Spider

[atomic]

So, my six year old was helping clean some powerheads and heaters and what not when she noticed a spider floating around the QT. I went to go fish it out (thinking it was a dead house spider) when it latched on to a rock and started crawling around. I would post a pic but I havn't gotten the hang of taking pictures of the tank. Its about a 1/2 inch long an sort of a translucent white color. I'm sure it will be fish food once I get some fish in there but for now, its kind of cool to watch. I'll keep trying to get a pic but its pretty hard to see. It looks just like one of them camel spiders, kind of a weird coincidence.

[JnS]

are you sure it was not a mini brittle star?

[atomic]

I'm pretty sure its not, but I've never seen a brittle star, it was walking around slowly and like a spider, I've imagined that brittle stars move more like an octopus.

I got this picture from the web
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-01/rs/

It looks close to what I saw.

Tom

[JnS]

Tom,
try to get it out of the tank.

Jerry

[atomic]

You bet I will, I at least want to take a picture. More than that, it looks like it kills coral. Not really a problem in the QT (yet) but don't want to risk it. Trouble is, he's hard to find. I might just end up tearing the hole thing down and starting with fresh water. Not "freshwater" of course.


Tom

[clownfishcrazy]

It looks like a sea spider.

[atomic]

I found it and was able to get it out of there, I've got it in a cup. The batteries died on my camera but as soon as they charge up I'll try to post another picture.

[atomic]

I can't get a pic but its pretty clearly some sort of pycnogonid. My daughter wants it to 'live' in her room so its in a cup, I put a small chunk of live rock in with it. We'll do water changes, she can learn a little about taking care of sea critters (hopefully it doesn't live much more than a couple days), and I'll go broke when she gets hooked on this hobby as well.

Tom