Good For Nothing: Have you ever had an unwelcome hitchhiker?

[AlyciaMarie]

As hard as some of us try to prevent them, hitchhikers are just a part of this hobby. Sometimes we get lucky and get some beneficial hitchhikers, even welcomed ones, and other times...Not so much.

Have you ever had an unwelcome hitchiker? What was it, and how did it turn out?

 

[Fish Styx]

Aiptasia, asterinas (the bad kind), briopsis, a whelk, red bugs... the list goes on.

It's all part of the journey though. Gotta take the good with the bad.

 

[fishywishy]

Gorilla crabs, mantis shrimp, and annoying pistol shrimp.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

So far we have not!

 

[Zeefishies]

Yeah Montipora Nudibranches wiped out 2 of my large Monties no matter how many times i treated , they won

 

[56longroof]

Horse conch,bryopsis,calico crabs,aptasia,pistol shrimp,coffee bean trivia,and some fire worms. It makes getting real live rock interesting.

 

[Manose]

Battling zoa eating nudis right now and it's slow going.

 

[IceNein]

Just got a gorilla crab about the size of my pinky nail out. He was just out in the open scrounging for detritus. I'm pretty sure he murdered a small hermit, but I guess that could have been a hermit too. Since he and the hermit crabs were the apex predators in my tank, he didn't even freak out when the tongs came down from the sky to pluck him away.

I wish I had a sump, because I really dislike killing anything I don't absolutely have to.

 

[Fish Styx]

Gorilla crabs, mantis shrimp, and annoying pistol shrimp.

Gorillas do make pretty cool sump monsters, though.

 

[Fish Styx]

Battling zoa eating nudis right now and it's slow going.

I'll take some off your hands. I have some serious "weeding" to do.

 

[Manose]

I'll take some off your hands. I have some serious "weeding" to do.

If I knew how to ship them I would as I have had a lot of people that actually want them

 

[marcus aurelius]

Aiptasia, asterinas, they just showed the faces in the last couple months.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Aiptasia. Got a fish that eats them (chelmon marginalis, looks like a copperband).

Had good ones too.

 

[BryanM]

I wish I had known what a mantis shrimp was when I got my live rock. I purposefully put him in the tank as I dont like critters to die.

So Yes, and it caused issues.... MENTAL for me. CLACK.... CLACK..... CLACK.....

what's worse? I caught one. Yay. the other one is 2.5x as big now. And there's at least two small ones.

/sadpanda.

 

[SallyWho]

Asterina stars, vermetid snails, and aiptasia! About a year ago my tank sprung a leak and I took that opportunity to go nuclear on the aiptasia and haven't seen one since (fingers crossed!), but I feel like the nasty asterina and vermetid snails are probably here to stay. >

 

[BristleWormHater]

pyramid snails, got them out before they caused any damage.

 

[PharmrJohn]

I got lucky with my last tank. Just aiptasia and asterina stars. No issues tho. Got both under control.

 

[Eyllis]

Polyclad flatworm the size of my palm. Getting that out of my tank was a nightmare.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

pyramid snails, got them out before they caused any damage.

I am guessing they are coral eaters?

 

[IceNein]

I am guessing they are coral eaters?

They're mollusk parasites. They hang out on your other snails shells and eat them. They also loooove to eat clams.