Invert photo album

Invertebrate photo album

HOME	LIVE STOCK

Use the photo album to view pictures of the specimens offered for sale. We do not carry stocks of all these specimens all the time, those currently available for delivery are listed on our current stock listing page.

Algaes. Algae's are useful in the aquarium to lower nutrient levels once tied up in the algae's nutrients are no longer available to promote the growth of problem algae's, ie hair algae. They are also able to help reduce nitrate levels. In recent times more and more hobbyists are becoming aware of the benefits that come from keeping algae's in modern reef aquariums. It is difficult to grow many of the specimens in the main tank with many herbivores present. Many now use the sump as a refugium to grow and cultivate algae species.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Macro coralline algae leaf			Plant in the sand bed.
Turtle grass			A true tropical sea grass
Shaving brush			Plant in the sand bed.
Spaghetti algae	Chaetomorpha		A stable fast growing stable nutrient export algae. Great for use as a herbivorous fish feed. High tolerance to salinity and temperature variations allows successful culture in old waste water under the sun in your back yard.
Macro coralline algae	Halimeda sp.		Plant in the sand bed.
Saw tooth algae	Caulerpa serrulata		This group of algae's are fast growing hence good for nutrient export. They are vulnerable to volatile water chemistry we advise not to add them to new aquariums. Wait till the aquarium is stable and has a more mature water chemistry.
Sea grapes	Caulerpa racemosa
Paddle weed

Dragons tongue	Halymenia floresii

Cephlopods. Rewarding for those who make the effort to ensure they do cater for the needs of these animals. No other marine animals able to be kept in home aquaria have the character and personality of this group. Research very carefully each individual species make sure you set up the correct home and can cater for the animals needs.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Small reef cuttle fish			If you are prepared to make the effort, to set up a aquarium specially for one of these guys you will be rewarded. Very interesting behaviour and loads of personality. They can also be collected and shipped as eggs for you to raise yourself!

Clams. Clams exhibit huge variety in coloration and quality to be sure ask us for a pic of the specimens we have in stock before you order.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Blue squamosa	Tridacna squamosa		Info.
Spotted squamosa	Tridacna squamosa
Tiger	Tridacna squamosa
Aqua Tiger	Tridacna squamosa
Maxima clam	Tridacna maxima
Maxima clam Gold spots	Tridacna maxima
Maxima clam green	Tridacna maxima
Maxima spotted	Tridacna maxima

Crustaceans. Be sure you know what these animals eat before you put them into your aquarium. Most crustaceans are omnivores meaning they may demolish macro algae, eat fishes, or live corals.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Anemone shrimp	Peniclimenes brevicarpales		Happy to live in most anemones or if no anemone is available will host in stony corals. Pass food directly to the shrimp from time to time to ensure that they are getting sufficient nutrition. Only keep in mated pairs as supplied by the collector.
Anemone crab	Neopetrolisthes sp.		Happy to live in most anemones or if no anemone is available will host in stony corals. Pass food directly to the crab from time to time to ensure that they are getting sufficient nutrition. Only keep in mated pairs as supplied by the collector.
Green marine hermit crab			These guys may eat coral polyps and catch and kill fish.
Megistos hermit	Dardanus megistos		Reputed to control aptisa anemones. Take care any large crab should be suspect for what it may eat.
Pink anemone crab	Dardanus sp.		Carries around small anemones on its shell. Good for a curiosity in a predator tank ,etc, but not suitable for reef community tanks.
Janitor hermits			Make sure when purchasing janitors that they are, reef safe and small growing. Many currently sold as janitors are neither. We select only one reef safe species. They are constantly cleaning up uneaten foods, picking the rock work clean of algae hair, slime, etc. This gives coralline algae the best chance to get a foot hold. We find these guys are one of the best additions to enhance the function of your mini ecosystem. One warning, mantis shrimp and some wrasse love to eat them! Perform clean up of un eaten food dead and decaying matter. Plus also are excellent algae control one of the few animals great at eating Briopsis algae.
Decorator / Spider crab			More often kept in a system with other curious critters rather than a reef tank. They have a habit of decorating themselves with all your lovely invertebrate specimens.
Two spined burrowing sand crab	Mafuta planipes		Heavy duty maintenance for the sand bed, great for predator tanks or larger aquariums.
Slipper lobster
Coral banded shrimp	Stenopus hispidus		One of the all time classic aquarium inverts. We have heard much discussion as to if they will attack and kill fish. All we can say is after many years with numerous pairs and singles we have never personally ever had a problem with one.
Peppermint shrimp (Peppy's)	Lysmata vitata		For aptisa anemone control. To date we have sold many 1000's of specimens not one complaint (yet). We have received very positive feed back from customers as to their effective control of aptisa anemones. further info

