seeding live sand bed

[Dorkel Marine 1]

My next question in my quest to produce a live sand bed is to obtain the critters to seed it. After reading a whole lot of articles the concensus from the experts seems to be that you cannot get all the beneficial fauna for a sand bed from live rock alone. Have any of you ordered or have the proper critters. Please advise. thanx in advance.

[stephane]

Jason at Saltwater conaection have a lot of critter mama mia worm,britle worm,nassarious and cerit sanail + he sale cultured live sand (this where my sreep came)

Aquarium pro have the fightting cong (I love them)

and finaly seacare have wild caught live sand (never try it)

[Doug]

George, that problem is one that all us Canadians share. :(

Your correct that live rock, does not contain all the critters needed to seed a bed. However, if you could get into the bottom of some live rock shipments at some of your stores, there,s all kind of goodies.

Or some sand from another aquarist, that has a good bed. When I set up my 180, I took sand from the 170, plus I purchased some live sand from a store out here.

Its still not the same as the sand kits one can buy in the US from Inland or others. I think the best way is, go to several lfs and get a little from each. Plus a little from several aquarists. That way you should get some diversity.

[rgardiner]

In addition to the spaghetti worms, bristle worms etc., Jason at http://www.saltwaterconnection.com now has mini-brittlestars for sale (though they are expensive IMO!)
Fighting Conches are also available at http://seacare.org as is live sand (and cowries!).