How to get Free Pods for mandarins and seahorses - Page 5

K' Family Reef · 01/21/2008, 02:44 PM

Man-O--the -Sea

surprised to see this thread still going strong -
you have brought up some interesting debate(s)

how about showing some pics of your tank so we can see where all these pods (etc) are going?

regards

Neptune777 · 01/21/2008, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jman77
"The chances of getting a pathogen from temperate waters that will do harm in your tropical reef are slim to none "

Just an FYI , There are ocean currents that take animals from our reefs all the way up to the New York Area ...

Duhhhh...no kidding. But these organisms will not survive long term at lower temps which does happen seasonally in the North in case you weren't aware.

ManotheSea · 01/21/2008, 08:48 PM

I made two trips to the beach this weekend. As promised before, here are some pics of my finds. Would you keep these or leave them to die on the beach?

All of the specimens found were freshly beached including the sponges. If left on the spot they were soon to die and basically amounted to debris. Keep in mind to catch pods you have to scoop the seaweed dirrectly out of the water. Dont use the beached stuff.

Saturdays finds:

8 inch Gorgonian. Still has seaweed on its braches that I havent had time to clean yet. The polyps on both Gorgs are in full extension now. It took about 6-8 hours before they began opening.

6 inch Silver Blade Gorgonian

8 sponges - These were all out of the water on the beach. The Orange Tree Sponge in the forefront was found three weeks ago and was in bad shape. Now all damage is healed by new growth and it looks great. If you look closely you might be able to see the huge pores that are opened. So here is another one for the records - Air does not kill sponges.

I keep the sponges out of direct light and under very high flow. So far I have not had the need to put any supplements in the water for them. In this picture you can see how the branches of the Orange Tree are in fast motion from the flow.

I am working on a sponge garden in my sump. Eventually the new sponges wil probably be added. The blue sponge was not collected by me. It was purchased from a local store. The orange tree sponge in the rear is two sponges that melded together after being in direct line of a powerhead for 2-3 months.

ManotheSea · 01/21/2008, 08:50 PM

Mondays Finds:

Another large Gorgonian

8 Purple Urchins and 2 White Urchins. Many of these will be given to friends along with other finds that I dont have the perfect place for.

This was a first for me. I never saw live Scalops on the beach before. Realizing that LFS Scallops are seriously prone to dying in our tanks I decided to experiment with these guys. I want to see if the survival rate is any better.

A container of various things. The Yellow Ball sponges are common. I have never found or seen a Plum Purple Sponge like this one. I hope it lives. The black thing is a Skate (Sting Ray) egg case.

Here is the Stingray Egg held up in front of my Halides so you can see the baby inside. I have hatched Bamboo Shark eggs in the past that are sold by LFS and online dealers. I think this will be an interesting experiment to see if I can hatch a Sting ray. I have a friend who has been asking me where to get one. If he doesnt want it I can release this one since it is native to this area.

So would you keep any of this wild sea life or leave it on the beach to its own demise? I think its just as safe or safer plus a lot more fun to collect during a walk on the beach than to shop a LFS. Depending of course on what I am looking for.

The coolest thing is that the tourists scour the beaches for shells and walk right past all this stuff having no idea what they are overlooking.

SimilanRocks · 01/21/2008, 09:54 PM

I'm feeling like those belong to the ocean... But yeah things we get from LFS belong to the ocean as well. I'm confused

Swanwillow · 01/21/2008, 10:15 PM

IMo, you won't beable to return the ray, as its will have been exposed to whatever is in your tanks, coming from other oceans, etc. (yes, even though things move.. better safe to take from than put back in)

If you look around, there are small places that sell things like this online, I can PM anyone interested in local collectors in florida, I don't think I can directly link them here as they are sponsors.

I'd do it, but I think your proving to others instead of few ATM. Having access to sponges like that would be nice for a cryptic 'fuge.

jman77 · 01/21/2008, 10:20 PM

" Duhhhh...no kidding. But these organisms will not survive long term at lower temps which does happen seasonally in the North in case you weren't aware."

Did you recommend collecting the months that the temps are not conducive to tropical life, no you didn't. You throwing out a "slim to none " blanket statement is ignorant .... You can get a bug, as you have organisms that originated in tropical water in your local waters.

