Bugs...Pods....Critters?

[Mare100]

Hi Everybody!

Just a quick question about bugs....or pods....or some sort of critters!

120 Reef has been up and doing pretty darned good since January. At first....I was worried because I didn't see the beneficial "copepods" that everybody talks about. In hopes of putting a scooter blenny in there eventually, I ordered a batch of copepods on-line. I put the container in the tank...and waited. That was about 5 or 6 weeks ago.

Now...when I sneak downstairs at night and shine the flashlight in the tank to see what's going on at night......I see TONS of these little critters running around on the rock and sand. I don't see them swimming or on the glass....just crawling.

Are these the pods?

M

 

[Pholder]

That sounds like what i have (copods) They are like a baige color and they move quickly. I had a post on here a while back and thats what they were. Mine just came naturally i had no idea you could buy them. But if they are VERY small and they run around on the rocks and sand almost like ants but faster then I would say Copods.

 

[Mare100]

Thanks! Yep....that's them! They are tiny and they run around like crazy.

Yes...you can buy batches of them on-line. I got mine from....I think Saltwaterfish.com. It's just a plastic container of green liquid you pour into your tank.

Must have worked.....there's tons of them in there!

M

 

[shaunj]

If I were you, i would get a Green Mandarin Goby, not only are they beautiful, but they feed on copods, unless you wanna keep the copods...

 

[Mare100]

Hi Shaun!

Are they the same as the Green Mandarin Dragonette's? If so...I think they are BEAUTIFUL and I have wanted one ever since we set up the tank. I read alot about how difficult they are to feed, though so I wanted to wait until I was sure there were enough pods in the tank for them to eat.

I'm still recovering from a TERRIBLE mistake we made with our (at that time) fish only tank. Hubby and I were new to the hobby and we saw and loved this little scooter blenny at a fish shop. The guy told us he would do GREAT in our tank and would eat other things besides the pods. We got him and within a week, he was half dead....skinny as a skeleton. We took him to another Fish shop who kindly put him in one of their tanks. They fed him pods and he appeared to have bounced back from the mishap. He was doing good for about 2 months....but we just found out a little while ago...he didn't make it. We are so sad about that and it was a hard lesson learned for us.

M

 

[Purple Penguins]

I wouldnt get a Mandrain yet, your tank is not old enough and even though right now you have copepods the Mandarin would deplete that supply very fast and then starve to death unless you are able to get it to take mysid or live brine which alot of Mandarins dont take to, copepods are a good natural food source for your whole tank and I would just let them multiply like crazy for now, other than a good food supply they also have many other benifits

 

[Paintbug]

take a look at this page. http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/hitchpods.html theres several types of pods, most are just free fish food. most the time you will have a big population bloom, then as the food supply shrinks so does the pod population. wait it out, then get a fish that lives off them.

 

[Mare100]

Thanks guys!

I will definitely hold off on the Mandarin for now. Like I said above...I'd love to have one....but I don't want to risk another fish just for the sake of being impatient.

Thanks for the link! I'll check it out. I love to know exactly what kinds of critters I have scooting around in there!

Just the other night I found something on my rock that looked like a snail without a shell. It was all black. Funny thing is....a few weeks ago....I noticed the exact same kind of snail/slug....but it was bright green. Haven't been able to ID them yet. I'm thinking maybe Stomatella?

M