Coral Banded Shrimp/Seahorse Lagoon

[Subsea]

I have a 29G Oceeanic Biocube set up as a macro/rock lagoon. At present there are several Silver Mollies, with assorted macro and two soft corals. The tank has cycled nicely. A mated pair of Coral Banded Shrimp were added two weeks ago and have adjusted nicely. However, they are poor food catchers and continually lose out to the mobile fish. There angling ability is comparable to sea horses. After 40 years of reef keeping, I have never done ponies. If I remove the mollies and allow pod populations to flourish, I would have a live food source for both shrimp and pony.

Sea Robin is hungry, so removing the mollies is a no brainer. I will bring in a ball of chaeto crawlng with pods to assist growing pod populations. With these tight chaeto balls, there is a minicosom wthin the tank, that is protected from predatation by the bunched up chaeto.

 

It is a thought that I will start today. No more football games on Sundy makes for rejuvenated "can do" on the "to do" list.

[xXReefAwesomenessXx]

Depends on what types of ponies you get and don't you think the shrimps would attack the ponies cause they are slow movers and the shrimps can get a move on if so inclined

[Subsea]

With respect to Coral Banded Shrimp a threat to mature ponies, I would have to see that to beleive it. I always marveled how at feeding time, a lone Coral Banded Shrimp would sit on the highest outcrop of rock in my reef tanks. With fish, big enough to eat him, swiming in a feeding frenzy he is the icon of "me against the world". I assumed that for his bravery, he had strong pinchers to cripple much larger animals. While it is a potent hunter of amphipods, his strength is insuffiient to inflict any damage to even small fish. If you have ever seen one out of the water, you will easily realize that they don't have strength to hold up to gravity. Only thru buyancy of water do they have such good mobility. I am not familiar with ponies. I am sure infants would be food to a Coral Banded Shrimp. I am not particularly interested in producing offspring. I merly find it challenging to find the best choices for biotheme tanks.