On a side note... i would have left the stingray egg case in the ocean , Rays have enough people killing them already .

ManotheSea · 01/22/2008, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SimilanRocks
I'm feeling like those belong to the ocean... But yeah things we get from LFS belong to the ocean as well. I'm confused

SimilanRocks - Dont be confused. I feel that the ocean gave them to me as a gift that I am thankful for. The ocean left them up on the beach and thousands of others passed by and didnt even see them. Thats why it seems like a gift. The LFS on the other hand had people dive into the depths of the ocean to remove things. I wonder how Neptune and Poseiden feel about that.

jman77 - The egg was on the beach and would have dried out in a matter of hours.

I guess a bird could have eaten it and now I have it instead. But those birds were not going hungry with live scallops all over.

I dont understand the idea of not being able to release the Sting Ray. I want to understand if Im missing an important point here. Can others share their ideas on this for me?

elkinsda · 01/22/2008, 12:04 AM

You found some pretty cool stuff ManotheSea!

HBtank · 01/22/2008, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ManotheSea
SimilanRocks - Dont be confused. I feel that the ocean gave them to me as a gift that I am thankful for. The ocean left them up on the beach and thousands of others passed by and didnt even see them. Thats why it seems like a gift. The LFS on the other hand had people dive into the depths of the ocean to remove things. I wonder how Neptune and Poseiden feel about that.

jman77 - The egg was on the beach and would have dried out in a matter of hours.

I guess a bird could have eaten it and now I have it instead. But those birds were not going hungry with live scallops all over.

I dont understand the idea of not being able to release the Sting Ray. I want to understand if Im missing an important point here. Can others share their ideas on this for me?

I think you have some great ideas, and those are some great finds. I envy your sponges. I might not be able to resist staying on the beach, but I would, of course..

Regarding the ray, you could pass on non-native things that might not be readily visible to the naked eye. A simple parasite/pathogen for instance...

Introducing non-native species is a big no no, no matter how small it might seem, or slight the chance..

No reason to get technical, it is just a simple rule that everyone should always maintain,nothing in our tanks should be released from captivity. If we all had tanks devoted to our local habitat, it might be a different story, but that could even be debatable...

ManotheSea · 01/22/2008, 06:15 AM

I didnt consider microbes as part of the invasive species but I suppose you are right. So then that is the ultimate safest condition for our enviroment; NOTHING THAT GOES IN EVER GETS SET FREE because of mixing species from all over the world in our tanks. Thank you. I can now see it clearer and understand better.

shred5 · 01/22/2008, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ManotheSea

I dont understand the idea of not being able to release the Sting Ray. I want to understand if Im missing an important point here. Can others share their ideas on this for me?

If your tank has had anything from any part of the world it may have a organism, parasite or pathogen that isnâ€™t from the area. It can be detrimental to the local areas reef if something is introduced that is not from the area. Fish or coral may not have a resistance to it.

This can and does happen too. One of the therories on the Diadema urchin die off in florida was thought to have happened because of something that came in from a ship.

Quote:

Air does not kill sponges.

You would not know this right away.. When air gets trapped in a sponge it will slowly die. You will see white spots start appearing. Some sponges can be fragged like a coral and be saved. Just cut off the white spots. Some sponges are more susceptible to air than others while some are not affected at allâ€¦

Dave

quiksilver · 01/22/2008, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by UrbanSage
Why are you promoting something you won't guarantee is a safe practice?

If everyone followed sarcastic undertone in this question, noone would be able to post anything on RC... I could say the same thing to Julian Sprung about deep sand bed research. Fact is all this hobby is, is based on scientific research/trial and error.

I can safely say that I promote the use of products like the Vortec or Euroreef RS-80 skimmers. I can't same 100% that you will have the same luck I have had, but in my own experience they are time proven products. People have had issues, I'm just not one of them.

So promoting something that has worked for you is what this forum is all about. I doubt anyone could "guarantee the safe practice" of anything in this hobby 100%. Stop the flaming.

Thanks for the idea manofthesea, I wish I lived closer to the ocean as I just cut back most of my macro and my fuge lost alot of it's pod population.

discocarp · 01/22/2008, 12:28 PM

I'm a little late here, but let me add that I agree 100% with NEVER rereleasing anything into the ocean, even if its native. It could easily have been exposed to a pathogen from elsewhere in the world.

