Pictured in the latest installment of the AquaNerd Picture of the Week is a rose bubble tip anemone, but not just the regular old run of the mill RBTA. This anemone has bright red tentacles and a deep green color on its oral disc. This anemone isn’t a rare color morph by any means, but it certainly makes for an interesting specimen with it’s watermelon-like colors. Adding to the coloration are white specks that dot the tentacles and disc of the anemone.

Here’s a video to help get you through this long Monday. It’s a brief clip showing a cone snail, noted for its very deadly venom, attacking and devouring a small goatfish. The snail is a slow assassin, inching closer to the sleeping fish, eventually paralyzing it with chemicals that it releases into the water. Once stunned, the fish can only sit idly by while it’s eaten. The snail opens and extends its mouth to completely envelope the fish, which is then pulled inward and killed with an injection of venom. The venom of the cone snail is quite a powerful tool. It is stronger than cyanide and can kill humans. There have been some reported cases of human death from cone snails, and with no antivenom, the victim stands a very slim chance if stung. Despite their deadly nature, cone snails are also of great interest to science, as researchers and chemists are constantly finding new uses for their venom for biomedical purposes.

Video originally found on Gizmodo.

The human mind typically favors symmetry when it comes to determining what’s beautiful. Well, this latest two faced clam challenges that completely, as it’s patterns are nowhere near symmetrical. Back in November of last year, we saw what we thought to be a one-of-a-kind two face Tridacna maxima clam from ReefKoi Corals. The mantle from that rare clam had completely different colors and patterns on either side, almost as if two different clams had been cut in half and glued together. At the time, that clam was the first we had ever seen with that type of coloration, despite all of the insanely colored clams we’ve seen over the years. But that clam is no longer alone in the aquarium hobby. The guys at Pacific East Aquaculture have also gotten their hands on a similar specimen. Their two faced T. maxima clam, which they are calling the “Chimera Maxima”, also sports two distinctly patterned halves, but the patterns on this clam’s mantle seem to more complete on either side, with less bleeding of the other colors.

The asking price for this individual is set at $1000, which is quite a bit more than the previously seen two faced clam that came in at $250. However, this new two face clam is also a bit bigger with a length of just under four inches. Regardless of all this, both of the two face clams are very rare and are just plain cool.

Here’s the image of the two face maxima from ReefKoi.

Tridacna clams are some of the most interesting and colorful invertebrates we could put in our aquariums. They have a brightly colored and wildly patterend mantle, can retract into their shells when startled, and can even take up nitrate and free-floating particles when they are filter feeding. Another trick they can do is mass spawn in a reef aquarium, as can be seen in the video above from YouTube user “reefralf”. According to “reefralf”, this ocurrence is acutally a very common one for his reef. The clams apparently spawn at least three times a year and the event is usually brough on by some small change he makes in the aquarium. In this particular instance, the simple changing out of four metal halide bulbs is getting the credit for the spawning activity.

It’s not uncommon for a shift in water parameters or sudden changes in the aquatic environment to induce reproduction. Anemones have been known to split (their asexual form of reproduction) when stressed, corals usually reproduce after certain events, and as we can see here clams spawn after an alteration to their everyday environment. In most situations, mass spawning in the aquarium is an unsuccessul venture. There is usually only one sex present, meaning the eggs don’t get ferilized or the sperm don’t have anything to fertilize, but the situation of the spawning clams is a little different. Juvenile clams are often only male, meaning they only produce sperm. As they mature, however, clams start to produce eggs in addition to sperm, meaning they are hermaphroditic and can fertilize their own eggs. In theory, a single clam can reproduce successfully in an aquarium, but with all of the filtration and hungry reef life, it’s highly unlikely.
Despite this miracle in aquarium keeping, spawning clams actually presens a major problem, at least for some aquarims. As with any mass spawnin event, the eggs and sperm that are released will quickly start to degrade, fouling up the water quality in the process. “reefralf” states that his aquarium often clears up within two hours of the start of the spawning, but this is probably due to the relative volume of his aquarium and a more than capable filtration system. In the typical situation, however, the immense amount of material being released will quickly outpace and ovewhelm the aquarium equipment trying to filter it out. Some fish and corals will get a big meal from the ordeal, but a series of big water changes is a must in this situation. The water changes will remove the free-floating genetic material before it can die and cause a massive tank crash.

While traipsing through the local fish stores, we came across a beefy Tridacna squamosa clam and noticed it had another little bivalve attached to the side of its shell. The small hitchhiker appears to be a scallop, and it is tucked away in between some of the lateral scutes on the side of the much larger squammie. This little scallop and other hitchhiking clams are commonly found on imported live rock, corals, and clams. They often go unnoticed because they blend in very well with the rocky substrate, however the hitchhiker shown above stands out like a sore thumb. Fortunately, the scallop can be easily removed without harming the clam.

