The Awesome Squad Question and Answer Thread

[thegrun]

Their claw moves faster than the speed of sound and can actually boil the water as it moves. The army has scientists studying the way that the Mantis Shrimp claw is made and using that information to help improve the armor and helmets our soldiers wear.

[Paul B]

Hi. This is Will, again. I was wondering what is the most powerful seahorse in the world? I was wondering that because
1) I always like seahorse
2) I want to know also because I was thinking to get a seahorse when I grow up MAYBE

Will, I am not quite sure what you mean by the most powerful seahorse. The Leafy Sea Dragon is the largest seahorse I know of. I am not sure how powerful it is but it is certainly the weirdest. Here is a video of one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuI4ncViU4Y

Seahorses are very unusual fish. They are the only fish except for their cousins the pipefish, where the male has the babies. A male seahorse has a pouch like a kangaroo. Seahorses also have two skeletons, one inside like us and one outside, like an insect. They also have a tail like a monkey so they can hold on to things.



Here is a dragon pipefish that they are related to.



This is a banded pipefish



And the bluestriped pipefish are the smallest.

[brandoniscool]

Originally Posted by Paul B

Will, I am not quite sure what you mean by the most powerful seahorse. The Leafy Sea Dragon is the largest seahorse I know of. I am not sure how powerful it is but it is certainly the weirdest. Here is a video of one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuI4ncViU4Y

Seahorses are very unusual fish. They are the only fish except for their cousins the pipefish, where the male has the babies. A male seahorse has a pouch like a kangaroo. Seahorses also have two skeletons, one inside like us and one outside, like an insect. They also have a tail like a monkey so they can hold on to things.



Here is a dragon pipefish that they are related to.



This is a banded pipefish



And the bluestriped pipefish are the smallest.

Hi Paul,
This is Will. I meant that "What is the strongest seahorse in the world"

Thanks,
Will

[brandoniscool]

Hi guys. This is Will. When I was wondering about the the other question about seahorses, I thought about why is the seahorses tail curve.

Mr.Rutherford told me to share what I like about reef aquariums.
I like about reef aquariums is that
1) You could teach them/fish cool tricks
2) They could back-flip
3) They make play with other fish
4) I really enjoy seahorses
5) Some fish are really funny looking



Thanks,
Will

[brandoniscool]

Hello this is Kayla. I looked at the tank and saw the starfish and thought, ' I've heard rumors that starfish have more than 5 tentacles.' so I'd like to know if that's true. so please reply and I will be very happy. Thanks!

[brandoniscool]

Hi this is Elisha and I was wondering what is the rarest fish is it the Alabama cavefish or the prehistoric frilled shark? i'd like to know what you think



thanks!!!

-Elisha

[Paul B]

This is Will. I meant that "What is the strongest seahorse in the world"

I really don't know Will. None of them are very strong.

Hi this is Elisha and I was wondering what is the rarest fish is it the Alabama cavefish or the prehistoric frilled shark? i'd like to know what you think

Elisha, the rarest fish in the world is the Devils Hole Pupfish, but the Alabama cavefish may be just as rare. All the Devils Hole pupfish in the world live on a small shelf in a cave about 13 feet long by a few feet wide. The last time they counted them I think there was about 80 of them. I am not sure about the frilled shark as that is a salt water fish and could be fairly common as the oceans are very deep and large so no one knows how many frilled sharks there may be.

[brandoniscool]

Hi ,my name is Kaylee. And I'm in Mr.Rutherford's 3rd grade gifted. I want to be a Vet when I grow up.So having an Aquarium And getting to take care of it is pretty cool. But the good thing of having an Aquarium in 3rd grade is you have fun while learning about science.And my favorite animal other than sea horse's is Cats. What I love to do other than Aquarium Keeping is watching TV And playing w/my puppy named lucky.So I have been wanting to know is what is the maximum of babies a sea horse can have? Since it is my favorite animal, I am very curious as to what their life is like, and facts about them! If you could answer my question thanks for your time.if not sorry for wasting your time.

p.s. FFL ( FOR LIFE)

[brandoniscool]

Hi,

[Paul B]

Kaylee, Never say you are sorry for asking questions. There are a lot of smart people here but they all learned by asking questions. And we love questions so you are not wasting any one's time.
Seahorses are also one of my favorite fish and I catch them in the sea. I live in New York near the Atlantic Ocean and there is a large population of seahorses that live here all year.
I caught these and you can see that the female is laying eggs and they are going into the pouch of the male. They even dropped a few. I am not sure how many babies they have because there was to many to count but the babies look exactly like their parents and they hold on to each other with their tails.

