Free swimming pods

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MacDracor

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
May 1, 2011
Messages
1,348
Location
Tacoma, WA
As a measure of just how boring the off season is for me (I'm a landscaper), lately I have been counting pods in my refugium at night to see how fast the population expands.
Each time, I'd think I saw a free swimming little one with a slight reddish tint, shaped like a mosquito larvae. Always gone too quick to be sure.
Tonight however, imagine my surprise to see entire swarms of them, both in the fuge and the DT! Hundreds of these guys darting about the water column!
Does anyone know of a good site that has pictures of the various species of copepods?
I can visually confirm at least three types of copepods, two types of amphipods, and mysid shrimp in my tank. And I'm just a big enough geek to want to know what species they are.
 
We landscapers really do get bored in the off season lol. I noticed the same swarm in my sump and display, next day they were all gone
 
I seem to have no shortage of zooplankton, both benthic and pelagic. To give an idea of the pod growth, starting about a week ago, I counted 50 in the fuge, 100 in the DT. Next night 70, 135. Then 80, 160. Then 100, 200. About that time I stopped counting in the DT. Flashlight was weirding out the foxface anyway.
So then just the fuge, the numbers climbed daily until last night I think I counted about 250, not including the free swimming ones. I'm obsessing over the pods largely because I want a mandarin. I'll try to train him to frozen, but I want a STRONG pod population in case I can't.
 
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