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Most aquarists are pleased when their saltwater aquarium house numbers of animals or plants that have not been specifically added. These animals and plants arrive with each addition of living rock, attached to the live rock are various green and red algae, sponges, small tubeworms, small polyps, sea squirts and other animals, Micro flora and fauna are also introduced and really bring the aquarium to life.
However there are a number of unwanted guests that are often introduced and go undetected for month, these diverse groups of animals can cause considerable damage to an established aquarium. Some of the troublesome animals include mantis, crabs, amphipods and shrimp.
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Mantis shrimp
Mantis shrimps look like the praying mantis insect after which they were named, they have barbed, hooked claws, which they use to impale prey, their claws can also easily pound the shell of crabs into pieces. A large specimen can split a 10cm crab shell in half with the force similar to a .22 bullet, the force of these claws can also smash the aquarium glass. If you are having unexplainable fish or other live stock loses chances are you have a mantis shrimp in your tank, another telltale sign is a clicking noise similarly to a cap gun going of coming from the tank, mantis shrimp are active at night so when the lights go off the shrimp come out if you keep a blue light on you should be able to see them scurry around the tank bottom, if you approach the tank or turn on the lights they will dive back into their hole you can then note where they are living and if possible remove the piece of rock they are in you must act quickly as mantis are great excavators and usually have a rear exit to their hole, you can also use a trap but these are not usually effective the best solution is not to introduce them in the first place so you should read our section on live rock.
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Crabs
Crabs a introduced as tiny juveniles and can reach the size of a 50 cent piece in about 6 months, the bristle crab can cause considerable damage to soft corals usually to such an extend that even large colonies can be injured severely and die. Crabs can easily be removed with traps, however since fish will also be attracted to the bait you must check the trap regularly, it is best to set traps at night, trying to catch crabs with nets is not successful, like with the mantis shrimp if you find where the crab takes refuge you could remove the crab by removing its hiding place.
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Rock Anemones
Rock Anemones (Aiptasia)multiply quickly in a reef aquarium, their potent toxin can damage other corals and large rock anemones can even be a danger to small fish, mechanical control of these animals is impossible, if they are smashed new polyps develop. Only chemical and biological control remains an option, by injecting a few drops of hydrochloric acid or hot water into the anemone with a hypodermic syringe will do the trick the small amount of acid used will not effect the buffering capacity of the aquarium. There are some animals such as copper band butterfly fish, peppermint shrimp and some nudibranch will eat rock anemones.
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