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Related FAQs:
Marine Invertebrates,
Marine Invert.s 2,
Marine Invert.s 3,
Non-Vert IDs 1,
Non-Vert IDs 2,
Non-Vert IDs 3,
Non-Vert IDs 4, Non-Vert IDs 5,
Non-Vert IDs 6,
Non-Vert IDs 7, Non-Vert
IDs 8,
Non-Vert IDs 9,
Non-Vert IDs 10,
Non-Vert IDs11,
Non-Vert IDs 12,
Non-Vert IDs 13,
Non-Vert IDs 14,
Non-Vert IDs 15, Non-Vert IDs 16,
Non-Vert IDs 17,
Non-Vert IDs 18, Non-Vert. ID 19,
Non-Vert. ID 20,
Non-Vert. ID 21,
Non-Vert.
ID 25,
Non-Vert ID 26,
Non-Vert ID 27, Non-Vert ID 28,
Non-Vert ID 29, Non-Vert ID 30
Non-Vert ID 31,
Non-Vert ID 32, Non-Vert 33,
Non-Vert ID 34, Non-Vert ID 35,
Non-Vert ID 36,
Non-Vert ID 37, Non-Vert ID 38,
Non-Vert
ID 39,
Non-Vert ID 40,
Non-Vert ID 41, Non-Vert ID 42, &
FAQs about:
Marine Invertebrate Behavior,
Marine Invertebrate Compatibility,
Marine Invertebrate Selection,
Marine Invertebrate Systems,
Feeding Reef Invertebrates, Marine
Invertebrate Disease, Marine
Invertebrate Reproduction, &
Quarantine of Corals and Invertebrates,
Feeding Reef Invertebrates, Lighting
Marine Invertebrates,
Marine Plankton, Marine
Microbes, Marine Virus,
Marine Bacteria,
Marine Funguses,
Marine Protozoans,
Marine Plankton, Live Rock,
Related Articles:
Marine Virology,
Marine Bacteria,
Marine Mycology,
Marine Protozoans,
Invertebrates,
Marine Plankton,
Live Rock,
Live Sand, Sponges (Porifera),
Stinging-Celled Animals (Cnidaria),
Worm Groups,
Mollusks (Snails, Bivalves, Octopus...),
Pycnogonids (Sea Spiders),
Jointed-Legged Animals (Arthropods),
Bryozoans/Ectoprocts,
Spiny-Skinned Animals (Echinoderms), Water
Flow, How Much is Enough,
/The Conscientious Reef
Aquarist
The Pros & Cons of Hitchhikers in the
Reef Aquarium, part 1
To: Part 2,
Part 3, Part 4,
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By Bob Fenner |
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Amongst the chief concerns of marine aquarium keepers, the showing
up (for free!) of unwanted, too-often unidentified livestock is largely
over-rated. Using live rock, live sand, even just natural water, one
should come to expect the emergence of so-called hitchhikers, and
indeed, to embrace them as part and parcel of being a "slice of the real
world".
Here I'll offer my glimpses of what a good bit of this life is,
where it comes into your displays, and a few guidelines and methods for
appropriate avoidance, compatibility judging and control. |
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Instead of hanging your head and
crying "Why me!?", think about life as you know it... What's that
saying...? Oh yeah, "Nature abhors a vacuum"... Well, nature hates the
Dickens out of not filling up tropical reef habitats chock-a-block with
all manner of life. Really, the more you look, its absolutely
flabbergasting how much diversity and abundance there is in/on the sand,
rock, other life, in the water... Of course a bunch of this biota is
going to manifest itself in your captive slices of these worlds.
Before "processing" likely more than half the
total mass of live rock is life, living attached and in particularly in
Pacific sources throughout holes and crannies in the matrix of its
carbonate make-up. Micro-life abounds... in the water, in all
interstitial spaces, on and in all other life. All "macro" organisms
have "epi-" life on them, their own mutualistic-to commensal-to
parasitic fauna... If you use anything but sterile cultures and sterile
water, sterile techniques... You're going to have a plethora of life
forms in your systems. |
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| Even "man-made" live rock is cured in the sea... where it "picks up"
a multitude of life in short order... within hours, with founding
organisms (bacteria, fungi/slime-molds... algae) weeks it is inoculated
with founding "macro" life such as sponges, sea squirts, molluscs,
crustaceans... The vast majority of the "real" externalized life of live
rock is whacked off with high pressure water and hand tools... And
rightly so. If the vast majority of biomass wasn't denuded it would rot
enroute and likely kill off most all other desirable biota. Strangely
enough though, what often constitutes as "life" on this hard material is
the underside... mostly encrusting red coralline algae, that was "face
down" on the reef or sand prior to extraction... the luxuriant "top
side" life having either been purposely removed or consequently lost due
to the rigors of shipping and handling. |
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To: Part 2,
Part 3, Part 4,
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