400 gallon project

untamed · #1 04-05-2007, 06:22 AM

I spent about an hour observing the nudibranchs on that coral. It wasn't too difficult to see that they were in the process of decimating that coral. The larger of them was easily ingesting polyps at a rate of about 1 every 2 minutes and they were very mobile.

So...spent another hour or so picking them off the coral with tweezers. I haven't tried to exterminate them, but I have removed 6 or 7 of the largest ones.

At the same time, it was convenient to watch the sea spider a bit more. He is also eating this coral, but the pace at which he does it looks much less destructive, so he's going to remain.

It seems that if you stare at anything in this tank long enough, you'll see something new. There are at least 3 of what appear to be mantis fry attached to this same coral.

justinl · #2 04-05-2007, 06:28 AM

wow your tank already sounds sweet! i love the weird inverts. never did understand why so many people hated sea spiders. I think they look pretty cool. and that guys camouflage is great too. took me a while to find him in the pic.

hehehe sounds like you've got the beginnings of a mantis community! unfortunately the mantis fry (if that's what they are) will almost certainly die for various reasons. oh well, what can ya do?

are you sure they're not pods? here's a pic of a mantis larvae at different ages...
http://www.imagequest3d.com/pages/cu...stomatopod.htm

Liverock · #3 04-05-2007, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justinl

wow your tank already sounds sweet! i love the weird inverts. never did understand why so many people hated sea spiders. I think they look pretty cool. and that guys camouflage is great too. took me a while to find him in the pic.

hehehe sounds like you've got the beginnings of a mantis community! unfortunately the mantis fry (if that's what they are) will almost certainly die for various reasons. oh well, what can ya do?

are you sure they're not pods? here's a pic of a mantis larvae at different ages...
http://www.imagequest3d.com/pages/cu...stomatopod.htm

That link to the mini mantis is awesome!

looks like something right out of the Alien movie, very cool...

and the spider.....they are only around for about 2 months of the year, early spring, then they disappear, so you got lucky getting one, they are such a cool critter!
Richard TBS

untamed · #4 04-07-2007, 12:34 AM

These are certainly not 'pods' as most of us know them. Actually, they look pretty much like the mantis fry in that link. Here's my best shot of one.

They hang onto the branch with their back end. It's pretty much impossible to get a really good picture of one as the coral moves about in the current. In this shot, it is dead centre of the frame, leaning toward 10 O'clock. You can see both of the large raptorial appendages that lead me to believe that is what these are. This critter is probably 7-8mm long.

The sea spider also gave me a better pose. Here it is again.

Renegade · #5 04-07-2007, 06:24 AM

I might have missed it but how did you actually transport the rock up here ? was it in water the whole time ? i got the driving it up from Seattle. where abouts is the rock actually from. How did you manage to get the rock without any of those corals breaking off ?

Kyle

Snappy · #6 04-07-2007, 07:15 AM

I just picked up on this thread today after someone had asked me if I'd been following along with your progress. I know I will now.

This is a very impressive set up you have and will I'm sure become an equally impressive reef. Well done and good luck. Thanks for sharing.

untamed · #7 04-07-2007, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Renegade

I might have missed it but how did you actually transport the rock up here ? was it in water the whole time ? i got the driving it up from Seattle. where abouts is the rock actually from. How did you manage to get the rock without any of those corals breaking off ?

Kyle

The rock is from Tampa Bay Saltwater... www.tbsaltwater.com

The rock is packed in water for the entire trip. As for how the gorgonians made the trip, I would attribute that to good packaging, flexibility and an overall short travel time.

untamed · #8 04-10-2007, 12:35 AM

I could stand it no longer...I've added a fish. Here is the first fish in the 400 - a Blonde Naso Tang. He (?) has been happily grazing on the plentiful macroalgae and is very adept at removing the grapes from the grape caulerpa.

This is actually a view from the back of the tank. It does provide a first look at where I'm headed with the rockwork.

He's about 5-6" long. I thought that was pretty big until I put him in the tank. He looks pretty small in there.

Delphinus · #9 01-21-2008, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by untamed

These are certainly not 'pods' as most of us know them. Actually, they look pretty much like the mantis fry in that link. Here's my best shot of one.

They hang onto the branch with their back end. It's pretty much impossible to get a really good picture of one as the coral moves about in the current. In this shot, it is dead centre of the frame, leaning toward 10 O'clock. You can see both of the large raptorial appendages that lead me to believe that is what these are. This critter is probably 7-8mm long.

[...]

Did you ever confirm if these were mantis fry?

I was at an LFS today and saw something similar on some gorgonians. A bit smaller than yours though, these were barely a couple mm in size. In fact they were easy to mistake as just "general fuzz" caught on the gorgonian polyps but they were definitely alive.

justinl · #10 01-21-2008, 06:28 AM

i had forgotten about that post. well i know what it is now; that's a caprellid (skeleton shrimp). cool and harmless critters. they use their hind legs to clamp on to any sort of substrate like algae or gorgonian in which they can camouflage (obviously) and let the rest of their body drift in the current and wait for unsuspecting plankton to pass by. Do you know if you still have any Brad?

here's a close up of one...
http://forum.mikroscopia.com/uploads...1156918102.jpg