HiTchHiKers

[whackamole]

can there b hitch hickers on un cured rock. and when a pet store only sells 1 piece of live rock in a tank whats the chance there will be a hithch hiker

 

[jmcnaz]

As long as the rock hasnt been sitting out of water until all is dead, there can be ride-alongs. I've had stuff pop out have a year or so.
good luck,
jmcnaz

 

[whackamole]

thanx and at one of the lfs they have live rock that doesnt look to alive. its chalky brown and i dont even see any algea growing on them. should i keep away? do u think if i set up a small tank something like this.....
10 gal
no pump (just bubbler)
pebble bottom
a small light ( a watt or 2)
no chemicals as far as calcium and so forth
if i stack two pecies of live rock on 1 big peice of un cured will it grow under the conditions above?

 

[jmcnaz]

should be fine, but i would rinse with fresh water first unless u want want ever is on the rock to stay alive.
under the conditions u describe all u will get it alot of algae.
gl,
jmcnaz

 

[seannmelly]

if had live rock i got from a tank, put it in a cooler with some wet paper towels, drove about 20 min. took it out of the car took my time to find some garbage cans mixed up some new water added the rock and out came a bullet goby! couldnt believe it must of hid in the rock and never came out till i put it back in water. and yes it was still alive swimming around. then i just stayed there watching the rock and i was picking things out left and right. britle stars, snails, crabs all kinds of stuff came out of the rock. oh yea this rock came from a established tank not from the pet store.

 

[whackamole]

so how do i get any thing else

 

[jmcnaz]

alot of money!!!!!!!!!!!
bigger tank, mh lights, maybe power compacts, alot better filtration, get rid of those pebbles, get either sand or nothing for the bottom. get rid of the bubbler.
gl,
jmcnaz

 

[threed240]

What I think Whackamole is saying is he is trying to seed some other rocks, from live rock. He's not trying to setup a 2gal display tank. As long as you do frequent water changes and maybe throw in a snail or hermit crab to control some of the growth, it'll work. You may want to consider using Live Sand in there to also help in the seeding.

 

[whackamole]

ya thanks for explain that threed. and thats a good idea and im in the process of taking out the pebbles right now and im going to add live sand and ill just borrow some from the display tank to put in my little tank.so hitch hikers are pretty rare?