Cleaning critters are in
Today even though it was mid tide Floyd, Sebastian, Marlon and I went to the rocks at the north end of Buffalo Beach. We wanted a few things that would help to clean out the tank. The tank is building up it’s ecosystem so we thought some cleaners would be a good idea.
We got some cushion stars which cruise around eating debris. With time and patience these can be hand fed on the side of the glass. They extrude their stomachs to digest their food! They come in all sorts of sizes from very tiny to the size of a childs hand.
Cushion Stars
We caught some shrimps, including a pregnant one which was cool to look at with all the eggs in between it’s legs.
We caught some baby rock cod. Tiny little black fish.
We caught some crabs like this one. It seemed to have the local seaweed on it’s back. Do they collect them or do they grow naturally? Not sure but Mr Scott informs us that this is a porcelain crab (Petrolisthes elongatus)
Porcelain Crab (Petrolisthes elongatus)
We also picked up a small collection of snails. Not too many as these are primarily above water grazers.
Catseye Snails
And the regular from that end of the beach. Little black to blue crabs that live under almost every rock. They are filter feeders and have fans that they wave around in the current to catch food. We got these in a selection of sizes. Mr Scott informs us that these are porcelain crabs (Petrolisthes elongatus).
porcelain crab (Petrolisthes elongatus)
A great time was had by little people and big people alike and it is great to have some life in the tank again.
The tank is exciting already.
