Do you have tank inhabitants that freak you out?

[Karen00]

Hello fellow saltines,

I thought I would do a check with the community on whether there are any inhabitants in your that freak you out when they suddenly spring out of some dark hidey hole in the tank to make an appearance after being hidden for days/weeks on end?

The reason for this question you ask? Well, I have this very cute pom pom crab in my tank who is one of the most docile inhabitants I have. The problem is he often goes into hiding in the nooks and crannies of my rock and will disappear for long periods of time, so long that I often forget he's in there. Until.... He decides to make an appearance which usually coincides with me having my hand in the tank. I don't know what it is about him but when his long spindley legs emerge from the dark areas of my rock I recoil in horror thinking it's a spider. I know it's crazy right? I don't even have a fear of spiders except ones that are bigger than my hand. This happens everytime he does this (usually ending with water all over the wall as my hand ejects from the tank). It's like he does it intentionally. It's like a never ending "gotcha" with this guy

Tell me about yours (and I don't mean the killer clown types of "gotcha"). I've seen those pics. Haha

 

[Sean Clark]

Luckily I don't have any creepers in my tank anymore. I use to have all kinds of weird hitchhikers in my prior tanks due to not using proper qt on anything. Looking at the tank at night time was pretty disturbing.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Bristleworms, spaghetti worms, emerald crabs, fire shrimp, etc. My tank is not creeper free.

 

[Karen00]

Luckily I don't have any creepers in my tank anymore. I use to have all kinds of weird hitchhikers in my prior tanks due to not using proper qt on anything. Looking at the tank at night time was pretty disturbing.

I know I don't have any hitchhikers (yet) but I must confess I still am afraid to look at my tank at night. I've seen the creepy pics on here of the creatures that go bump in the night. LOL

 

[Karen00]

Bristleworms, spaghetti worms, emerald crabs, fire shrimp, etc. My tank is not creeper free.

I must admit that bristleworms would freak me out. I would have to burn my tank if I saw those wiggling around in front of me. So far my dipping protocol has managed to banish those before they made it into my tank.

 

[Sean Clark]

This is a terrible photo but this is how things use to be in one of my older systems. Bristleworms everywhere.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Hello fellow saltines,

I thought I would do a check with the community on whether there are any inhabitants in your that freak you out when they suddenly spring out of some dark hidey hole in the tank to make an appearance after being hidden for days/weeks on end?

The reason for this question you ask? Well, I have this very cute pom pom crab in my tank who is one of the most docile inhabitants I have. The problem is he often goes into hiding in the nooks and crannies of my rock and will disappear for long periods of time, so long that I often forget he's in there. Until.... He decides to make an appearance which usually coincides with me having my hand in the tank. I don't know what it is about him but when his long spindley legs emerge from the dark areas of my rock I recoil in horror thinking it's a spider. I know it's crazy right? I don't even have a fear of spiders except ones that are bigger than my hand. This happens everytime he does this (usually ending with water all over the wall as my hand ejects from the tank). It's like he does it intentionally. It's like a never ending "gotcha" with this guy

Tell me about yours (and I don't mean the killer clown types of "gotcha"). I've seen those pics. Haha

I’m an oyster cracker…not a saltine…tyvm…just sayin.

 

[Karen00]

This is a terrible photo but this is how things use to be in one of my older systems. Bristleworms everywhere.

Oh ya... That would be a burn down the tank situation for me. Haha. Seeing those things defiantly wiggling in front of me would cause a severe repulsive reaction in me. I have to admit that even watching my corals eat is a little freaky and they're not even creepers. I was watching my Corky Sea Finger gorg today and seeing it's little polypy fingers reaching out to grab things then closing up around whatever it grabbed was a tad freaky. Haha. I think it was seeing all of its polypy fingers going at the same time that was a bit freaky. It was kind of mesmerizing. LOL

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Once did battle w a massive
Gorilla crab. Creepy seeing it w tank lights out dart between rock out of corner of eye. I was like what in bloody hell was that. And I went to war. Nasty creature bent my skewer in the process. He lost a claw but still fought tremendously til I prevailed and saved the reef and it’s cowering inhabitants. vile beast. Vanquished to the whirlpool that leads to the ocean and the reef rejoiced in victory.

 

[ying yang]

Not really got anything that creeps me out but literally 1 hour or so ago just did one of my nightly checks on tank after lights out and seen this what I think is sone kind of eunicid worm.
For size reference its on a dead 1 head torch Skelton and next to a tube worm/ feather duster and worm which glides off backwards and got white band around neck very small at like 4- 5 mm and last time added any coral frags was about 4 months ago and started with dry rock/ dry sand so if this came in as hitch hiker I would off thought grown much larger in 4 months,so either it's very small variety or there is bigger ones in tank that reproduced and this is one of the babies so just going have to keep eye on it and see if see bigger ones and take from there I guess.
But we all want bio - diversity right ^_^

very small eunicid worm ?

youtube.com

 

[Sean Clark]

Not really got anything that creeps me out but literally 1 hour or so ago just did one of my nightly checks on tank after lights out and seen this what I think is sone kind of eunicid worm.
For size reference its on a dead 1 head torch Skelton and next to a tube worm/ feather duster and worm which glides off backwards and got white band around neck very small at like 4- 5 mm and last time added any coral frags was about 4 months ago and started with dry rock/ dry sand so if this came in as hitch hiker I would off thought grown much larger in 4 months,so either it's very small variety or there is bigger ones in tank that reproduced and this is one of the babies so just going have to keep eye on it and see if see bigger ones and take from there I guess.
But we all want bio - diversity right ^_^

very small eunicid worm ?

youtube.com

 

[Mr Cypher]

arrow crab eats worm and looks like a big spider

 

[ying yang]

arrow crab eats worm and looks like a big spider

Yeah these very unusual freaky looking things for sure ha ha

 

[HB AL]

I'm just glad that my 7 triggers and the Japanese Dragon Eel know that my hands are not food.

 

[rmorris_14]

This is a terrible photo but this is how things use to be in one of my older systems. Bristleworms everywhere.

 

[Jedi Knghit]

Yes, I have at least one, possibly two, bristle "snakes". I say snake because these things are at least 8 inches long.

 

[vlangel]

My tank also has a healthy population of bristle worms. I just consider them as CUC that I did not have to pay for, ha ha!

 

[dvgyfresh]

Sometimes my mantis shrimp reminds me of his existence when I have my hand near his rock

 

[Eatfrenchfries]

My harlequin shrimp freak me out the same way Hannibal lecter did. Literally spot feeding algae to a starfish just to keep it fresh.

 

[dking271]

I had a gorilla crab that lived undetected for 3+ years that creeped me out once I found his hiding place. He would kill my hermits and I always wondered why there was always a pile of empty shells near one cave. I eventually got him and took him down to the LFS where he promptly became food for a lucky parrot fish. Not a fan of bristle worms but don’t ever see them due to a patrolling SixLine wrasse.