Critter ID

[fazgood]

It's about 10 minutes into 2008 and I went to wish the reef a happy new year and there are a couple of hundred little beasties shooting around everywhere. It may be coincidence but I change the moon lights every Monday and tonight was the first "new moon*". They are quickly attracted to light and appear to be quite tasty. I have both skunk and coral banded shrimp pairs in the tank and I have seen the skunk larvae and they are innocent. It might be the coral banded but maybe someone can help me out. I also have a few blue leg hermits and some emerald and red mithrax crabs.

The videos are big so I hosted them on my site. All of the still images are on depression slides at 100X magnification

http://faszl.com/Reef/Images/critterid/

http://faszl.com/Reef/Images/critterid/critter1.jpg

http://faszl.com/Reef/Images/critterid/critter2.jpg

http://faszl.com/Reef/Images/critterid/critter3.jpg

http://faszl.com/Reef/Images/critterid/critter4.jpg

Video 1 is at about 15X in a glass jar http://faszl.com/Reef/Images/critterid/critter1.mov

The other 3 videos are on a depression slide at 100X

http://faszl.com/Reef/Images/critterid/critter2.mov

http://faszl.com/Reef/Images/critterid/critter3.mov

http://faszl.com/Reef/Images/critterid/critter4.mov

Any thoughts?

* My lights have blue and white LEDs. Every week I change the LEDs. New moon is all off, full moon is blue and white on and in between is just blue.

Faz

 

[breutus]

My god I have no idea but it looks like it could do some damage... I wouldn't want to get stung... LOL

happy new year faz

 

[tmz]

How big are they?

 

[saltyshoe_nano]

wow...that is wicked looking good luck on the ID and happy new year

 

[StupidsReef]

Whoa, dude thats just wicked!! Did you notice if anything in the tank was eating them. It's hard to tell but they look like they could be a crab maybe or a shrimp. Either way thats just awesome dude!!

 

[icepick96]

Faz,

Looking at an old invert zoology book it looks like the coral banded shrimp (Stenopus hispidus) is under the order of Decapoda (shrimps, crabs) If you look at the drawing, it closely resembles your photos. I would guess what you have is the larval form of the coral banded shrimp. .....or you have a mature crab in your tank that has a mate:eek2:

 

[fazgood]

tmz: How big are they?

FAZ: About 4 feet long!






Just kidding. They are about 1mm and fast moving.

ICE: Excellent ID. That looks like it. I don't think there is much of a chance of keeping them alive but I did move a bunch to the fuge. They are like moths, attracted to the light.

Thanks for the ID,

Happy New Year all

Faz

 

[icepick96]

Faz,

Weren't you the person with the phyto cultures? If you have rotifers I'm sure they would feed on them.

 

[fazgood]

Yes and yes

I have both phyto and roto cultures going. I feed the main tank most every day. I will make it a point to feed some to teh fuge but I fear they might have become food. The female coral banded is FULL of eggs so I would guess that she may have many more in the future. If I can siphon some out I might try to keep a few but I hear it is a long and difficult process.

Faz

 

[StupidsReef]

Well that sucks man!!! The part about the long and hard process. It would totally cool if you were able to rear, you'd have a buch of baby coral bandits!!

 

[fazgood]

If they have another batch, anyone want to try to rasie them? The skunk shrimp have live babys every 3 to 4 weeks as well.

Faz