In this hobby, it’s so easy to get wrapped up in rare fish and corals, high end equipment, and unusual husbandry techniques that the simpler things often go overlooked. Saltwater snails, which are the workhorses of our aquariums, don’t often get their fare share of the spotlight. It’s understandable that hobbyists don’t focus on their snails, especially since they aren’t rare or insanely colored, don’t cost $20 per inch, and can’t be tagged with the “LE” moniker and sold for ten times their worth. Instead, snails just work tirelessly to keep our aquariums free of algae and detritus. During a routine examination of one of our aquariums, we happened across a very common sight. A margarita snail (Margarites pupillus) was cruising across the glass and scraping algae, and we felt it was a good opportunity to highlight just how this grazing is accomplished. Algae eating snails are equipped with a rasping radula, which is a tongue-like appendage that snails share with their cephalopod cousins. This advanced tool is the only method by which the snails actually gather their food, as it is highly effective at ripping algae off of just about every surface in the aquarium.

Pictured in the newest AquaNerd Picture of the Week is a Lettuce Nudibranch (Elysia crispata). While most nudibranchs are not desirable in the home aquarium, this little sea slug serves one very beneficial function…consuming unsightly algae. The lettuce nudibranch, which technically isn’t a true nudibranch, consumes different types of algae from the rockwork and incorporates the photosynthetic chloroplasts from the algae into its own cells. This allows the nudibranch to derive some of its nutrition from light energy, making it very easy to keep these slugs fed in the aquarium. Because of their diet, they are completely reef safe, but do occasionally find their way into the propellers of water pumps.

For years, aquarium keepers have been telling stories that would seem a better fit in an old pirate’s tale than from a reef tank. These hobbyists have reported elusive and giant worm-like creatures that would attack fish, kill clams, and occasionally wander out into the open to sting aquarium keepers working in the aquarium. These huge worms have the typical bristled look of the commonly found bristleworm, but can reach larger sizes and can pack a nasty punch if they touch the skin. While the normal bristlworms stay small and eat detritus and decaying matter, these giant fireworms worms can attack and kill perfectly healthy aquarium life. Despite their size, these giant worms can go undetected for years, often hiding in the rockwork and usually only coming out at night. When a worm such as this is encountered, the best thing to do is remove it immediately. This video comes from our good friend Clint, a local hobbyist who did just that, remove the monster from the tank as soon it was seen. As for the worm’s disposal, that’s really up to the tank owner. Some aquarium keepers banish the worm to the sump, which is obviously the most humane thing to do, but others inflict a little revenge and kill it.

Update: We previous misidentified this worm as a Eunicid, but a sharp AquaNerd reader pointed out that it was probably a fireworm from the genus Hermodice. After reviewing a high resolution photo of this particular worm, we also came to that conclusion and have updated the text above accordingly.

The Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wundermanni) is a very common saltwater aquarium shrimp. It is relatively inexpensive, is easily accessible by the hobby, and performs many tasks that make it an attractive aquarium inhabitant. In terms of accessibility, the peppermint shrimp can be collected all over the US Gulf Coast and eastern seaboard, and various other parts of the Atlantic. This availability makes it very affordable, with most stores selling them for less than $10. But the price of these shrimp isn’t what makes them so appealing. The peppermint shrimp is a proverbial Swiss army knife, as it is extremely useful to aquarium keepers and performs tasks that even some of the best husbandry techniques can’t accomplish.

The peppermint shrimp is a highly sought after shrimp for one major reason, along with multiple less important reasons of course. The shrimp are best known for their seemingly insatiable appetite for Aiptasia anemones, which as many of you already know are an invasive pest anemone. Many different techniques and equipment are good at killing the anemones, but those only get what you can see. Peps, on the other hand, scour the rockwork looking for every anemone they can find. They can get into hard to reach places and get those pests you never even knew where there.

Another great aspect of the peppermint shrimp is the broad range of food items that it will readily eat. If no anemones are present in the tank, the shrimp will eat detritus and uneaten fish food, preventing them from decomposing in the water and causing other issues down the road. There’s really no end to what kind of decomposing organic matter these shrimp will eat, making them very valuable additions to any marine or reef aquarium.

Peppermint Shrimp Eat Bristleworms Too

Because of all of these cleanup crew-like activities of the peppermint shrimp, I’ve put many of them in my aquariums through the years. But none of these are what inspired me to write this article. The source of my inspiration came the other evening, after the lights turned off, when I witnessed a shrimp voraciously attacking a bristleworm. I was shining a small LED-powered flashlight into the tank, and stumbled upon the shrimp dragging the worm back into the ledge it normally hangs out under. Despite being aware of so many different things the peps eat, I never thought about them as being viable predators of bristleworms. It should come as no surprise that the shrimp do this, but still, it’s just not something I put a lot of thought into prior to witnessing this predation. So, eating bristlworms is just another perk to the peppermint shrimp, and even though they won’t eradicate worm populations, they will definitely keep them in check.

Despite all of these perks, there are some important drawbacks to consider when purchasing one of these shrimp. Though they typically go after small anemones, sometimes the peps will nibble on soft coral tissue like zoanthids. More often than not, the shrimp is just eating food from between the polyps, but on the occasion they will eat the polyps themselves.

Pictured in this installment of the AquaNerd Picture of the Week is a closeup of a white and red feather duster seen in the same nano aquarium that last week’s ORA Sprung Stunner was found in. The heavy blue lighting from the Kessil Ocean Blue A150W LED pendant really allows the feather duster to stand out and essentially glow along the live rock backdrop. Feather dusters come in a huge variety of colors, shapes, and sizes, with each individual depending heavily on plankton-based foods for long-term health.