Two Hitchhikers in my first tank

[mromano2]

I got a decent amount of live sand and some premium live rock from TBS last week to start my Red Sea Max E170 tank and it's been a blast so far! In the sand and live rock, there were a few hitchhikers that came through. So far I've seen a number of dwarf ceriths and a hermit crab which I'm excited to have. There are two other plant/coral hitchhikers that I'm not able to identify as a novice though so I'm hoping the community can help me out.

The first looks like some sort of coral. It was only showing up as a white knob (about an inch in diameter), but today there were a number of tendrils that opened up and they appear to have a brown ring on them. I wasn't planning on adding corals for a few months, but if this is something worth keeping (i.e., not a pest) then I need to do some research on how to take care of it. Any idea what this is?

The second was on one of the rocks but fell off as I was placing them in the tank. It showed up in the very corner of the tank on day 2, but last night it moved to underneath a rock overhand. It's maybe half an inch in diameter, and it's a single white/clear "flower" (not sure if that's the right word). Any ideas?

 

[robotrash]

First one not sure
Second one could be either ball anemone (not a big deal) or aiptasia (kill with the fury of 1000 suns)

Edit: ball anemones have balls on the ends of the tentacles, aiptasia do not. They're very distinct, just hard to tell from the image. If aiptasia just carefully remove that corner of sand + nem and toss it.

What is that!! A R2R guide to common new tank hitchhikers.

One of the greatest things about starting a reef tank is getting your live rock in and admiring all the diversity within it. The rock comes to life different creatures. This is a guide that I, along with a very well known critter identifier @KJ , have put together for the new reefer on what...

www.reef2reef.com

Edit 2: Someone may suggest a treatment for all of your rocks to try and eliminate any remaining aiptasia, especially since you have a new tank and can take drastic measures at this stage. I am not that person though : P

 

[mromano2]

First one not sure
Second one could be either ball anemone (not a big deal) or aiptasia (kill with the fury of 1000 suns)

Edit: ball anemones have balls on the ends of the tentacles, aiptasia do not. They're very distinct, just hard to tell from the image. If aiptasia just carefully remove that corner of sand + nem and toss it.

What is that!! A R2R guide to common new tank hitchhikers.

One of the greatest things about starting a reef tank is getting your live rock in and admiring all the diversity within it. The rock comes to life different creatures. This is a guide that I, along with a very well known critter identifier @KJ , have put together for the new reefer on what...

www.reef2reef.com

Edit 2: Someone may suggest a treatment for all of your rocks to try and eliminate any remaining aiptasia, especially since you have a new tank and can take drastic measures at this stage. I am not that person though : P

I don't t think it's aiptasia. I'm definitely new to this, so I could be wrong. But from what I can tell, aiptasia has some brown in it and the tendrils are slimmer or tapered. This one is basically all white/clear and the tendrils are shorter/consistent width.

 

[Lavey29]

I don't t think it's aiptasia. I'm definitely new to this, so I could be wrong. But from what I can tell, aiptasia has some brown in it and the tendrils are slimmer or tapered. This one is basically all white/clear and the tendrils are shorter/consistent width.

Aptasia can be different colors. I have purple, brown and white ones....lucky me

 

[ReeferHD]

looks like it could be a baby condylactis gigantea, quite common in the caribbean

 

[mromano2]

looks like it could be a baby condylactis gigantea, quite common in the caribbean

That would be exciting.

I think I'm going to keep it and see what happens as it gets a bit bigger. I don't think it's aptasia but we'll see.

Any guesses on the first one?

 

[robotrash]

That would be exciting.

I think I'm going to keep it and see what happens as it gets a bit bigger. I don't think it's aptasia but we'll see.

Any guesses on the first one?

I think it'll need a clearer pic if you can manage, short video may also work

 

[Shon]

That would be exciting.

I think I'm going to keep it and see what happens as it gets a bit bigger. I don't think it's aptasia but we'll see.

Any guesses on the first one?

A guess? Siderastrea radians

 

[mromano2]

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Need a photo under white lights and an indication of what your asking about...

 

[mromano2]

Need a photo under white lights and an indication of what your asking about...

Ahh, got it. How about this one?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Ahh, got it. How about this one?

Looks like a hidden cup coral... ?

 

[LiverockRocks]

Hey there,
So many unique hitchhikers can be found on ocean farmed rock. We are in the process of expanding the hiker identification section on the website and asking TBS customers to send clear photos of their unknown critter.
The nem is not an aiptasia for sure. Does look similar to a condy but I’ve not seen one on the farm. Did you say it was on the rock and now in the sand?
The coral is a bit bleached but looks to be on the mend. You have it in a great location, low in the tank. Probably a star coral / tube coral variety.
Find anything else unusual?