Coral eating amphipods. What fish?

[seafansar]

My target mandarin will eat smaller pods, but won't eat the big ones that pester my corals. I would say interceptoring the tank would work best or a wrasse.

 

[Hyprviperx]

nice i wanted one but when i went to get one they were all huge so i was wary they might deplete the pods too fast, so the only small ones were the Psychs... i couldnt find a girl for him in this city to save my life, when i drove down to WWC in orlando they had a couple but i had already had corals bagged up and no more money to spend, disappointing :squigglemouth:

 

[subielover]

IME, mandarins do not eat the larger amphipods. They eat copepods (much smaller) and maybe juvenile amphipods?? I think a small wrasse would be a good choice, although my yellow coris sleeps in the sand at night. When I ran a barebottom tank, I had a small tupperware container filled with sand, and the wrasse slept in that each night. They will hunt all of their waking hours, thinking about your tank though that may be a problem as I know you feed your lps almost daily.

 

[Paul_N]

+1 on the yellow wrasse. I have one of those and a mandarin and the mandarin won't touch the large pods.

 

[drainbamage]

if you want a goby-ish fish, yea, a mandarin would be the choice- but he won't take out the larger pods which IME are the only ones that actually start picking at the corals. He'll still reduce the population by taking out the babies, but may not solve your problems. But they won't harm your corals at all, they do settle down and sleep at night, but they'll find a bare spot to do it in, they don't like sitting on the corals.

Still think the yellow wrasse will be the best solution, especially as you'll have the lid problem solved.

Oh, and a sixline would work, but buy a big one or you'll have the same problem as the dragonette in not taking out the bigger pods (at least not till he grows)

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

they are not true gobies, as they are dragonets, im not sure about other gobies. id also think that since they more of hover, they wont be doing much sitting similar to a humming bird. also hes not going to sit on one any loner than it takes to eat the pods on it.

+1 Mandarins tend to hover more than rest, except when sleeping. I wouldn't be concerned about it irritating your corals at all however; Mandarins (at least every one I've had) eat Copepods. I've never seen a Mandarin eat an Amphipod. In fact, their mouths are so small, I'm not even sure it's possible.

Are you sure Amphipods are eating the healthy tissue as opposed to simply cleaning up receding or necrotic tissue? I know there's lots of discussion and debate on this, but I've never seen a pod eat healthy coral tissue of any kind.

 

[drainbamage]

+1 Mandarins tend to hover more than rest, except when sleeping. I wouldn't be concerned about it irritating your corals at all however; Mandarins (at least every one I've had) eat Copepods. I've never seen a Mandarin eat an Amphipod. In fact, their mouths are so small, I'm not even sure it's possible.

Are you sure Amphipods are eating the healthy tissue as opposed to simply cleaning up receding or necrotic tissue? I know there's lots of discussion and debate on this, but I've never seen a pod eat healthy coral tissue of any kind.

In pure coral tanks without fish, it's not uncommon to feed so little that the mobile inverts like shrimps/crabs/'pods that would never normally pick on a coral, get hungry enough that they take out the corals. For the vast vast majority of reefers, don't think they'll ever have this issue, but for a few nutcases (myself included) it happens.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

In pure coral tanks without fish, it's not uncommon to feed so little that the mobile inverts like shrimps/crabs/'pods that would never normally pick on a coral, get hungry enough that they take out the corals. For the vast vast majority of reefers, don't think they'll ever have this issue, but for a few nutcases (myself included) it happens.

That makes sense - I guess they have to eat something.

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Hey thank you all so much for helping me learn about my fish options. It seems the mandarin will not work because my amphipods can get pretty big, although I was rooting for it. The six line again could be too small, so the yellow will probably be the answer. Yea I'm a nut and try and have no fish or crabs/shrimp in my tanks, just coral. But it has taught me alot about the corals relationship to the reef beyond those other animals. They make a large impact on the reef and if you've never seen a coral that is growing healthy get eaten by its only predator in the tank, an amphipod, you might not believe they are so carnivorous. Its crazy me and Rusty are freaking out because he fragged an acan colony yesterday that had a ton living inside it. Its not that they are eating the corals because they have no food in my tank. Its because my corals are being target fed very accurately. All the food is in the 'storage depot' that is the acan polyp/scoly mouth/chalice eye. I have literally just corals and acrlyic/glass with a few frag plugs around. I'm trying to grow everything on acrylic. There could be no other predator but the amphipods we clearly see disturbing the corals.