Wanna run a reasonable risk with your tank? Go right ahead. Wanna do the same with our coastline? No way! Even if the risk is low...

jman77 · 01/22/2008, 01:30 PM

" Wanna do the same with our coastline? No way! Even if the risk is low.."

Yup, risk is risk....

The mindset of " oh it wont cause any problems" has caused our state enough problems ... We have iguanas in trees, pythons in the everglades, piranhas in canals, lion fish in the ocean .... all kinds of non natives due to the "oh it cant hurt" mentality.

scotmc · 01/22/2008, 02:32 PM

It's sad that A good thread gets side tracked by stupidity.

sdkohio · 01/22/2008, 03:16 PM

WOW! I am glad T.O. reminded me to bring my popcorn.

ManotheSea · 01/22/2008, 07:17 PM

Some one asked me to show what I mean by a screen to separate the pods when pouring the water. You can use either a frying pan splatter screen or a fine n
knit collander type of strainer as shown in the next picture. This is about as low tech and basic as it gets. Two buckets. One with fresh seaweed and water the other with strainer.

Another Reefer asked me to show my tanks that these pods are helping with. My display tank is offline while I upgrade and redesign. Later I can show some of my last display. For now all I have ready is this shot of one of my holding tanks.

Quote:

Originally posted by scotmc
It's sad that A good thread gets side tracked by stupidity.

OK Scotmc care to help me get the thread back on subject?

I commented on feeding pods in another thread last night. Maybe we can elaborate on that subject here.

I have fed them brine shrimp eggs. If you have some macro in the fuge that touches the water surface you can put in a few dashes of eggs. The eggs float. Thats why its important to have macro that breaks the surface. The eggs gravitate to the macro on the surface and you can watch the pods come out and eat them up. I have noticed population increases after feeding them.

The brine shrimp eggs are cheap and available at most LSF. Has anyone tried feeding other things to pods when they notice a population decline?

quiksilver · 01/22/2008, 10:17 PM

Seems like I read somewhere if you have rotifers that have been eating phytoplankton, copepods will eat the rotifers and therefore be getting nutrients from the phytoplankton.

Pods eat insect larvae as well, like mosquito larvae. This is probably why people have said in this thread they see the same types of pods in freshwater creeks near their house. Slow moving freshwater can be a breeding ground for mosquitos and host to a food source of pods.

Janice12 · 01/22/2008, 10:46 PM

I've been following this thread for awhile. Very interesting topic.

I've been keeping a 10 gallon with a sponge filter and some cheato/halimeda for nearly a year to just grow amphipods and weird things in. It's going mad, there's so many that I have to feed crushed flake food, cyclops-eze and rotifers or the whole thing goes horribly awry. I've been culturing them to feed the fish in my other tanks and have a good population all around.
For what it's worth.

Nice finds on the beach Manothesea!!

K' Family Reef · 01/23/2008, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Janice12
I've been following this thread for awhile. Very interesting topic.

I've been keeping a 10 gallon with a sponge filter and some cheato/halimeda for nearly a year to just grow amphipods and weird things in. It's going mad, there's so many that I have to feed crushed flake food, cyclops-eze and rotifers or the whole thing goes horribly awry. I've been culturing them to feed the fish in my other tanks and have a good population all around.
For what it's worth.

Nice finds on the beach Manothesea!!

what do you mean the whole thing goes terribly awry?

regards

Janice12 · 01/23/2008, 11:32 AM

Well, amphipods as I understand are cannabalistic to a point, if I don't keep a good constant amount of food in there the population goes down. I don't know too many people who are growing them, so I'm not quite sure if that's the reason or if it's just normal. But I have noticed with high populations that if you don't feed them they don't mulitply. True with so many other creatures.

Myrddraal · 01/23/2008, 03:28 PM

There is a lot of good discussion in this thread. I wish I was near a coast.

ManotheSea · 01/26/2008, 12:38 AM

I found one source that claims to use yeast and algea to feed pods. I dont know if yeast would be good to add to your Reef but this is good to know if you want to try to cultivate pods in a seperate system.

