Amphipods eating my zoanthids....help?!?

[tampa-reefer]

I have been telling myself it cant be. But I have been watching my zoo colonys die. At first my wife said "the pods are eating the zoos". I said "no way".

I have been watching them at night for more than 2 weeks to make sure. It has been very plausible but when I go to watch one single pod feed he takes off after about 3-5seconds of LED spotlight.

Well I got a new red LED spot light, it does not scare them. I watched for a long time and I am sure they are eating them.

Does anyone have any experience with this???
I have a small female leopard wrasse in there...the only problem is she is a daytime fish so the population is not being controlled by her.

Its a 24G tank its a LPS/Shroom/Zoo tank. She is in there for holding for my large tank thats being setup.

 

[lockekeyy]

if your tank can support a dragonet, it can def help out.
Or a six line could possibly do the trick.

 

[ngn8dogg]

Get a mandy. Thats all they do is look for pods. Six line^ like said about will eat alot of pods too. I wouldnt get both though

 

[AuroraDrvr]

A 24G tank is no place for a mandarin.

 

[BuddhaKiss]

I don't even think mandarins can eat amphipods...copepods, yes...amphipods, not likely.

 

[klepto]

thats bizarre, sorry to hear about your Zoanthids- here is my idea... How often and what are you feeding your tank? maybe providing your pods with an alternative food source after the lights go out could help.

my mandarin beds down shortly after my actinics shut off and usually misses the major emergence of amphipods and mysids. I think that a larger mandarin could definitely eat some amphipods if the evening lighting transition is gradual and it's mouth/tenacity is substantial enough. Mandarinfish eat a bunch of different benthic invertebrates- not just copepods. They do seem to prefer the slower moving prey and most of the amphipods I have watched move pretty fast when they aren't burrowed in the sand. Seems to me like a hungry mandarin would definitely gobble up an amphipod if it was crawling out of the sand nearby it. Would a mandarin help your situation? I think its unlikely, but possible. I agree with Todd that a 24 gallon tank is not at all ideal for a mandarin.

are you watching them eat different Zoanthid colonies or just one particular species?

sorry for the mandarin rant- just my two cents.

 

[tampa-reefer]

All the colonys except one colony of tubs blue.

 

[Brandon M]

A yellow coris wrasse solved my pod problem within a couple days.