Is this an Aiptasia!?

[huskysglare1]

I'd just picked up some chaetos from a LFS and i see a few of these guys in the bag. Are they AIPTASIA? They're swimming around like jellyfish.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vPfZp3pmpmM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CRJBc90TB40" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Ron Reefman]

Well, to say the video is mostly blurry is an understatement. My first reaction before I saw the video was this will be copepods. However, having watched the video a couple of times, I think you may have a very small octopus. But I wouldn't expect you would have 'a few', one would be unusual, a few would be hard to imagine. Try pulling one out and set it in a very shallow cup of water (like 1/2" deep) and see what it does. You should be able to get better pics as well.

It may just be that I have octopus on the brain as a friend of mine was telling me yesterday at a club meeting that he is keeping a very small octopus (it lives in a turbo snail shell) in a small acrylic box in his 180g reef tank.

BTW, small octopuses only live a very short time, like 6-12 months.

[maybeshewill]

That's certainly not aiptasia, no idea what it is though.

[Khemul]

Aiptasia doesn't swim, so that is easy to rule out. :lolspin:

Definitely need a better video or picture of it. Between the distortion and the blurriness not much to work off of for an ID.

[dzhuo]

It's a Boloceroides; a type of anemone capable of swimming.

[iwishtofish]

Pretty neat! Never seen anything like that!

[dzhuo]

Yes pretty neat:

<object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rGlrYnlBXo0?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rGlrYnlBXo0?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

[TheBass]

Wow! Never seen anything like that before. What is it called?

[TheBass]

Oh sorry I didn't see the above post..Boloceroides

[sanchoy]

thats not a aiptasia.

[huskysglare1]

WAIT WAIT! Are they bad for my reef tank, the Boloceroides?

[dzhuo]

I would personally not keep it in a tank since they reproduce asexually. If you think Aiptasia is bad, think lots of swimming Aiptasia. I have never actually seen tank over run by Boloceroides but the risk is certainly there.

[huskysglare1]

Man, luckily i looked before i dumped the bag in my tank. I tore a hole in a bag and left it inside the tank for a bit. I hope none of the egg got into the sump.

[cesare]

that thing is cool u should start a nano just to keep it

[jamesbaur13]

that thing is cool u should start a nano just to keep it

I'd breed 'em and wait for the Dee Snider Tanked episode and cash em in.