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sworley

Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
15
Location
Oregon
Hello, I am looking for an ID if anyone can help. I am new to keeping a reef aquarium, however I am really enjoying everything around it so far. So on to the question ... What are these? These were observed tonight, I am not able to find anything that is close online, however I admit that I am not efficient searching on these types of things "yet". From my past experience breeding fish, these look like fish that just hatched ..??.. they are quite small (here are three caught up in the Aragonite sand) with large eyes that are much larger than the body. There are like 50 or so floating in the current (of the SCWD), some get caught up in the sand and wash back out when the SCWD switches to the other side. They flip somewhat like a shrimp might, as the long tail looking part can curve back around the eye. The ones that are free floating in the water are doing the flipping motion (I assume that they are trying to swim).

Some notes on the setup: I have had this 150Gal setup with live rock for 6 weeks, have recently added a cleanup crew ~2 weeks ago (Turbo\Marg Snails, Hermit\Emerald Crabs, One Urchin). I am itching to add some coral, but am waiting as long as possible, for what I am not sure, the cycle is done and the coralline is starting to come in good (and everyone says to not rush it, so I am not).

Any ideas?
 
hmmmm... its hard to see what where looking at...

Im surprised no one else stepped in,

maybe a better picture?
from some other angle, Im sure its fine, let the tank do its thing... make sure not to rush.. your tank is gonna do some funny things right now thur this "young stage"
 
First off, Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!! You'll love it here!!

Secondly, it's very hard to see from the picture. if you're able to get a closer picture, or a real clear picture that you can crop, it may help.

However, your description is very good and offers some possibilities. They could be Mysid Shrimp or Amphipods. These don't really look anything alike, but parts of your descriptions match both of them...lol.
 
hmmmm... its hard to see what where looking at...

Im surprised no one else stepped in,

maybe a better picture?
from some other angle, Im sure its fine, let the tank do its thing... make sure not to rush.. your tank is gonna do some funny things right now thur this "young stage"

Thanks for the comments, I will see what I can come up with for better pictures tonight. If I can get anything good, I will post them, else I will chalk it up to just a part of the process ...
 
First off, Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!! You'll love it here!!

Secondly, it's very hard to see from the picture. if you're able to get a closer picture, or a real clear picture that you can crop, it may help.

However, your description is very good and offers some possibilities. They could be Mysid Shrimp or Amphipods. These don't really look anything alike, but parts of your descriptions match both of them...lol.

I did go through the Hitchhiker ID site references ... and could only come up with a maybe to the "Thalassinidean Shrimp", however they look a bit different. Oh and going through the various hitchhiker references, I did find that the cool anemone that I have are Aiptasia ... bummer ... now on to getting rid of them. Thanks for the warm welcome and if better pictures are possible, I will be sure to post.
 
Some notes on the setup: I have had this 150Gal setup with live rock for 6 weeks, have recently added a cleanup crew ~2 weeks ago (Turbo\Marg Snails, Hermit\Emerald Crabs, One Urchin). I am itching to add some coral, but am waiting as long as possible, for what I am not sure, the cycle is done and the coralline is starting to come in good (and everyone says to not rush it, so I am not).

More importantly, sure sounds like time to add your first fish, before you start putting in the corals
 
But...

I vote he is a small pod getting ready for the Guitar Hero championships :)

Everyone's gonna practice right?

It could be, as they are all gone now. Last night I could not find a single one anywhere. I didn't check the sump sock tho ...
 
More importantly, sure sounds like time to add your first fish, before you start putting in the corals

I will be going out this weekend to pick out a couple fish, thanks for the suggestion. I would prefer to just do SPS corals, however I have been getting pressure from my wife to get something that swims (and the pods are not doing it for her :) she thinks a nemo is in order but I have broken the news gently that I am really focused on SPS and do not want to mix anemone\clowns with the high flow heavy lighting of the SPS tank.
 
You can have clowns with out having a hosting anemone and they do just fine. You will be surprised what clowns will host in. I think they are one of the coolest fish to watch swim around, well that are easy to keep. Get your wifey a clown to make her happy :) hahaha and welcome to reef frontier.
 
With what I can see of them, they appear to be either shrimp or crab larvae. I have some photo examples of such things, although not the same species within the Zooplankton section of my hitch hiker pages if you care to compare them.

http://www.chucksaddiction.com/hitchhikers.html

Chuck

Great ID references!!!! Those references are how I found reef frontiers and the reason that I joined! Thanks for spending the time to put this all together, as a noob I found it very very helpful. While searching around my tank to get a better picture of the larvae, I have not seen them again. It would appear that they are all gone or at least hiding very well. Thanks again for spending the time to put all of that information together and sharing it freely with the community, you should also see a $25 donation come in from me as an additional thanks!
 
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You can have clowns with out having a hosting anemone and they do just fine. You will be surprised what clowns will host in. I think they are one of the coolest fish to watch swim around, well that are easy to keep. Get your wifey a clown to make her happy :) hahaha and welcome to reef frontier.

Thanks for the comments on the clowns ... isn't it funny how a "bad" day at work can motivate other activities. I had one of those days at work and ended up buying a bonded pair of tank raised clown fish, a scooter blenny and a rose bubble tip anemone. I sure hope things turn out given this tank was originally planned to be set up as a SPS!

Oh ... the wife was thrilled and my 1 year old daughter saw the fish immediately, said memo and started laughing and swinging her arms like she was swimming.
 
That is great. Yeah I will always have clown fish because of the same reason, my son loves them. RBTA is a good choice and easy to keep. You can still do all sps with the anemone in there. But there is that chance it will take walks and kill :) Ive only lost one sps from having a RBTA.
 

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