funky lil bugs on my birds nest

[mistermikev]

ok, got a birds nest frag a few weeks ago. this morning I was lookin at it and saw these little guys on it. I have seen amphipods and copapods b4 - not sure what is what... but these were inbetween the two in size. Took a pic, but you can't see much with it. They were about an 1/8 inch long, had two forward tenticles, and the bodies were thicker at the front. Sorry, that's all I could see. I wouldn't even ask about it but they were localized to a dead limb on my birds nest... related? Any known birds nest pests?

[Reefland]

Was there any color to what you saw?

[mistermikev]

not really, kinda white lookin... little darker towards the head.

[PurePerfection]

Maybe Red bugs thay eat acro's thay dont allways look red..could be copepods..

[mistermikev]

for the record, copepods are the little guys that kinda look like a sal bug? Ie they kinda curl up? these guys are straight.

[mistermikev]

amphipods a

[mistermikev]

oops, amphipods are the little white buggars I see all over the glass - slightly bigger than a grain of sand - but walkin around?

[PurePerfection]

ok

[mistermikev]

I know that didn't come out like a question but I am asking.

[PurePerfection]

yes and no..

[mistermikev]

hmm that didn't come out like an answer. looking on rkmag article I see the sphaeromatid but they are literally the so small i don't see much detail... perhaps I will get a magnifying glass tonight.

[PurePerfection]

some of what you are disribing may be mysid shrimp and yes most of the stuff on the glass are Amphipods and Copepods...

[Ixthys]

The appearance you're describing sounds like a Calanoid Copepod, though they are extremely hard to see without a microscope. My guess is it is an amphipod, just for the fact that you can see it.

In general, if you can easily see it swimming in your tank and it is "c" shaped, it's an amphipod.

[mistermikev]

got a magnifyin' glass last night. noticed the sm guys on some live rock. I have never seen ones that big b4. they are tiny, but the ones i am used to seeing are the c shaped ones (1/4 inch long) and the ones that are the size of a large grain of sand... perhaps I'm doing something right to end up with bigger amphipods/copapods?

[Ixthys]

Well, you can pat yourself on your back for not killing them, but most tanks will develop them on their own if there are no/minimal predators!

[mistermikev]

hmm, I have a hoevens wrasse, 6 chromis, a firefish, a lawnmower, a watchman, a pistol shrimp, a fire shrimp, two pepermints, two sexy anemonie shrimp, a clown, two sponge crabs and a hippo tang... that's a whole lot of POTENTIAL copapod eaters. Not to mention my tank has been set up for all of a month(was established b4 though). All things considered I am amazed to see copepods that big in this new of a tank! My old 46 never got ones bigger than a grain of sand. Perhaps the sectioned off plexi refuge area I have is working. who knows. Glad to have em though.