's going to reside in a separate sump compartment I have set up for the weird and interesting that's ruled not reef safe. Glad he's not in my display :)