Something had babies....

[GaryE]

So, I have 2 peppermint shrimp and 2 Ocellaris Clowns that are potential for breeding. I'm not sure which is the culprit, but I have my own opinion.

Anyone who can positively identify these babies?

 

[ludnix]

I think those are mysid shrimp rather than bsbies. They are a common hitchhiker and swim around really quickly with a sort of T shaped body plan.

Here's a video of what I think are the same guys swimming around my frag tank.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So, I have 2 peppermint shrimp and 2 Ocellaris Clowns that are potential for breeding. I'm not sure which is the culprit, but I have my own opinion.

Anyone who can positively identify these babies?

Looks like they might be Mysid shrimp - an incidental species in some reef tanks.

 

[GaryE]

Thanks!

I'll keep an eye on them.

I certainly haven't seen the clowns lay eggs anywhere, but the rockwork has a lot of good hiding spots. One of my peppermint shrimp definitely has eggs and usually hides in that rock during the day.

I have not yet seen any mysid in the tank prior to this, but that's not completely out of the question as I did get a nice chunk of Chaeto from a friend a few months back that had all manner of life on it.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

It's just micro fauna, your tank completely changes at night. Using a red light would show that all over the tank.

 

[GaryE]

It's just micro fauna

I have tons of that for sure.. The amphipods are getting rather out of control. I need to get something in there to eat them before they take over the house.

I also have spaghetti worms everywhere. and forget about copepods, it's insanity....

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I have tons of that for sure.. The amphipods are getting rather out of control. I need to get something in there to eat them before they take over the house.

I also have spaghetti worms everywhere. and forget about copepods, it's insanity....

It's good to have the diversity, don't worry about them getting out of control, they will self regulate.

 

[ludnix]

Thanks!

I'll keep an eye on them.

I certainly haven't seen the clowns lay eggs anywhere, but the rockwork has a lot of good hiding spots. One of my peppermint shrimp definitely has eggs and usually hides in that rock during the day.

I have not yet seen any mysid in the tank prior to this, but that's not completely out of the question as I did get a nice chunk of Chaeto from a friend a few months back that had all manner of life on it.

I hadn't seen any either until I took the video! It's amazing what diverse life can pop up in a reef tank. I saw dozens of strange hitchhikers that only revealed themselves after years.

 

[Sallstrom]

It's some kind of mysis shrimp. We have a lot of them in all our tropical tanks. Hard to say what species, it seems like they find new once now and then in aquariums:
https://reefbuilders.com/2019/09/25/new-species-of-mysis-shrimp-discovered-in-an-aquarium/
I think they are a good thing. We even caught them to feed to our cuttlefish babies a couple of years ago.