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04-12-2005, 11:56 AM
Amphipod are tiny crustaceans that live within our live rock and sand. They are beneficial omnivore scavengers feeding on plant and animal matter or bacteria. They reproduce sexually and can multiply very quickly in the right environment. One of the advantages of running a refuge is to give amphipod a safe place to breed and multiply.

Amphipods are also a natural food source for our fish and corals. Some fish rely solely on amphipod and other tiny crustaceans for food.

Some ways to increase the amphipod population in your system is one, adding a refuge, giving them a place to breed such as a pile of rubble rocks, and IME feeding them live phytoplankton.

If anyone has any pictures or additional information they would like to share on the Amphipod, please feel free to post it here.
UrbanZero
03-16-2006, 09:46 PM
There are TONS of these all over my tank..
http://loveatfirstdesign.com/shrimp.jpg
Sefu
03-16-2006, 10:22 PM
awesome picture urban
Doctor_Reef
03-18-2006, 07:17 PM
Good pics...
specsgirl
03-19-2006, 12:50 AM
Nice writeup! That should answer a lot of questions about what they are for some of the newbies.
evo8hks
07-09-2006, 07:09 PM
i have alot, hundreds in my 10g tank and im afraid they will start eating my corals if there food supply runs out. the only fish in the tank is a yellow clown goby. he eats the smaller ones, but some are over 1/2" long and he hinds from them. i catch about ten a week in the filter and drop them in my 30g. the fish suck them right up. should i do something or not worry about it?
FishinInTheDark
07-09-2006, 08:30 PM
If their population is booming, you might try scaling back what you feed the tank. Their lifecycle is pretty short, so they'll die back relatively quickly. They will not eat healthy corals.
evo8hks
07-09-2006, 11:42 PM
i feed the goby a little less then he can eat, because i know he's eating them. i've been doing water changes every week due to my nitates sky-rocketing. should i move a fish from my other tank to suck them up?
FishinInTheDark
07-10-2006, 10:03 AM
No. More fish equals more poop equals more 'pods. Keep up on your nitrate battle and the 'pod population will follow too. Do you know what caused that?
evo8hks
07-10-2006, 05:10 PM
i think it was about 2 months ago. my wife had to do the pm feeding and accidentally spilled the food in the tank. also, thanks for all the help. jon