Tank's Wild Night Life

[acekjd83]

If you haven't done this yet, you really should!
Last night I looked in my tank with a flashlight around midnight by random chance, and saw the most amazing profusion of little inverts! I've got a small moonlight, but none were visible in that light, but under a strong flashlight, i saw that my rockwork was absolutely TEEMING with life! there were probably hundreds of little millipede-looking guys, tiny shrimp-like guys and fast translucent bugs... VERY cool. They all try to run and hide when the light hits them, and don't come out for awhile afterwards, but I got the distinct impression that there were still other things that were too quick for me to see.
But i was wondering... do i need to feed all these little guys?
Ive only got 4 crabs, a damsel and a LMB, and a branch hammer, purple gorgonian and long-tentacle green plate... I feed the damsel a pinch of flake once a week, and phyto for the corals, but everyone seems happy, even with all those other nocturnal free-loaders... ive had this 29g for about 4 months, and had no idea all those little guys were in there. :thinking:

 

[mkcsil18]

lol cool I will have to try that tonight, I have my 70 gallon set up for about the same amount of time...

 

[jacknjill]

the worms were probably bristle worms. no you dont have to feed them. the can only live if there is food for them to eat, as they are scavengers. so dont worry about them. they are good for the tank. try looking at them with a flashlight that has a red lense over the light

 

[jacknjill]

also, i would feed more than just once a week. at least every couple days. i feed my fish 2 times a day. but you dont have to

 

[mkcsil18]

lol a red lense??? what does that do? that sounds interesting... will have to check that out as well.

 

[jacknjill]

just try it......

 

[tizzo]

Those critters sound like amphipods.

 

[kaotik]

thats EXACTLY what I did last night on my 60gal and I had a ton of stuff too! I never knew all that stuff was in there. I was all bummed cuz I didnt think that my live rock was very "live" until last night. Ive got about a hundred little feather dusters, a bunch of those little flea looking thing, a couple little black slug things, and an anemone/coral thing that Im trying to get an ID on.
It just sucks that that stuff doesnt come out during the day and you can only see it with a flashlight.

 

[meadbhb]

Hiya,
Supposedly, they can't see a red light so won't run and hide while you're looking at them.
Meadbhb

 

[acekjd83]

now that i think about it, that makes sense... water absorbs a lot of red light, since it has such a low wavelength, so most aquatic plants dont recognize red and dont use it, so i guess it makes sense that aquatic critters would do the same. my physics and biology professors would hang their heads in shame at me...

 

[goulding.c]

If you all have that many pods crawling around you could add a mandarin to your tank. I waited for 6 months for my rock work to be overloaded with the little crawlers so I knew a mandarin would have somthing to eat. The one I got hovers around all day picking things out of the rock. They are very fun to watch, and colorful.
CG

 

[mrmaroon]

I just did my first night dive in Cozumel. Now those were some critters! I saw a lot of crabs, lobsters, some kind of poisonous fish, and a lot of sleepy ones!

 

[murph145]

i just checked out my tank i seen some wierd things too like lil white serpentine star fish coming outta the rocks and then some wierd wiggling hyper worm thing that swam against the glass following my flashlight around from one side of the tank to the other he wouldnt stop following the light it was the wierdest thing!