I came across a few interesting arcticles:

MAN EATING AMPHIPODS - photo from Reefkeeping.com

This is quoted from Ronald L. Shimek, PhD - Reefkeeping.com:
"On April 2, 1983, I was diving in an area called Pole Pass, in the San Juan Islands of Washington. During this dive, my dive partner and I came across a large sea star, Pycnopodia helianthoides, that was spawning. It was absolutely covered by a swarm of the amphipods and they were tearing off pieces of its upper surface. As we attempted to get close, the swarm rose and a portion of it settled on my face and before I knew what was happening the bugs were biting my face and lips. I rapidly "back pedaled" and managed to brush them all off, but by the time I had done this, they had managed to break my skin in several places and I was bleeding quite profusely. NASTY LITTLE BUGS!!!

Fortunately, most reef aquarium amphipods are much more benign. The above experience, however, ought to convince most aquarists that they cannot take the non-predatory nature of amphipods for granted. [COLOR=royal blue]On the other hand, amphipods that are reclusive and which lack warning coloration are probably quite safe and beneficial to our systems.[/COLOR]
Ronald L. Shimek, PhD If you have any questions about this article, please visit my author forum on Reef Central." end quote.

Here is more pod trivia from Museum Victoria, AU:

"Amphipods start out as an egg. 9 to 30 days after the eggs are fertilized the eggs will hatch. Amphipods donâ€™t have a larval stage. When the little Amphipods hatch they look like little versions of adult Amphipods. There is a few species of Amphipods which take care of their young after they hatch."

"Amphipods are sometimes used as water pollution indicators. That means that scientists can go and look at a pond, lake, river, or stream and judging by the amount of Amphipods in the water Scientists can tell how polluted the water is."

With this in mind, I think the risk of adding pollutants to your tank along with the wild caught pods is greatly diminished.

suta4242 · 01/26/2008, 05:28 AM

I live beside a beach and have occasionally considered using freely available pods in my tank.

However 2-3 times a year we have an outbreak of sea lice. If you ever go swimming at that time you really really regret it

The only thing I can think of thats worse than that, is the idea of accidentally introducing such critters to my tank...

01/21/2008, 08:48 PM	#103
ManotheSea Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: FL Posts: 414	I made two trips to the beach this weekend. As promised before, here are some pics of my finds. Would you keep these or leave them to die on the beach? All of the specimens found were freshly beached including the sponges. If left on the spot they were soon to die and basically amounted to debris. Keep in mind to catch pods you have to scoop the seaweed dirrectly out of the water. Dont use the beached stuff. Saturdays finds: 8 inch Gorgonian. Still has seaweed on its braches that I havent had time to clean yet. The polyps on both Gorgs are in full extension now. It took about 6-8 hours before they began opening. 6 inch Silver Blade Gorgonian 8 sponges - These were all out of the water on the beach. The Orange Tree Sponge in the forefront was found three weeks ago and was in bad shape. Now all damage is healed by new growth and it looks great. If you look closely you might be able to see the huge pores that are opened. So here is another one for the records - Air does not kill sponges. I keep the sponges out of direct light and under very high flow. So far I have not had the need to put any supplements in the water for them. In this picture you can see how the branches of the Orange Tree are in fast motion from the flow. I am working on a sponge garden in my sump. Eventually the new sponges wil probably be added. The blue sponge was not collected by me. It was purchased from a local store. The orange tree sponge in the rear is two sponges that melded together after being in direct line of a powerhead for 2-3 months. Last edited by ManotheSea; 01/21/2008 at 09:26 PM.

01/21/2008, 08:50 PM	#104
ManotheSea Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: FL Posts: 414	Mondays Finds: Another large Gorgonian 8 Purple Urchins and 2 White Urchins. Many of these will be given to friends along with other finds that I dont have the perfect place for. This was a first for me. I never saw live Scalops on the beach before. Realizing that LFS Scallops are seriously prone to dying in our tanks I decided to experiment with these guys. I want to see if the survival rate is any better. A container of various things. The Yellow Ball sponges are common. I have never found or seen a Plum Purple Sponge like this one. I hope it lives. The black thing is a Skate (Sting Ray) egg case. Here is the Stingray Egg held up in front of my Halides so you can see the baby inside. I have hatched Bamboo Shark eggs in the past that are sold by LFS and online dealers. I think this will be an interesting experiment to see if I can hatch a Sting ray. I have a friend who has been asking me where to get one. If he doesnt want it I can release this one since it is native to this area. So would you keep any of this wild sea life or leave it on the beach to its own demise? I think its just as safe or safer plus a lot more fun to collect during a walk on the beach than to shop a LFS. Depending of course on what I am looking for. The coolest thing is that the tourists scour the beaches for shells and walk right past all this stuff having no idea what they are overlooking. Last edited by ManotheSea; 01/21/2008 at 09:19 PM.

