400 gallon project

[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.


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

[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

[Snappy]

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]

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]

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.

[demon666]

looking sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BlondNasoTang]

Looking really good, your blond Naso will gorw to be quite the large fish in that tank

[untamed]

Originally Posted by BlondNasoTang

Looking really good, your blond Naso will grow to be quite the large fish in that tank

I certainly hope so!

[Delphinus]

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]

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