Experimental crustacean and invert tank

[Jimbo]

Sorry for being off the forum for a while. I've been busy and didn't get a chance to update the status.

Things have continued to progress well over the last month with only one fatality. My grandson wanted a starfish for the tank, so we popped out to our local fish store and picked up a nice pink one, called Patrick. After putting it in the tank and leaving it for 20 minutes, my grandson called me over to see the crabs welcoming him to the tank - I presume it's a him since he's called Patrick. What followed next was not something any young child should ever see. All I can tell you is that Patrick is no longer with us and the crabs are a bit fatter.

On a positive note, I'm impressed at how resiliant young children can be. After some tears (his, not mine) and an ice cream (for me, not him), he's decided that the starfish wasn't very interesting anyway, and maybe we should get something better.

For our next addition we are thinking maybe seahorses would be more suitable. I've already got the design for a stable worked out.

[jon1985]

some starfish dont ship well then die in tanks and if they are aclimated to fast that contributes to their death.  Also, new tanks often dont have enough micro fauna to support a starfish.

I dont know much about sea horses but I have heard they are tricky.  Not sure how old your tank is but I would do some research first.

[Jimbo]

After the sad loss of Patrick, we decided to stay away from starfish for a while.

As so many people have expressed interest with the coconut condo, I may have gotten a bit carried away, as we are now are the proud owner of the world's first coconut "apartment building". Surprisingly, it was extremely easy to build - all you need to do is add 2 more coconut halves on top of the existing coconut condo and you have an apartment.

I told my wife that I had bought us an investment property, and that we are now landlords. For about 5 seconds she was really excited and than she realized that it was me telling her this news, and her expectations dropped instantly. Of course my wife had to rain on my parade as soon as I showed her our "apartment building". She said there was one major design flaw as the new "tenents" may have trouble getting upto the top floor. Then she pointed out that the top apartment sticks out of the tank. I told her that was two flaws.

[albertthiel]

After the sad loss of Patrick, we decided to stay away from starfish for a while.

As so many people have expressed interest with the coconut condo, I may have gotten a bit carried away, as we are now are the proud owner of the world's first coconut "apartment building". Surprisingly, it was extremely easy to build - all you need to do is add 2 more coconut halves on top of the existing coconut condo and you have an apartment.

I told my wife that I had bought us an investment property, and that we are now landlords. For about 5 seconds she was really excited and than she realized that it was me telling her this news, and her expectations dropped instantly. Of course my wife had to rain on my parade as soon as I showed her our "apartment building". She said there was one major design flaw as the new "tenents" may have trouble getting upto the top floor. Then she pointed out that the top apartment sticks out of the tank. I told her that was two flaws.

Experimenting is always fun so to speak but can certainly bring about a number of challenges ... and adding non-standard organisms to a tank has it risks for sure ...

How is that coconut house/apartment you built now doing  .. is it holding up in the SW ?

[Box Jockey]

I just found this thread. I have never laughed so hard. Thank you for sharing your crabby adventure!