Do any of you have this "pod"?

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krustyart

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 20, 2012
345
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Merritt Island, Florida, United States
Got some of these on an uncured piece of live rock collected in the Atlantic. At first I thought they were larval mantis shrimp but their behavior was all wrong for mantis shrimp even in larval stage and despite looking like mantids they turned out to be an Amphipod-Caperellid, in the Mayerella genus. I have not been able to pin down the species and likely will not be able to as most of the literature states that a microscope is required to identify the species along with some expertise. Usually a deep water species or at least deeper than the average reef environment most live rock comes from. They can feed on the gills of some tube worms or gorgonians but can also eat diatoms and other benthic plankton. My camera can't do them justice so I include an image taken from the internet. They seem to be feeding and breeding and I suspect that the moment I add the first fish to my little reef they will all be eaten.

Does anyone out there have any of this "pod"???

Mayerella.jpg
 
The largest one has already grown to a full inch long. They are even eating algae!!! I have a new favorite crustacean!!! I can see females with egg bunches. They don't seem to be interested in touching any of my corals so I am going to let them reproduce.
 
OMG, they even take care of their young!!!! Babies have hatched and they live on Mom and gradually migrate off of mom onto the substrate and if danger comes near they all jerkily run to Mom again. It's adorable!!!
 
I think you're close or right on with an ID of a Caprellid amphipod. You are the first person I've heard of that's culturing skeleton shrimp.

You may have lucked out in having a non-parasitic species of amphipod. There are more pod species filling niches as dentrivores than there are species living as parasites.

Looking forward to seeing update pics. ...especially those involving parenting behaviors.
 
OK, I knew there would eventually be demands for pictures. My camera has a very poor macro mode but I have taken a few pics of angelfish fry(freshwater) fairly successfully so I will dedicate tonight to getting some good pictures. Hopefully late tonight I will post them.
 
First, forgive the algae, the tank is only two weeks old and still cycling.

Second, these are very tiny, nearly transparent things so I have had to boost the artificial focus and zoom way in just so you can see them at all.

Pic one, two large males a split second after an instant fight, that is the fights only last an instant, the loser bows and retreats. The out of focus guy on the left is bowing and moving out of my focal point. The winner, about one inch long stands like Spartacus with claws spread in victory!

Pic two shows a "family" though I suspect the young male(lower right) may only be nearby coincidentally and may not be the actual father. The mother, and I am fairly certain she is the mother as she was just yesterday standing where the babies were with the babies on her body, is grazing in the lower left of the photo. The babies if you can see them are on top of the tip of the coral skeleton at the top center of the photo. They are about an sixteenth of an inch long, if that.

There are, not including babies (several spawns in the tank at the moment) about two dozen "skeleton shrimps" in the 20 gallon tank. Some may have migrated to the sump??? And yes, the literature calls them shrimps AND amphipods both.

I doubt you could keep these in your reef if you have any predatory shrimp and/or fish and/or most other meat eaters.

TwoLargeMaleSkelletonPodsFight.jpg

FamilySkelletonPods.jpg
 
Now will someone please tell me how to NOT go through the Green Hair Algae phase, the Brown Diatom phase and the Red Slime Cyanobacteria phase?

I'd really rather avoid them all and have an Instant Reef....
 
krustyart said:
Now will someone please tell me how to NOT go through the Green Hair Algae phase, the Brown Diatom phase and the Red Slime Cyanobacteria phase?

I'd really rather avoid them all and have an Instant Reef....
Click to expand...

You're better off to just deal with them and be patient.

But you can help prevent them from being too uncontrollable by using a media reactor with carbon and phosban; by having chemipure in your filter; by limiting feeding (especially frozen foods); by not keeping your lights on for more than 6-8 hours a day; and by having a strong clean-up crew


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