OK, please bear with this somewhat rambling post for a minute...
The last time I bought live rock was in about 1992 or so. 6 boxes of pre-ban Florida rock that I ordered from a diver, and picked up at the airport. It was collected one morning and by the next afternoon it was in my tank.
I never had any mantis shrimps, nor bristle worms (then thought to be bad), or crabs that caused me troubles. I did have Aipstasia, though, and quite a variety of
macro algae.
What was very cool, though, was the huge variety of other life. 'pods to be sure, but also a lot of other things I can't begin to tell what they were. Long filamentatious arms snaking out of holes in the rock, swimming little worms or something after lights out, it was just fascinating to study even without the animals I purposely introduced.
Now, all the rage is rock from the South Pacific with exotic names, and such.
I have to wonder though, compared to my only other experience... Does rock that's been collected, sprayed down for a few days, packed and shipped, and whatever else even begin to have that kind of diversity? I'm not sure I'll enjoy it as much without that facet of discovery each time I looked at the tank.
Or do I even WANT that kinds of diversity anymore, since I want to focus more on the corals this time?
Or would it be a resonable compromise to get a supplimentary box of rock from the Caribbean, just to import some diversity?
Comments, thoughts, musings, recommendations?
Ron
