Snacking on Babies

It's not as gross as it sounds, but it was both amazing and sad at the same time. I originally put three peppermint shrimp in my tank back in May or June to eat the Aipatasia anemones - they did. I've haven't seen more than one in months...and yes they are primarily nocturnal creatures, but I just got the feeling that two probably died off. I lost my arrow crab and my sally lightfoot crab...so maybe the tank is low on iodine or some other essential trace element for the crustaceans...they have been my only losses (knock on wood).

Anyway, I am up late tonight catching up on old episodes on Lost when I spy the peppermint out in the open making its way over to my Blue Spotted Jawfish's burrow. The BSJ is always swimming erratically after the moonlights go out...and I still haven't figured out what he is doing...his burrow is not exactly an architectural masterpiece. Maybe he is lazy or just a bad builder.

But I digress...the peppermint shrimp hobbles over to the burrow and I notice its abdomen looks different and immediately wonder if she's pregnant. Can't be...haven't seen the other two peppermints in months. Then she swims up the side of the tank right into Sunkist & Tanglo's sleeping corner...scaring those two out of bed and outta the way. WTF right? Then the shrimp does this weird flick at the top of the water line and disappears.

So I turn the light on...and sure enough hundreds of baby peppermints are swimming about. Freaking amazing. Of course, just as soon as they hatched Leto started gobbling them up and since Sunkist & Tangelo were now awake they decided what the heck, snack time.

It takes 40 days for a peppermint larvae to mature...I doubt any will survive given I don't have any baby brine to feed them, plus the tank is filtered and then the dozen hungry fish. So that part is a little sad. Would have been cool though.

I have quite a few mated pairs of fish in there...and that too is amazing to me. My cardinals, Zeus & Hera, just spawned...I missed that though and I think all the babies got gobbled up before I saw even one. Zeus had been carrying them in his mouth for a while, but I couldn't figure out how to yank him to a breeding tank...too much live rock in there to net him without tearing the reef completely down and restacking it. So I let nature run its course...but I did hope to see the babies.

Then Sunkist & Tangelo are coupled although I haven't seen a pregnant Sunkist yet. I've seen my chromis kissing...and doing their little mating dance. And finally Stop & Drop appear to be getting along well...again no kids, but they shacked up in a bolt hole together. Everyone else is single as I didn't add multiples of their kind. But I am surprised that the others coupled up so quickly and I never expected the shrimps to spawn.

The tank is really young...so I can only imagine what the next year will bring. I feel very fortunate to have the reef tank in the first place and no, it doesn't look nearly as gorgeous as my brothers simply because he has so much coral in his and mature colorful live rock. But its doing remarkably well considering how heavy the bioload was in such a short time.

Saltwater fish and/or reefkeeping can be difficult at times...but its not nearly as much work as everyone makes it out to be. Its costly, but not difficult. Aside from it just having a calming effect on the room with all the fish swimming about, the gurgling of filtered water...it really makes you think about how balanced the environment has to be to support life...and your own responsibility for that life if it is to thrive under your care. I think more people should have tanks because it makes you conscious of that process and in turn conscious of your own place in this environment we call Earth. Its all so fragile and all so amazing at the same time.