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:

New Species of Mysis Shrimp Discovered in an Aquarium | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

Mysis shrimp are so commonly just regarded as foodstuff for our aquarium fish we don’t often take the time and consider that they’re actually, you know, an important living organism.

reefbuilders.com

I think they are a good thing. We even caught them to feed to our cuttlefish babies a couple of years ago.