[Todd L]

Hey all!
Went to my LFS yesterday to get some rubble as per Ryan's suggestion for my cannister, and I noticed some soft spongy things on one of the pieces of LR so I stuck it in my tank.
A little while later I noticed these....I'm assuming they're some type of tube anenome? Anyone know that they eat? They're kinda small too...the biggest one there is about a half inch tall at best.
Thanks.

[pogodzib]

They are aiptasia. A pest anemone. You'll want to get rid of it so it doesn't spread and take over your tank, killing off good corals. If you do a search for aiptasia, you'll find plenty of pics and methods to get rid of them.

[Todd L]

Thanks Brian,
I thought as much but wanted to be sure. I'm just FOWLR at this point so I don't have corals to worry about...but nice to know for down the road!

[Todd L]

Brian,

Just a quick question again...even though I really don't have corals to worry about do you think it is still advisable to remove them? Right now there's a small group of them all on one small piece of rock that would be easy enough to remove...I'm just thinking that seeing as there is not much they can really kill in my tank they just serve as something cool to observe in the meantime!

[Batfish]

They won't kill anything that their not toching so if their far away from other corals you shouldn't have a problem. Althought, the longer you leave them the more they'll spread and the harder they'll be to get rid of when you do get more coral.

[Todd L]

Hey there!
As it turns out...one of the natural predators I read about are Peppermint Shrimp, of which one I already have in my tank.....
I got up this morning and half of them were already dispensed of! I'm guessing I have a very happy little peppermint shrimp as I don't see them anywhere else in the tank!

[Batfish]

I used to have some aiptasia also until I got my peppermint shrimp. They're great becasue all they do all day is clean up your aquarium.