Amphipods? Brine shrimp? Rotifers?

Palting

New member
I decided to see if I could take photos of one of the type of critters that are crawling all over my refugium. They move around, they are tiny, so tough to catch them in focus in macro. This is the best I could do. They are visible, so they are not copepods. What are they, anyone know?

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So that's what amphipods look like! They are all over the refugium. Will mandarins eat them?
 
So that's what amphipods look like! They are all over the refugium. Will mandarins eat them?

That is indeed what they look like. The adult amphipods are definitely too large for mandarins to consume but baby ones would probably be fair game.
 
I think these things are so cool. My frag tank and RDSB are crawling with amphipods, copepods, who-knows-a-pods, and small mysis shrimp.
 
I think these things are so cool. My frag tank and RDSB are crawling with amphipods, copepods, who-knows-a-pods, and small mysis shrimp.

LOL! I was actually on my belly on the floor, staring at this dirty, ugly, dedicated refugium inside the stand, that was full of macro algae as well as pest algae, just staring at those little critters running around and going in and out of little crevices and holes, wondering if those smaller almost microscopic specks floating in the water are pods or micro bubbles.............then I got a neck ache before I realized a full hour had gone by. :rollface:
 
I like to watch them too. My best "showings" seem to be when I kill the pumps for 20 minutes to feed (I do smaller feelings twice, and a big one without flow after work). Idk if they smell the food, or it's just easier to tell the smaller ones from other floaties in the water when it's still, but I woulda never thought there was so much going on.

Barnacles are my favorite, they show up once in a while but they don't ever stick around long.

Also, all different critters at night. Red light bulbs are cheap and show a whole nother world in the tank. I heard you can use your phone to shine a red light but haven't tried it.
 
I have a couple of jeweller's loups and can spend hours looking at the critters on my fuge and DT walls. Even the corals can look different under magnification.
 
This all sounds like the punch line to a bad joke: 'So, what did you do Saturday night?' :lol:
 
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