Tag Archives: zoanthids

I’m reporting from an ongoing battle that started few days before the Spring swap. My aquarium was in its high peak, every citizen of that little coral nation seemed to be going on with its life and there was no sign of any distress in its structures. But, as I soon would find out, it was just a calm before the storm…

History of War

  A little history before we move to identify the enemy. I’ve been keeping a reef tank since January 2010. I’ve tried to do everything as planned, and after many months I could say most of the plan went well. But that’s not important right now. A few weeks after I set up the tank, new residents started to appear in my little piece of underwater world. I still remember the day I first saw a little clam that crawled from from somewhere in the darkest corners of the live rock. Then a new little invertebrate appeared out of nowhere- a small starfish! I was very excited seeing such a odd-looking living creature (I came from the freshwater side of hobby, where there are no starfish), then fascinated by the way it slides on the glass, and finally I started to get concerned about its place in my aquarium. “Friend or foe?” I asked myself, memorizing horror stories about fish-eating mantis shrimp, assassin crabs, stinging anemones and other non-reef safe animals that can crawl from the live rock in its process of curing. So I started my research… It turned out that approximately 7 out of 10 people (of which at least half were being considered as an experienced and reputable aquarists by their communities) who kept them, never had any problems with them. Two out of ten reefers warned that some of them may eat zoanthids. That remaining one person had, or at the time was having, an issue with them. I calculated the risk and let them stay, partly because they were so small and innocent looking, and partly because they fascinated me. Also, I was proud they stood alive in that immature tank I had. As time passed, that one Asterina starfish I had spotted earlier multiplied. Then I constantly noticed more of them, although never in alarming numbers. They didn’t bother me at all; I found them cute, rather than anything I should be concerned about. They stuck to my rules and played modern citizens, but what I didn’t know is that at night they were secretly conspiring by candlelight (sort of).… More: