ID please

hagfish

Active Member
Unfortunately, I have no pics. But anyway, last night I noticed that one of my live rocks is home to many small creatures that I had not seen before. They are between maybe 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch in length. They really look like little shrimp to me, but they're just a little too small to tell for sure. They are sort of gray in color. They don't seem to like light because when I turn on the light they run and hide. After that, I only see them in shady areas or inside holes in my rock. I can see two eyes kind of toward the top of their heads. I know it's hard to tell what these would be without a pic. But does anyone have any ideas? Could they be some kind of baby shrimp? Or is there a shrimp that might stay that size perhaps? Or could this be something else altogether? :notsure:
 

beanpole12

Member
I know there are some good threads about different types of copepods in the forum too. Do a search and maybe you can see if what's in your tank matches any of the pics in the thread.
 

hagfish

Active Member
I think Bang Guy might have it right. I looked around on the net a little for the mysid shrimp and it looks pretty close. I think these are too big to be pods, unless pods get bigger than I realize.
I'm mostly just finding pics on the net with little info about them. It sounds like they are used as frozen fish food. Will they likely just become fish food in my tank? Are they good or bad to have and why?
Thanks for the help!
 

beanpole12

Member
I would think good, but probably a good food source. Did they just appear? That's cool. I just got a shipment of starfish in today that had several similiar "bugs" swimming in the bag and had no idea what they might be.
 

bang guy

Moderator

Originally posted by hagfish
Will they likely just become fish food in my tank? Are they good or bad to have and why?

They are GREAT fish food. They eat detritus & algae (and copepods
). The fish won't be able to eat them all so you'll probably always have a population.
 

hagfish

Active Member
Yikes!:scared: I'm gonna have nightmares after seeing that thing!
You have changed my outlook on pods! Can some of the nearly microscopic pods I see in my tank grow to become that monster? Or is that monster always much bigger than the little guys in my tank?
 
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