Little info on Pods and zoa's

Stanton

Stanton

New member
This has been a on going topic for a little while now. Several of us have actually witnessed the destruction of our perfectly healthy zoas by these big guys. So far we have learned that they seem to like or aquire the taste PE family. The are some that have experienced them eating other types as well.

Solution
What I'm about to suggest is only if you have a true polyp eating strain or experience it without a shadow of a doubt they are eating your healthy zoa's. Get a wrasse! This seems to be the best and fastest ways to keep the numbers in check. The choices are excellent to get one that suits your tank size and eye appeal. Plus they are just cool fish. Sixlines seem to be the safest. You don't want to get a wrasse to help with a pod problem and loose your snails and shrimp. So do a little research before you buy.

Also you can starve them out! Now this is going to raise some eyebrows.lol Let me explain.

To increase you pod numbers what do you do? Keep them safe in the fuge/pod house and feed them. They will explode in numbers if done right. Now do the opposite. I noticed this when I got my powder blue tang. I fed heavy trying to fatten this guy up. My amphipod numbers increased do to the extra food available. Since I have cut way back on my feeding..the numbers of the amphipods has gone down as the tank balanced it's self out. You would think they would eat more polyps but it wasn't my experience.

I am no expert on these guys. This has just been what I have learned. I thought I should pass it on for anyone it may help.
 
6lines are actually one of the worst wrasses to get... once a 6line is set up in you tank, almost anything you add to the tank after is fair game to it, be it what ever size... as 6lines have been known to take down fish 2-3 times their size...

I had a 6line line kill 2 leopard wrasses which where 2-3 times its size... also tried to kill a blue sided wrasse till I interviened.

They are good as long as they are the LAST piece of inhabitant added...then you should be good. But they are one of the best at controlling any pod population, small bristleworms, bad tiny snails and from some that Ive heard, red planaria as well.
 
I would have to disagree about the 6line. I have had min for over 6 months and he has not shown 1 sign of aggression. The only thing in my tank prior to the 6line was 2 ocellaris clowns. Since then, i have added a lawnmower blennie, citron gobie, and a Powder Brown Tang and not one fish has been harassed by the sixline. It actually seems to stick close to my pair of clowns.
 
sorry to clarify... any type of fish like another wrasse or anytime of fish resembling a wrasse like a psuedchromis or basslet etc...

I've added other wrasses, gumdrop gobies.. were all killed within minutes...
 
I added a 6 line about a week ago for this exact reason. I don't know if my pods are hiding really good or my 6 line has picked them off :) Either way its looking better for my zoanthids.

From the time I added my 6 line, him and my true percula clown has been best buds!!
 
i added one about a week ago and haven't lost another zoanthid! the injured ones are recovering as well. He gets along fine with the only other fishi nthe tank, a flase percula, and i don't plan on adding anything else for a while, maybe a blenny down the road.
 
you'll be fine with a blenny. My old one was fat like a blimp... would mosey around the tank... had a hard time swimming since it was tooooo fat
 
I don't know if I would suggest starving them out. I think that was a big reason why I satrted to have problems. I wasn't feeding my tank but I had a good pod population due to the algae cycles of a newer tank. Once the algae subsided is when I had problems with the Amphipods, probably due to lack of their more common food source. Since adding a mandarin and feeding the tank regularly I've had no problems.
 
Just about any wrasse will knock your pod population down. I picked up a couple of yellow coris (one for each tank) and an fairy wrasse for the main tank to go with the coris. Not only will they prey on pods buy nudis as well if you have em.
 
I do agree on the sixline, thats what fixed my pod problem. What i dont agree on is adding anything at all after a sixline, even a blenny. my sixline was cool for about 8 months and then i added a neon goby and a saddle blenny and he gives that blenny hell all day every day. he kills shrimp for sport, hes just downright nasty. Bottom line is, he does his job and thats the only reason hes in there. If you can find some other fish that will eat large amphipods in your tank id give that a shot, Sixlines are beautiful gracefull fish but they get mean over time.
 
Though I've never seen my Mandarin eat one the population of large pods certainly went down after adding him and the problems stopped. I don't think the goal is to eliminate the pods nearly as much as it is to thin out their numbers so they don't look for an alternative food source to survive.
 
I've never seen my mandarin eat one of the large amph's either and thats the only predator I have right now. My numbers have drastically dropped since I cut back on feedings. I might have just got lucky though. Either way it's looking better. My mysis shrimp are actually on the come back. The big pods have eaten almost all my copapods and mysis.
 
Feeding live phyto also helps increasing the pod population... I have started a plastic container with saltwater/airtube with 6500K lights for tiger pod breeding... I supplement their algae diet with algae disks.. hopefully I can get them to start re-populating and start dumping colonies of them back to the tanks... also need them to feed my pipefishes another great addition to a reeftank to control ampipod population.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10226785#post10226785 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by delsol650
you'll be fine with a blenny. My old one was fat like a blimp... would mosey around the tank... had a hard time swimming since it was tooooo fat
Click to expand...

sounds like mine.
 
I concur with the six line as well, mine is in the sump because of his aggression, I moved him there a few years back. I had a yellow coris that was great at hitting ANYTHING that moved. He just jumped so I am looking to get another. good luck
 
I haven't had a problem with pods eating my zoos but I've noticed some pretty big ones in my tank at night. Don't amphipods only come out after lights out and don't wrasses hunt during the day? I had a sixline and a Flasher wrasse and as soon as the lights went out the fish were hiding. Are there any fish that hunt nocturnally on these pods?
 
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