Halloween-Themed Tank

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Aren't blood clams illegal?

I have no idea if it'd be possible (mostly because of how destructive these guys are so couldn't imagine a reef) but a tide pool mangrove style tank with halloween moon crabs (Gecarcinus quadratus) sounds fun to try since they need both land and saltwater.

Only Chinese imported blood clams are (because of poor sanitation controls leading to things like Hepatitis infections in people from the blood of the clams). Blood clams from other places are considered fine (I wouldn't recommend eating any blood clams you're adding to a tank though).

 

[Slocke]

A more available one in captivity is Halichoeres margaritaceus, which is over here called the Bleeding Heart Wrasse as it it has a red spot right where you’d expect a fish’s heart to be
(Not my photo)

Surprised you didn’t go with Cirrhilabrus sanguineus. Photo from reefbuilders

 

[i cant think]

Surprised you didn’t go with Cirrhilabrus sanguineus. Photo from reefbuilders

I nearly did!
And then it hit me… Who has that insane amount of money?!
The ‘blood stained fairy’ definitely fits this category though

 

[chenwon54]

I saw a video many years ago on a different forum that shall remain unamed, where a guy had to completely break down his tank to get it out. When he did, it was over 4' long! Good lord....

I think that may have been me. It still haunts me. Worst tank issue I’ve ever dealt with. Here is a photo for fun. Just the tip so to speak ;-$

 

[littlefoxx]

Hey everyone Halloween-themed creatures list below!
(I know it's the wrong season - sorry - but I'll forget if I wait until October.)

Long story short, it occurred to me that a lot of critters in our tanks have common names that could work for a Halloween-themed tank. So, knowing that a lot of people love Halloween, I figured I would share a list of the creatures I could think of with names that I associate with sort of the "classical" image of Halloween (I haven't listed any corals or macroalgae here, but there are things like Jack-o-Lantern Leptoseris, Dead Man's Fingers [Codium spp.], and Sailor's Eyeball [Valonia ventricosa - A.K.A. Bubble Algae] that would work well; I also intentionally tried to avoid totally unrealistic options like the Vampire Squid - sorry). A few of these (like the Witch Flounder) would likely need to be special-ordered for a hefty sum, but the vast majority of them are relatively common/easy to find.

I've tried to list some particularly important info (such as if they are predatory or coldwater), but I've likely missed adding that info for some of the creatures below (in some cases, I purposefully left the tag off as the common name applies to multiple species - so in cases where the tag may or may not apply depending on the specific species involved, I left the tag off).

If you can think of anything I missed (or any corals/algae that work well) that might be viable, feel free to add them here!

Inverts:
-Halloween Hermit Crab
-Halloween Urchin
-Red Heart Urchin
-Nassarius Snails ("Zombie Snails")
-Spider Conch
-Spider Crab
-Ghost Shrimp
-Candy Cane/Candy Stripe/Randall's Pistol Shrimp
-Skeleton Shrimp
-Blood Cockle/Blood Clam (*these have hemoglobin in their blood and can pass blood-borne diseases to people)
-Giant Heart Cockle (there are smaller heart cockle species, but this is the only one I've seen actively sold)
-Black Widow Bubble Tip Anemone
-Serpent Starfish
-Blood Starfish (Coldwater)
-Bat Starfish (Coldwater - Predator)
-Razor Clam (Coldwater)
-Moon Snail (Coldwater - Predator)
-Sea Spider (Pycnogonida) (*these are considered pests, and they typically eat corals)

Fish:
-Batfish
-Midnight Angelfish
-Fiji Blue Devil Damselfish (or any number of other "devilfish")
-Dracula Goby
-Vampire Tang
-Ghost Pipefish
-Blood Spot Anthias
-Firefish
-Lantern Basslet
-Coral Catfish (or other Catfish species, but the others I've seen for sale get huge)
-Candy Basslet
-Sea Moth
-Scrawled Filefish/Broomfish
-Broom Filefish/Broom Leatherjacket
-Dusky Wrasse
-Tonguefish
-Lizard Blenny
-Snake Eel (Predator?)
-Duckbill/Witch Eel (Predator?)
-Wolf Eel/Wolf Blenny (Predator)
-Lizardfish (Predator)
-Toadfish (Predator)
-Frogfish (Predator)
-Sea Goblin (Predator)
-Hagfish (Coldwater)
-Snailfish (Coldwater)
-Witch Flounder (Coldwater)
-Facciola's Sorcerer (Coldwater)
-Dogface Witch Eel (Coldwater?)
-Lanternfish/Flashlight Fish (Coldwater)
-Candlefish (Coldwater)
-Sea Raven (Coldwater - Predator)
-Wolf Fish (Coldwater - Predator)

Do some acan corals! They come in a lot of colors and have mouths… and Domino clowns are cool, here is mine (who I named Domino) she is super cool and would fit the theme cause often times she looks like a ghost against black background. Like the white stripes appear to be floating when shes near the back!!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Since another thread reminded me of this recently, here's a bump on this thread for the coming holiday.

Happy Halloween!

 

[Stomatopods17]

(disclaimer; I own none of these images)

Little Shop of Horrors - A zoanthid that resembles the plant from the musical. My favorite zoanthid... if I could actually keep them alive. I'm still trying to solve why I fail at keeping this, but for those more fortunate than me, the name alone fits for the season.

Spider Decorator Crab - it was already mentioned in OP with spider crabs, but I don't see the crab that dresses itself up specifically mentioned, you can do some fun stuff with making decorations to suit up for halloween, from 3D printed candy corn, giving it a trick-or-treat bucket for a photo, etc.

Now that I got a saltwater candidate out of the way; If it's allowed I'm going to suggest some stuff that isn't necessarily reef, saltwater, or what you'd traditionally see on these forums, these animals were just made for a halloween theme;

Halloween Moon Crab (Gecarcinus lateralis) - I believe they're terrestrial brackish water crabs that spend more time on the surface and need salt water to thrive long term, very fun critters if you're into paludarium setups. They get pretty big too, I used to have them but never did a the glorious setup they deserve, you can purchase them from some saltwater retailers, but they're commonly found from reptile vendors;

Vampire Crabs - Named for their bright eyes, and nocturnal activity, they're a smaller terrestrial crab that needs bodies of freshwater to submerge in. They're also very simple to breed, infact they're hatched out of the egg as functional crabs so no free swimming or sea water life cycle, you can build a thick planted paludarium and watch their numbers increase. Their popularity has been skyrocketing these past few years as shops realized how easy it is to build a colony of them.