Copepods?

[JoshH]

Well I was staring in my little Nuvo earlier and noticed just in the shaded areas at the base of all the rockwork are 100's of these little guys. Not sure what they are, haven't seen them before, I had lost my Ruby Red dragonette a month ago when he jumped out without me seeing it. And I've just noticed these guys all over the place... I'd like to think they are pods but I would prefer a second R2R opinion.

 

[Dr. Reef]

pic is too blurry. anyway you can take a better pic.

 

[JoshH]

pic is too blurry. anyway you can take a better pic.

I'll give it another go

 

[JoshH]

 

[Dr. Reef]

looks like pods

 

[sorinwilcox]

I think they are rodifer?

 

[JoshH]

 

[JoshH]

looks like pods

Thanks, kindof my thoughts as well but I don't trust myself lol plus I've never seen soooooo many of them before.

 

[CMO]

I'm nearly positive those are amphipods, not copepods. I have a lot of both. Amphipods are much larger and easy to see like those. The juveniles are more pod like but once they get to adult size they're pretty unmistakable. This one looks like an adult amphipod.

 

[Maritimer]

Man, you got a lot!

They look like munnid isopods to me. Cousins of the rollie-polies in your garden, handy little cleaner-uppers, and tasty snacks for the most discerning of fishes.

No worries.

~Bruce

 

[JoshH]

I'm nearly positive those are amphipods, not copepods. I have a lot of both. Amphipods are much larger and easy to see like those.

TBH it almost looks like a mix but they could just be babies. The majority of them are 2-3mm in length with the odd one I would say around 6mm long.

 

[JoshH]

Man, you got a lot!

They look like munnid isopods to me. Cousins of the rollie-polies in your garden, handy little cleaner-uppers, and tasty snacks for the most discerning of fishes.

No worries.

~Bruce

You're telling me, I shut the pumps off and wow! You almost can't see the rock through them where they are crawling around. I'm just happy they are any type of pod and not something else lol

 

[CMO]

TBH it almost looks like a mix but they could just be babies. The majority of them are 2-3mm in length with the odd one I would say around 6mm long.

Yeah probably a mix, but in my experience copepods are extremely tiny and hard to photograph (aside from maybe tiger pods). I had a wrasse wipe out my entire amphipod population which looked just like these when juvenile. After getting rid of the wrasse and restocking amphipods I've got a million of these again.

 

[JoshH]

Yeah probably a mix, but in my experience copepods are extremely tiny and hard to photograph (aside from maybe tiger pods). I had a wrasse wipe out my entire amphipod population which looked just like these when juvenile. After getting rid of the wrasse and restocking amphipods I've got a million of these again.

Interesting you mentioned Tiger pods, these are the only type of pods I've actually introduced to my system.