What are these things in my sand bed

[michael stern]

I don't mean to sound ignorant, but....

I have a shallow (1-2") sand bed in my folr, and a dsb in my refugium. My refugium is crawling with all kinds of stuff.

I have recently noticed that parts of my display tank sand bed are crawling with countless numbers of tiny (grain of sand) things crawling about. Are these "pods"? Please help enlighten a poor ignorant non-reefer.

 

[DEEPWATER]

you got pic?

 

[michael stern]

WAY too small. We're talking grains of sand

 

[DEEPWATER]

http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/main_pages/faq_sand.htm

try looking here ,,,it might just help you

 

[DEEPWATER]

Are you sure it not sand moving ,,LOL ,,jking

 

[Missy Johnson]

they are probably pods. they start off very tiny and grow bigger to look like mini-shrimps. i remember jhale had some in his tank (pre-mandarin) that were big enough to eat! looks like it's time to get a mandarin - one of the most beautiful and peaceful fish (pod eaters) that get along with everyone. due to their coloration, other reef fish think they are poisonous and leave them alone!

 

[jhale]

they could be amphipods. but mandarins need more rock to forage on than is in Michael's tank.

 

[Missy Johnson]

ok, haven't seen his tank. saw the fowlr and thought there was enough...thanks for keeping me on my toes jon!

 

[michael stern]

Jon,

You don't think there's enough LR for one mandarine? It's pretty spread out, but, remember, it's a big tank. There's probably at least 75 lbs in the main tank.

 

[jhale]

it would be close, 75 pounds is about the minimum you need for a mandarin.
if you just noticed the pods I'd give them some more time to establish themselves.
you could follow marcs advice and make little piles of live rock for the pods to grow in, also you may have to make a mandarin feeding bottle if it turns out there are not enough pods for it to find.
also the mandarin would spend a lot of time on the bottom near your shark. it would not recognize the shark as potentially dangerous and may become the next meal, er snack.

mandarin faqs

http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_care.html

http://www.melevsreef.com/mandarin_diner.html

 

[michael stern]

if you just noticed the pods I'd give them some more time to establish themselves.
[/url]

Jonathan, FWIW, the "pods" in my fuge are much bigger.

 

[jhale]

those would be coepods then,

the mandarin eats the smaller pods that we can't see.

the larger pods are great for the other fish.