help with identification

[jbroc]

Hi and thanks for your time, i was wondering if someone could help me with the description of something. I have some type of bug or something crawling on the inside of the aqaurium wall they are very small about the size of a pinhead, there white. I dont know how many of them are in there i would imagine there are quite a few, just seen them today. does anyone have an idea about what they might be?? If so should i worry about it? thank you

 

[jbroc]

i think i found my answer apparently they are copepods and harmless, i guess getting a madarin in a month or so would be a good idea after all

 

[reefnut]

How dig is your tank? Do you have a Fuge? How many pounds of LR? Sorry for all the questions but a Mandarin can quickly diminish the a population of pods.

 

[jbroc]

no problem questions are a good thing, tank is 40 gallons only 25 lbs live rock. no fuge. i thought about a madarin but the tank is not really old enough for that i dont think only 6 months. could i put maybe a blenny in there

 

[reefnut]

I think you would have a hard time with a mandarin even after the tank gets older. Now a blenny might be ok. My scooter will eat morsel food. They do feed on pods also but it's typically easier to get them to take prepared food.

 

[lionstorm]

i thought it was very difficult to get scooter blenny's to take prepared food. Usually they are very adoment and only eat micro fauna (copepods)

 

[jbroc]

i was reading that a scooter bleeny would work ok, i think i might get one of those. mandarins are hard to keep? what makes it hard to keep?

 

[reefnut]

i thought it was very difficult to get scooter blenny's to take prepared food. Usually they are very adoment and only eat micro fauna (copepods)
I think if you ask you will find a lot of people have scooters that will eat prepared foods. It is defiantly something to watch for when you first get one.
mandarins are hard to keep? what makes it hard to keep?
Mandarins are very difficult (very rarely) to get eating prepared foods. They live on pods so unless you have a pod population (and reproduction) that will support them, they will starve.

 

[jbroc]

how is the reproduction supported, the pods i mean?

 

[cb]

I think reproduction is supported by having a fuge where they are safe from being eaten.

 

[reefnut]

Yep, a fuge and/or a large amout of LR.

 

[reefnut]

Just so I don't mislead you in thinking all ya need to do is hook up a fuge... I think I read that a minium of 100 pounds of LR is needed to support one mandarin. If someone could verify that it would be great.

 

[jbroc]

what else can i put in there besides a mandarin to take care of these pods

 

[the claw]

Reefnut is correct, the going rate is at least 100 lbs of liverock, and a refugium certainly helps. I'd like to add that that is also with no other fish that eat copepods. Lots of other fish eat them aas well, and even if you have a 100 lbs of LR, there still won't be enough for the mandarin.