[brandoniscool]

Hi,
We're Tran and Dakota, tutors here in Mr. Rutherford's class. Working with the students is an awesome experience and we love to learn from them. However, we have questions about the tank also. While working with the students and the tank, we noticed that Awesome Squad's tank has vastly grown, due to adding numerous new corals. We are wondering, could too many corals in one tank be dangerous for their specific needs? Or do they work together to create this aquarium system? Answers would be greatly appreciated, so let us know! Thanks!

Tran and Dakota

[brandoniscool]

Brandon here. We've been doing an expository writing unit and Giniah wrote this manual for reef maintenance. Thought I'd share.

[liverock]

Hello Tran and Dokata...and the awesome students in Mr. Rutherford 's class!

Your tank can defiantly be overcrowded like Mr. Rutherford's classroom tank which he had fully stocked...then we started the 90 gallon next door... and some of the livestock has been temporarily housed in his tank to allow the new tank next door to be able to keep the new livestock happy.

Gorgonians do not like to be touched by anything...rock/corals/glass/sand...they want to be in a position all by themselves....and they will be happy...the candelabra gorgonians will show some spots on them sometimes where they have rubbed something they do not like...and it will slough ..fall off..and they will regrow! You can also take some scissors and cut off sections of them and they will grow new ones for you!

sea ya class!!

Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com

[ReeferKimberly]

That is a very good manual, Giniah! I laughed at the part about it not being a magical wand.

Tran and Dakota, it is possible to have "too many corals". Corals compete for space and food and produce toxins that can damage each other. In an aquarium it is important to space corals apart enough so that certain kinds are not touching each other. There are some corals that can even put out really long sweeper tentacles that can sting. One kind of coral that is known for having very long sweepers is called a Hollywood Stunner Chalice. Here is a video where you can see the sweepers.



Because corals engage in this "chemical warfare" between each other and our tanks are not as big as the ocean we put special activated carbon in our filters and this can help absorb some of the toxins so we can have more corals next to each other without hurting anything.

(edit: oops I see Richard answered you as well Well you got two for the price of one!)

[liverock]

That is amazing....never seen anything like that before as the corals we have here in the Gulf of Mexico do not have that type of behavior.....great video...is it your tank?....could you imagine the sting those guys have? OUCH!

Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com

Originally Posted by ReeferKimberly

That is a very good manual, Giniah! I laughed at the part about it not being a magical wand.

Tran and Dakota, it is possible to have "too many corals". Corals compete for space and food and produce toxins that can damage each other. In an aquarium it is important to space corals apart enough so that certain kinds are not touching each other. There are some corals that can even put out really long sweeper tentacles that can sting. One kind of coral that is known for having very long sweepers is called a Hollywood Stunner Chalice. Here is a video where you can see the sweepers.



Because corals engage in this "chemical warfare" between each other and our tanks are not as big as the ocean we put special activated carbon in our filters and this can help absorb some of the toxins so we can have more corals next to each other without hurting anything.

(edit: oops I see Richard answered you as well Well you got two for the price of one!)

[Flashy Fins]

Originally Posted by brandoniscool

Hello this is Kayla. I looked at the tank and saw the starfish and thought, ' I've heard rumors that starfish have more than 5 tentacles.' so I'd like to know if that's true. so please reply and I will be very happy. Thanks!

Hi, Kayla! You have a beautiful orange starfish in your tank. Thanks for sharing the photo.

It is true that starfish can have more than 5 arms. Some, like yours, are genetically programmed to have only 5, but they can temporarily end up with more through reproduction or fewer through predation and accidents. When a starfish loses a limb, it grows back. Other types of starfish naturally have more than 5 arms all of the time. Look how many this one has!



This kind of starfish lives in the Pacific Ocean and needs a very large aquarium that is kept at cooler temperatures. I took the photo at a marine science center I visited, where the starfish shares a tank with other starfish, anemones, and this Giant Pacific Octopus:

[Flashy Fins]

Originally Posted by brandoniscool

Hi, this is brandon. I just spent some time teaching Mrs. Perez's student Lizabeth about how to care for their new tank. Lizabeth can't type well so I'm doing it for her.

She just fed the crabs and sea stars, is her response: "The crabs reached out and pulled the shrimp with their hands (claws) and then they eat it. They are happy to get the shrimp because they were hungry. The crabs ate it right away. My favorite part so far is the crabs, they have lots of different colors."

Here are some of her questions:

"What do snails eat?"

"Do crabs lay eggs? Do they put them on the rocks?"