Cucumbers. Many swear cucumbers are bad for the aquarium they are toxic and will cause the dreaded tank crash. At Oceanarium we have kept many specimens they have been crushed under misplaced rocks and left to rot until being found latter, they have spawned in our tanks, have been macerated in pumps, they have spewed out there intestines in our tanks due to thermal shock in shipping never have we seen any detrimental effects from them. Now we are not saying they are totally safe we just wonder do all species deserve such a reputation. perhaps the problems lie with specific species? We have encountered customers who had the dreaded tank crash saying ......... I had a cucumber it must have done it. But on further discussion this conclusion is only drawn from the reputation of the cucumber not any direct evidence. We will state that Pseudocolochiris violaceus is reputed to have toxic eggs to fish who eat them. We have never witnessed one of this species spawn in our own aquariums.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Burnt sausage			For maintenance of the sand bed.
Caterpillar sausage			Toxic !!
Pink sea apple
Sea apple	Pseudocolochiris violaceus

Jellyfish. Most jellies are not suitable for home aquaria. Special aquarium systems need to be set up to keep them.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Up side down jellyfish	Cassiopea		The best jelly to keep in home aquaria. Can be ideally suited to a fuge of suitable design. These jellies have zooxanthathlae algae much like our corals. they spend much of the time lying upside down on the sand bed. Return pipes and or any pumps need to be filtered or diffused to prevent damaging the animals.

Mangroves. See our article for more detail Mangroves for the aquarium.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Mangrove small	Ceriops tagal		The short height makes these plants more suitable for sumps under the main aquarium or where other height restrictions are.
Mangrove large	Rhizophora stylosa		The height of these plants can be helpful when planting in deeper water.

Sea stars. Caution most sea stars are carnivores.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Brittle star	Ophiarachnella		Good for tank clean up, detrital feeder.
Yellow feather star	Comantheria sp		Feather stars are filter feeders. These types have done well in our systems longer term. We have had little success with other feather stars we no longer collect them.
Green feather star	Comantheria sp
Red feather star	Comantheria sp
Red pillow star			Will eat coral polyps. Recommended for fish only systems. Feed small pieces prawn fish or frozen fish food.
Green bubble star
Long arm star	Linkia sp.		Good reef star.
Sand sifting stars	Astropecten sp.		A real beneficial animal to have in the aquarium. Helps prevent nutrient build up in the sand bed and also performs clean up duties. Will live beneath the sand bed arising when the smell of food attracts its attention. They clean up any food scraps at feeding time and return to the sand bed. A warning though, some established deep sand beds that have not had sufficient life within may not be working properly this can lead to an excess of harbored nutrients. Expect nitrate spikes and possible algal blooms in this situation, be prepared to do extra water changes until this subsides. Recommended stocking rate of 3-4 per m² substrate. (Edit note and warning 7/2006) Keeping these stars with the small cerith snails has implicated in mortalities of the cerith. We are watching trying to learn what is happening ........
Orange spotted star	Nardoa novaecaledoniae		Safe with stony corals may eat soft corals and sponge.

Sea urchins. Herbivores can be useful in controlling algae.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Long spine sea urchin	Diadema sp.		A good urchin that does not tend to bulldoze around too much, keep to smaller specimens. Watch out for their spines when poking around in the aquarium.
Pencil urchin	Prionocidaris sp.
Short spine sea urchin	Diadema sp.
Red banded collector sea urchin	Salmacis belli
Collector urchin	?		Good on controlling brown macro algae's

Snails. Used to control algae and detritus for tank maintenance.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Astrea snails	Astrea snails		These snails are good all round algae eaters the flat profile means less bumped corals.
Trochus snails	Trochus sp.		Good for algae control on the aquariums glass.
Turbo snails	Turbo sp.		More inclined to eat brown algae and thicker tufts of hair algae.
Cerith snails	Cerith sp		Detritus and general algae control good overall preference for many slime (diatom) algal species plus being smaller don't knock over coral specimens. Will readily reproduce naturally in the aquarium. Further info

Sponges. Most sponges don't do very well in aquariums set up as a general reef. No skimming is best as a skimmer quickly depletes a sponges nutritional requirements. We typically collect these animals by request.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Red sponge with colonizing anemones	Trikentrion flabelliforme		Place in a good current flow to encourage the colonizing anemone polyps to open and feed.
Red tree sponge
Red fan sponge
Orange finger sponge

Worms.
Common name	Scientific name	Picture	Comments
Ribbon worm			Pumps need to be filtered to prevent the worm from being sucked through. Filter and detritus feeders.
Feather duster worm colonising			Great for remote deep sand bed filters, the worm catch and eat particulate matter aiding the filtration process.
Feather duster worm	Sabela sp.		Great specimen, supplemental feeds from invertebrate formula is beneficial when water is highly polished. Use a syringe to squirt the food direct to the mouth parts.
Tube worm			Will need supplemental feeds from invertebrate formula. Use a syringe to squirt the food direct to the mouth parts.