My new pod hunter

ficklefins · Sep 24, 2007

I just got this guy the other day to deal with some issues in my tank. He is still small so the bigger pods are tough for him to wrangle. Funny thing is that the last pod I saw him try and eat actually made his body wiggle before he spit it out. Too funny.

Here he is hunting..

Anybody else have a pygmy angel, or a flameback?

fishes2889 · Sep 24, 2007

Any zoa's in the tank? I'd be scarred of him nipping at them. We had one in our display at work and picked on all the zoa's we would place in the tank....

ficklefins · Sep 24, 2007

Thank you for letting me know. I'll keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't start to bother my corals. :::Fingers crossed:::

edwing206 · Sep 24, 2007

That guy is awesome! I was deciding between one of those or cherubs. You made my choice even harder.

ficklefins · Sep 24, 2007

edwing206 said:
That guy is awesome! I was deciding between one of those or cherubs. You made my choice even harder.

I had a cherub in the past and he turned really aggressive towards my clowns. It was a pretty sad thing because he was buds with the female clown, but things seemed to turn overnight after she stopped paying attention to him.

Better yet, wait for a month or two and I'll keep you posted on the whether or not this guy is reef safe.

edwing206 · Sep 24, 2007

Sounds good. Thanks.

edwing206 · Sep 30, 2007

Any updates?

Pufferpunk · Sep 30, 2007

I've got a really great, colorful, African flameback.

143gadgets · Sep 30, 2007

AWESOME! I almost bought that one myself.

edwing206 · Sep 30, 2007

Any coral nipping pufferpunk? I really want one.

Pufferpunk · Sep 30, 2007

Nope, I also have a coral beauty & flame angel. Lucky, I guess.

edwing206 · Sep 30, 2007

Cool. How's the attitude on this guy? Nice or mean? Also, got a pic of yours?

Pufferpunk · Oct 1, 2007

He's pretty shy--I doubt he's stay out/still enough for a pic. When I got him, his back was yellow, now it's a really pretty orange-yellow. Seems to play well with others.

edwing206 · Oct 1, 2007

Ok thanks.

edwing206 · Oct 16, 2007

So how's he doing Luciano? Is he ok to go in a reef?

ficklefins · Oct 16, 2007

edwing206 said:
So how's he doing Luciano? Is he ok to go in a reef?

I would say yes and no. He "mouths" some of my SPS but I really think he is doing it because there is excess algae on them. There is no damage to the coral but the polyps do retract. So far there is no damage to my SPS (milis, montis and some others I don't know). My blenny also shows the same behavior and it seems to be limited to a certain SPS colony. The only aspect of their behavior that I don't like (had this issue with another pygmy) is that they will pick off the "snorks" of my nassarius snails.

I'm glad you asked the question because my zoas/palys have started to really open and color up. I have an entire colony that is open without a skirt, and I owe that to my pod hunter. This guy has done a great job of hunting down pods and he scouts my frag rack a few times a day. My zoa/paly die back is no more and I haven't changed any of my reef keeping routines.

Luciano

I don't want to say yes they are reef safe because this is my experience with one particular animal. If I could have more flamebacks I would. They are beautiful and he loves to hang out with my goby, even if my goby doesn't seem to like it.

edwing206 · Oct 16, 2007

A lot of people have blennies eat the sps, but they say it is because it is when a coral is in declining or not so good health. Mayybe that's what going on. I think I'm gonna get one anyways, way to cool looking not to have in my tank. Thanks for the reply.