"How does he (mantis shrimp) kill things to eat them?"

Hi, Lizabeth! I will try to answer the question about snails. There are many different types of snails in the ocean, and they do not all like to eat the same things. Some have very specific diets, such as a specific coral they can blend in with and prey upon (we try to keep these types out of reef aquariums, so our corals do not get eaten). A lot of snails eat algae, but some of them will eat many different types of algae, while others prefer only one type of algae. There are snails that will eat just about anything they can find that is meaty, whether it is a small invertebrate in the sand, or a pellet of fish food the fish do not get to first (very good to have in aquariums, so they can clean up crumbs the fish leave behind). There are even snails that eat other snails.

If you asked 10 of your friends what they like to eat, you might get 10 different answers, and if you could talk to snails and ask 10 different types the same question, you might also get 10 different answers from them.

[brandoniscool]

I am Elizabeth a volunteer at Garden Hills Elementary for Mr. Rutherford's class. I think the tank is amazing and it really helps get the kids involved in learning. The kids are always excited when new aquatic life comes in or when they can spend their free time over at the tank. They are always quick to point out certain things and tell me an interesting fact(s) that they just learned. One of the new things that just came in is the pincushion sea urchin, and I have a few questions. I was wondering how the pincushion urchin gets its purple color, since some can also be pink or green? Also how exactly do their spines work as their self defense, and can the spines move upward or side to side? What all does the urchin eat and how? Do urchins have a hairy or prickly feeling when held? Thanks so much!

[brandoniscool]

Originally Posted by G_Sanab922

Hi Giniah!

The reef tank that was in my third grade class had only some corals. We had more fish than corals. But yes it was full with fish and coral. Then when we had the opportunity to add something else, the teacher would decide on which fish to sell to the local fish store.
That's good you have plenty though, shows diversity. You and your class must be loving it!

Big applause to the members who have donated so far!

Hello.This is Giniah again asking about the most remakable fish you had.The most remakable fish in my tank is the three brittle stars we have.They are really hard to feed you need a special to feed it.Thank You!We have also gotten donations from other reef companies,by sending letters to all of the companies.Once more,Thank You!

[brandoniscool]

Originally Posted by Misled

Hi Brandon!!!


Hello Awesome Squad!!!!!

HI!!!

[brandoniscool]

Originally Posted by Misled

Hi Brandon!!!


Hello Awesome Squad!!!!!

Hello!!!:bigeyes

[brandoniscool]

Originally Posted by Misled

Hi Brandon!!!


Hello Awesome Squad!!!!!

Hello!!!

[brandoniscool]

Originally Posted by brandoniscool

HI!!!

Hi!!!

[Paul B]

Elizabeth, I am not sure why some sea urchins are purple while some are black or even bright orange but I do know other things about sea urchins.
I live in New York and I used to own a sea urchin collecting business. I collected them because sea urchins eat algae and they can eat a lot of it, so I used to sell them to people with fish tanks to keep the tank clear of algae. The type of urchins I collect here are purple urchins like in your picture. Each spine can move independently and they will point them in the direction of anything that touches them to try to protect themselves. The spines can move in any direction but each spine can not move to far. That usually works but there are still plenty of animals that can eat sea urchins including us.
Sea urchins are related to starfish even though they don't look like them. Sea urchins have five parts to their round shell which is called a test. (I don't know why) The five parts fuse together to form a round ball which is the body of the urchin. Urchins move with their tube feet, just like starfish. If you turn one over you can see many feet on skinny "legs" which look like strings.
Each one of those "feet" has a little suction cup on it which lets the urchin move up straight walls or rocks. On the top part of an urchin you can also see small stalks that look like their feet, but these serve another purpose. They are shaped like little pliers or pinchers and are there to clean the urchin of pests. Any little creature that wants to make his home on the urchin is immediately removed by there little pincers.
Urchins eat with a mouth that is sort of like a beak and it is called "Aristotle's Lantern". I guess it looks like a lantern. It is right in the center on the bottom and it is used to scrape algae from rocks. An urchin is so good at scraping algae that it removes some of the rock as it eats because it's mouth parts are so sharp.
Urchins feel prickly when held as their spines are not flexible. If you try to bend them, they break like glass.
An urchins shell is very thin and delicate so if you squeeze an urchin, you will crush it so it needs spines to protect it.

I hope I answered your question.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Originally Posted by brandoniscool

Brandon here. We've been doing an expository writing unit and Giniah wrote this manual for reef maintenance. Thought I'd share.

I LOVE this!!

The Awesome Squad kids are pretty awesome and very smart!