A few questions

[poolshark181]

1. I recently got a seaweed clip, the way i was feeding seaweed before was just strapping it onto a rock rubble with rubberband, and just leaving it in there until either my lawnmower blenny or hermits finished it off. Is this a safe way to do it? or is the clip better? the reason i ask is because my lawnmower blenny has gotten used to where the rock with dinner is located, and he'll perch beside the area i put it in, even now when i clipped seaweed he's just sitting there.

2. I purchased some dry rock rubble at my lfs. How should i clean it to put in my tank? Im going to be using it to place my xenia frags on it. So far, i've just rinsed it off with my tank water and then put some more tank water in a container and they're now soaking in it.

3. What do cleaner shrimp eat?

4. what kind of star is this? it hitchhiked on one of my trochus snails.

5. Fragging xenia, just slice it at the stalk? does it matter where at the stalk? can it be halfway from the bottom to the top of the stalk?


thanks guys!

 

[hibye]

1. clips are better
3.cleaners will eate parisites and fish food
4i would take it out it has 6 legs so it might eat coral i found a 6 legged star eating my ricorda it is dead now:cry:
5slice the middle of the stalk im not a expert on xenia tough ive never been able to keep it alive just make sure you have sharp scissors made for fragging

nice coraline

 

[Bifferwine]

1. Either way is fine. Your blenny will find the food if you continue to use the clip. I like strapping it to a rock because it looks more "natural". I don't really like bright red things hanging from my glass!

2. Rinsing and soaking is fine. You could also soak in a weak bleach solution to be really sure, but I don't think that's necessary for rock rubble.

3. Cleaner shrimp will eat whatever you feed the fish. They are also fun to feed by hand. Before mine boiled (RIP), I used to hold out some mysis with a pair of feeding tweezers and the shrimp would chase the tweezers around the tank trying to grab the shrimp.

4. That is an asterina starfish. Some people say the are good (excellent scavengers), some people say they are bad and eat corals. It's up to you if you want to leave it in there or not, but if you do leave it in, be sure to keep an eye on it and take it out if your corals start looking munched on (I do not leave them in, I won't risk my corals).

5. Slice it right down the middle using a clean razor blade. You shouldn't have to frag xenia though, it splits on its own really easily.

 

[reeffreak]

1)Which ever works best
2)Rinsing in saltwater is fine.
3)The Skunk Cleaner will eat anything the fish eats.Mine seem to favor krill,mysis and prime reef.
4)Definitely a Asterina starfish.Like Biff said some people considered beneficial others don't.I have them and they haven't bothered any corals.My guess,they feed on the dead or dieing.
5)There is two ways to frag xenias....I like to leave a rock rubble next to one.They will adhere to the rubble and split(rather quickly).You can cut a branch off also with a razor blade.Best to do this out of the DT,they do release chemicals and toxins.You can either use fishing line/sewing needle thru the base and wrapped around a rubble or try super glue gel which I never have any luck with.

 

[poolshark181]

1. will the rubberband deteriorate in the water, or can i just leave it in there indefinitely?

 

[Bifferwine]

The rubberband will snap after time. But it lasts a while.

 

[yote]

Reef and Biffs got you pretty well covered here.
I will add this though.About the easiest way to frag xenia is like Reef said.Place a piece of rubble next to the stalk and the xenia will grow over to it.I've found that xenia will get so slippery that it may slip out from under rubber bands and super glue dont stick to it very good either.