01/21/2008, 10:15 PM	#106
Swanwillow goby girl Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Bemidji MN Posts: 2,025	IMo, you won't beable to return the ray, as its will have been exposed to whatever is in your tanks, coming from other oceans, etc. (yes, even though things move.. better safe to take from than put back in) If you look around, there are small places that sell things like this online, I can PM anyone interested in local collectors in florida, I don't think I can directly link them here as they are sponsors. I'd do it, but I think your proving to others instead of few ATM. Having access to sponges like that would be nice for a cryptic 'fuge. __________________ my advice:walk away. do nothing. til tomorrow. if its still alive, it will hopefully be fine. If you do not see it, do not try to find it. it may be hiding. just LEAVE it alone Current Tank Info: starting over! 125 gallon. Soon to be home to Blackfoot clowns, A. nigripes

01/22/2008, 03:16 PM	#117
sdkohio Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: BG, OH Posts: 24	WOW! I am glad T.O. reminded me to bring my popcorn. __________________ Please keep in mind, any comments I make are JMHO &/or IME. Current Tank Info: 2.5 Pico

01/22/2008, 10:17 PM	#119
quiksilver Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Dallas, TX Posts: 809	Seems like I read somewhere if you have rotifers that have been eating phytoplankton, copepods will eat the rotifers and therefore be getting nutrients from the phytoplankton. Pods eat insect larvae as well, like mosquito larvae. This is probably why people have said in this thread they see the same types of pods in freshwater creeks near their house. Slow moving freshwater can be a breeding ground for mosquitos and host to a food source of pods. __________________ "You sir, lose at forum posting. Please insert quarter and try again." Current Tank Info: Ultimate 29g, 250w MH + 65w PC, Euroreef RS-80, 25 gallon custom sump/fuge, inifinity prop tank, mag7 return, Vortech x 2, Magnavore Reactor, UV Sterilizer

01/21/2008, 02:44 PM	#101
K' Family Reef Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 1,966	Man-O--the -Sea surprised to see this thread still going strong - you have brought up some interesting debate(s) how about showing some pics of your tank so we can see where all these pods (etc) are going? regards

01/21/2008, 09:54 PM	#105
SimilanRocks Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: La Habra, CA Posts: 473	I'm feeling like those belong to the ocean... But yeah things we get from LFS belong to the ocean as well. I'm confused

01/21/2008, 10:20 PM	#107
jman77 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: West Palm Beach, Florida Posts: 2,391	" Duhhhh...no kidding. But these organisms will not survive long term at lower temps which does happen seasonally in the North in case you weren't aware." Did you recommend collecting the months that the temps are not conducive to tropical life, no you didn't. You throwing out a "slim to none " blanket statement is ignorant .... You can get a bug, as you have organisms that originated in tropical water in your local waters. On a side note... i would have left the stingray egg case in the ocean , Rays have enough people killing them already .

01/22/2008, 12:04 AM	#109
elkinsda Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 298	You found some pretty cool stuff ManotheSea!

01/22/2008, 06:15 AM	#111
ManotheSea Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: FL Posts: 414	I didnt consider microbes as part of the invasive species but I suppose you are right. So then that is the ultimate safest condition for our enviroment; NOTHING THAT GOES IN EVER GETS SET FREE because of mixing species from all over the world in our tanks. Thank you. I can now see it clearer and understand better.

01/22/2008, 12:28 PM	#114
discocarp Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Winter Park, FL Posts: 2,707	I'm a little late here, but let me add that I agree 100% with NEVER rereleasing anything into the ocean, even if its native. It could easily have been exposed to a pathogen from elsewhere in the world. Wanna run a reasonable risk with your tank? Go right ahead. Wanna do the same with our coastline? No way! Even if the risk is low...

