Here’s the cast of characters in my nanoreef, beginning with the newest:
New small peppermint shrimp named Tam-tam (Tam for short)
"MissPriss"
"Baldy"
Mushroom anemone, probably Discosoma species
Kyo, a pink skunk clownfish, juvenile, in Neomeris algae which he uses as a host instead of an anemone.
Click for bigger pics of the thumbnails below.
(left): A 1/2 blue Discosoma, and 1 inch green Discosoma.
Below, right: one of three 1/4 inch cushion stars, probably Astarina sp. Believe it or not I haven’t had any of these as hitchhikers.
Astarina star on glass with #2 pencil to show size.
I got these three from a local dealer’s tanks.
Kalimba, peppermint shrimp, Lysmata wurdemanni.
Elle, the featherduster, Seballastarte species, probably indica and/or magnifica.
The Hermit Crabs: Probably Clibanarius digueti, the Cortez Red Leg Hermit. (Sold to me as a “red-legged hermit crab”.) I found this description online:
Description: Species is usually red in appearance with expanded chromatophores forming blue spots over their cheliped (claws) and walking legs. The antennae and antennules are bright red. The tips of all legs are also red or orange.
Distribution:Lower Gulf of Mexico and outer Baja to Bahia de Magalena
This fits with the the snail shell many of these hermits have which is Turridrupa cerithina, which according to online sources is collected from Baja.
From my observations they are herbivorous, diurnal, gets along well with the assorted snails.
Cortez: The newest and smallest member of the hermit crab tribe. (Added June 21, 2008)
Calypso: Shell is about an inch long.
Drew: Turridrupa cerithina (photo below) In the Turriidae family, though often sold as a “Cerith snail”. If you think Drew looks familiar, you’re right! This shell is the type inhabited by Calypso (and a great many other Clibanarius digueti or Cortez Red Leg Hermits). It appears to be a slow-moving sand-sifter. It spends some time buried or half-buried in the sand, often invisible for days at a time. It will also forage on the algae on the rocks or clean the glass.
A hitchhiking snail showed up, possibly Stomatella varia. I’ve named him Cam. 
Click for bigger pics below.
I’ve also got some very small hitchhiking creatures that have appeared in the tank.
I’ve spotted (only once) a small (1″) bristleworm (See pic at left)
I also have a whole lot of amphipods in the tank now. The largest of these is between 1/4 and 1/2 inch long. (See pic at right.)
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Former inhabitants of the nanoreef
(either deceased or re-homed)
Why list creatures that are dead or gone? Because this blog chronicles my reef-keeping experiments from a 2.5 gallon nanoreef to my present 29 gallon mini-reef and spans a number of years, people who surf into older parts of the blog will wonder who or what I’m referring to if I don’t list all my creatures—past as well as present.
Djembe: Peppermint Shrimp which was full-grown when I got him.
Mel and Belle: Featherdusters. Mel only lived for a few months after I got him. Belle, however was one of my first featherdusters and lived for about a year and a half before developing a mysterious deterioration in her tube along the line between an older section and a newer section. She died after the the newer section became detached.
Cali: Bigger than Calypso (see below), shell about an inch and a half long.
Two short-lived Turridrupa cerithina I named Dee and Dum, short for Tweedledee and Tweedledum. (Dee is on the left and Dum is the picture on the right.)
Sarah: genus and species unknown. Cleans the glass, and seems to prefer to work at or even slightly above the water line. Frequently buries herself in the substrate.
Zoanthid sociatus The colony in its heyday. After it shrank to one polyp and did not seem inclined to expand again, I rehomed it to a display tank at a local fish store.
Astrid: Astrea snail. (deceased) Grazes on nuisance algae on the live rock and also cleans the glass. Diurnal. Has a tubeworm hitchhiking on her shell. See Astrid and Company for more info. Displays none of the strange behavior patterns of Joe Turbo (see below), the snail I had before. Click the two thumbnail pics below for larger images of the tubeworm (also deceased).
Joe Turbo: Turbo snail (deceased) This snail was weird. Fascinating, though. I’ve never had another snail who displayed the behavior patterns he did. You can read about him in the very earliest blog entries of the Snail Tales category. Below the photo you’ll find the description I gave to friends when I asked their help in naming him.
August 17, 2006
Personality traits: Dislilkes the substrate. Prefers the Fiji rock, primarily, though he has now finally accepted the algae on the glass. Works his way around the rock and tank in a very methodical manner. Has a fairly rigid sleep-wake cycle that is independent of day-night and runs 8-12 hours of sleep-wake. Initially kept “rock star hours” in that he woke in the afternoon and kept going until the wee hours then would sleep all morning. Now it’s shifted to more like vampire hours in that he wakes around 7-8pm and goes to sleep around 5-6am (I think). Moves pretty fast for a snail. Excretes copiously, seemingly more than the algae he consumes. Apparently has never heard the expression, “Don’t shit where you live” ’cause he dumps in his favorite sleeping spot on the rock. That’s right; he has a favorite spot, a niche on the rock that for the first few weeks he returned and slept in every night.
If he is grazing on the rock, he will still return to that niche (which incidentally is where I first placed him when I got him and where he is in the picture above). Sometimes falls off the rock, barnacle or glass when he’s asleep. Initially had trouble righting himself afterward. In fact, today is the first time he’s fallen and then gotten back up without help.