I considered Interceptor but I only have the chew tabs with Praziquantel also and I'm unsure about dosing that with the clownfish I already have. I would dose Interceptor if I had it straight, another thing for the list!

:) I'll keep you all filled in on my progress.

 

[Reef UP]

Get a chaoti wrasse or a potters wrasse they both love the he{{ out of amphipods any size!

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Get a chaoti wrasse or a potters wrasse they both love the he{{ out of amphipods any size!

I like the potters. Does it get very large? I also would optimally like a captive bred fish. Are most of the yellow wrasses captive bred? Is there a list of whats captive bred and readily available?

 

[patrick]

I wouldnt try any of the wrasses that anyone has mentioned except for the six line. All the others mentioned sleep in the sand bed and wouldnt be happy without it. About the six line, thats just your everyday noob fish though. With a insane system like yours go with a Mystery wrasse for sure, even a pair. I had the same problem as you a few bites here a few bites there and then an infection and before you know it there goes a colony or at least a $300 chunk of a colony. My mystery wrasses hunt all day long for those *******s. You should talk to S. Stronny and tell him to hook it up on the Mysterys LOL. Otherwise pacificislandaquatics has got them for pretty cheap. Just my .02
Good Luck Bro.

 

[Tenacious716]

In my 60G Prop System, I have three fish- a juvenile Red Sea Sailfin Tang, Sixline Wrasse and a Spotted Mandarin. The Sailfin usually cleans up any algae that comes in on frag plugs, while the Sixline and Mandarin take care of any Pod/Flatworm issues. I have had them all for several months and they actually function well together. If you are specifically worried about Amphipods, I would suggest a Med-Lrg Sixline Wrasse.

On a side note, WOW your raceway is just amazing. I love it... props! Please grace me with more pics! ;)

 

[Reef UP]

I like the potters. Does it get very large? I also would optimally like a captive bred fish. Are most of the yellow wrasses captive bred? Is there a list of whats captive bred and readily available?

The potters gets to be about 5.5" and it a great hunter and doesn't usually mind smaller places as it's always hunting for the most part wrasses are not captive bred also a family of fish that haven't been mention here are the dottyback family, the sunrise, and neon would be your be your best choices as these will eat your big three problems in a system such as yours amphipods, bristle worms, and flat worms!

 

[CJO]

I was originally going to recommend against getting a mandarin dragonet since they wouldn't eat the larger amphipods. However, they will eat the juvenile amphipods before they get a chance to get too big. I doubt that the lifespan on an amphipod is too long, so it would still work to reduce your population. They are also some of the most beautiful fish available and you can purchase them captive bred (thanks to Matt Wittenrich).

CJ

 

[Hyprviperx]

as for the potters wrasse this was on Fosters & Smith
"The Potters Leopard Wrasse must be housed in an aquarium that has at least a two inch layer of fine sand as these fishes bury themselves in the substrate at night for protection."

you can always get a large mandarin or sixline, TENACIOUS716 has a good point also

the dottybacks aren't a bad idea also as Reefup stated but you'll have to get tank raised like ORA or something since they're pretty aggressive otherwise (they are in the grouper family)

 

[secretreefer]

as for the potters wrasse this was on Fosters & Smith
"The Potters Leopard Wrasse must be housed in an aquarium that has at least a two inch layer of fine sand as these fishes bury themselves in the substrate at night for protection."

you can always get a large mandarin or sixline, TENACIOUS716 has a good point also

the dottybacks aren't a bad idea also as Reefup stated but you'll have to get tank raised like ORA or something since they're pretty aggressive otherwise (they are in the grouper family)

+1 i would also stick with sixline/ a couple large mandarins.

 

[seafansar]

I had a sunrise dottyback for a little while (mean little bugger, so I sold him), but he did hunt pods constantly and their mouths are big enough to eat large amphipods. The only problem with most fish is that the pods usually come out at night while the fish are sleeping. Good luck on finding some interceptor. I just dosed my tank with it and my blasto frag finally doesn't look like it's dying anymore and my magician palys are finally opening up. I really hate those large amphipods!

 

[Reef UP]

I had a potters wrasse in a bare bottom and the fish would just sleep in a crack between some rock! Let's not forget guys that animals adapt to their surroundings and the fish we keep are forced to do it every time we put them in our tanks! It's not like even with the best efforts, we can't provide the same conditions the fish came from!

 

[Viva'sReef]

Get a chaoti wrasse or a potters wrasse they both love the he{{ out of amphipods any size!

Without a sand-bed those fish are as good as dead.