01/22/2008, 01:30 PM	#115
jman77 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: West Palm Beach, Florida Posts: 2,391	" Wanna do the same with our coastline? No way! Even if the risk is low.." Yup, risk is risk.... The mindset of " oh it wont cause any problems" has caused our state enough problems ... We have iguanas in trees, pythons in the everglades, piranhas in canals, lion fish in the ocean .... all kinds of non natives due to the "oh it cant hurt" mentality.

01/22/2008, 02:32 PM	#116
scotmc Moved On Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Maryland Posts: 765	It's sad that A good thread gets side tracked by stupidity.

01/22/2008, 10:46 PM	#120
Janice12 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: PA Posts: 196	I've been following this thread for awhile. Very interesting topic. I've been keeping a 10 gallon with a sponge filter and some cheato/halimeda for nearly a year to just grow amphipods and weird things in. It's going mad, there's so many that I have to feed crushed flake food, cyclops-eze and rotifers or the whole thing goes horribly awry. I've been culturing them to feed the fish in my other tanks and have a good population all around. For what it's worth. Nice finds on the beach Manothesea!!

01/23/2008, 11:32 AM	#122
Janice12 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: PA Posts: 196	Well, amphipods as I understand are cannabalistic to a point, if I don't keep a good constant amount of food in there the population goes down. I don't know too many people who are growing them, so I'm not quite sure if that's the reason or if it's just normal. But I have noticed with high populations that if you don't feed them they don't mulitply. True with so many other creatures.

01/23/2008, 03:28 PM	#123
Myrddraal Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Albuquerque, NM Posts: 431	There is a lot of good discussion in this thread. I wish I was near a coast. __________________ ~Jayson

01/26/2008, 12:38 AM	#124
ManotheSea Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: FL Posts: 414	I found one source that claims to use yeast and algea to feed pods. I dont know if yeast would be good to add to your Reef but this is good to know if you want to try to cultivate pods in a seperate system. I came across a few interesting arcticles: MAN EATING AMPHIPODS - photo from Reefkeeping.com This is quoted from Ronald L. Shimek, PhD - Reefkeeping.com: "On April 2, 1983, I was diving in an area called Pole Pass, in the San Juan Islands of Washington. During this dive, my dive partner and I came across a large sea star, Pycnopodia helianthoides, that was spawning. It was absolutely covered by a swarm of the amphipods and they were tearing off pieces of its upper surface. As we attempted to get close, the swarm rose and a portion of it settled on my face and before I knew what was happening the bugs were biting my face and lips. I rapidly "back pedaled" and managed to brush them all off, but by the time I had done this, they had managed to break my skin in several places and I was bleeding quite profusely. NASTY LITTLE BUGS!!! Fortunately, most reef aquarium amphipods are much more benign. The above experience, however, ought to convince most aquarists that they cannot take the non-predatory nature of amphipods for granted. [COLOR=royal blue]On the other hand, amphipods that are reclusive and which lack warning coloration are probably quite safe and beneficial to our systems.[/COLOR] Ronald L. Shimek, PhD If you have any questions about this article, please visit my author forum on Reef Central." end quote. Here is more pod trivia from Museum Victoria, AU: "Amphipods start out as an egg. 9 to 30 days after the eggs are fertilized the eggs will hatch. Amphipods donâ€™t have a larval stage. When the little Amphipods hatch they look like little versions of adult Amphipods. There is a few species of Amphipods which take care of their young after they hatch." "Amphipods are sometimes used as water pollution indicators. That means that scientists can go and look at a pond, lake, river, or stream and judging by the amount of Amphipods in the water Scientists can tell how polluted the water is." With this in mind, I think the risk of adding pollutants to your tank along with the wild caught pods is greatly diminished. Last edited by ManotheSea; 01/26/2008 at 12:48 AM.

01/26/2008, 05:28 AM	#125
suta4242 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: sydney, australia Posts: 634	I live beside a beach and have occasionally considered using freely available pods in my tank. However 2-3 times a year we have an outbreak of sea lice. If you ever go swimming at that time you really really regret it The only thing I can think of thats worse than that, is the idea of accidentally introducing such critters to my tank...