Calanoid Copepod Images / Pictures - ID + Culture IDEAS?

[mwp]

I think I've made mention of these guys in my mandarin thread, but for those who've forgotten or not read it let me briefly recap.

A few weeks/months ago I noticed during one of my many nocturnal vigils that I had some free swimming copepods in my mandarin broodstock aquarium. During the day they were actually out and about, swimming as usual, albeit tucked back in the stagnant pockets behind the rockwork. I've tried to collect them in the past without success.

Tonight I had anticipated a mandarin spawn, so around 11:00 PM I turned off the pumps. The tank lights were off, and a bit unusual, even the MOONLIGHTS were off this evening. Basically the tank and surroundings were SILENT, no movement, very minimal abient light only.

I checked back at the tank around midnight and did not find a spawn, but I did find HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of tiny "things" swimming in the water column. My heart raced...were these the copepoeds?

I got together a 3 gallon bucket along with my 120 micron and 53 micron seives. I turned on the room light only (a rather dim compact flourescent replacemnet) and siphoned tank water from the surface region through the 120 and 53 micron seives and into the bucket. After about 1.5 gallons I stopped and examined my seives...the 120 was definitely loaded with these little organisms.

I rinsed them into a holding container and managed to get 1 of them under the QX5 microscope; I placed the sample water in the freezer for a couple minutes to cool it down (and thus slow down these otherwise really fast zooplanktons). What follows are several pics of the one I managed to isolate from the larger sample shot at at 10X, 60X and 200X magnification:

First, I assume I have the general grouping right since these were ALL free swimming in my tank...likely not any of the benthic groups even though I DO regularly add in some "Tiggerpods".

So, anyone have a guess on something as basic as a GENUS? Any thoughts on ways to culture them? Any thoughts on their usefulness (copepod nauplii + baby mandarins is likely a sure fire recipe!)

Now I know how to collect them from my main tank, so now it's time to figure out how to culture them AND whether they're even useful!

Matt

 

[Kathy55g]

Those look like copepods to me! From all those links you and others have posted, you should probably feed them Isochrysis, but since you have a rich supply of other phytos, you can test the hypothesis.

Great find, Matt!

 

[Luis A M]

Awesome Matt, I can´t believe you take such good pics with a toy microscope!:eek1: Imagine what you could do with a real scope!
No doubt these are copepods,but I can´t tell much more.You should post the pics in Randy´s copepod forum,which is checked by copepodologysts.And arrange to mail a small vial with some preserved ones for a precise ID.
However with the story and the pics we can shoot some guesses.
Let´s let aside cyclopoids hard to find in SW,so harpacticoids or calanoids are the options.
Harps are benthic,and photo.negative.They hide in dark places and run the tank at night.Nauplii ,also benthic,look like "mini roaches".They come with live rock and such and are present in most tanks.When they swim in the water column,they go fast and straight.
Calan.are pelagic and photo.positive.They keep hopping in the open,like Daphnia.Nauplii look,well,like nauplii ,as you´ll see in any book pic of a nauplius.It is very unlikely that they show in one´s tank just like that.
That said,I bet for harps.In the pics I see four thoracic segments as harps (and cyclop.)show.Calan.have five segments before the "tail".
And yet,harps have short antennae,(antennules,really) of less than 10 segments.And your pods have long antennae,set at a right angle,and with more than 20 segments.Cyclop.have 6 to 17.Calan.up to 27.
So it seems you found something strange! Tell me,when put in a small vial,do they row with the antennae or crawl on the bottom?.
There were no nauplii in the 53 mic.sieve?.
Try to culture them in a gallon jar,with some faint bubbling and 100 ml of phyto every day.(not NAN).No lights.
Keep us posted about the outcome of this enigma!

 

[mwp]

Luis, some comments back with additional info:

1. These copes may very well be negatively phototrophic...i.e. if I place a light over their temporary home they seem to shun it.

2. The little copes are ballistically fast...I did take a vid of the one pictured above swimming at 10X...there's no way I could tell you "how" it's swimming. They do keep moving and do not appear to rest on the sides or bottom at any point in the temporarly home.

3. Regarding their movement, IF the ones I collected are the same species of copepod I've observed during the daytime, they actually have 2 swimming habits. During the daylight hours, these little copes seen behind the live rock seem to glide back and forth on a horizontal plane. At night, when I collected them, they were all jumpy and jittery, much like Daphnia would appear to swim.

I'm going to get these into a 2L with freshly mixed water this evening and will try to feed T-Iso for starters.

FWIW,

Matt

 

[mwp]

You should post the pics in Randy´s copepod forum,which is checked by copepodologysts.And arrange to mail a small vial with some preserved ones for a precise ID

Do you have a URL for this forum?

Matt

 

[ediaz]

see Kathy!

http://www.ricksaphire.com/Photos/plankton.jpg

mine are very prolific, when it happens, on nano.

Ed

 

[Kathy55g]

He he!

 

[FMarini]

matt-
hes talkin about randy reeds forum.
You also might consider contacting adelaide rhodes shes pretty well versed in copepods and got her Ph.D in copepods, so I guess that makes her a copepodologist.
www.essentiallylivefeeds.com

 

[Dman]

Edgar,
Very funny, I had a problem with them back in the early days, but found if I dosed the tank with morphine they pretty much died (OD'd?)

Frank,
The link, she no work!

 

[mwp]

maybe www.essentiallivefeeds.com ?

I got their culture set up this evening...hopefully they'll "take off"...all made it through the day without any aeration just fine.

Matt

 

[SueQ]

It's kinda hard to tell, but they kinda look like the copepedid (sp?) stage for calanoids.

 

[mwp]

FWIW Sue I *think* that was one of the largest ones I managed to collect...in other words I *think* it's adult. There are smaller ones in what I collected as well; these little buggers are just REALLY REALLY hard to collect with a pipette...they're just that fast (which could be a PROBLEM )

Matt

 

[mwp]

I'm posting up a couple shots of the "Tiggerpod" for comparison...the calanoids in culture are most definitely NOT mistakenly tiggerpods, at least that's my take on it at this point...all are still freeswimming and behaving as they did when initially observed in my tank. I'm really excited about these simply because I was able to harvest at least 100 adults from the main tank by simply siphoning out a little water...if a pelagic copepod can reproduce to that level in an extremely hazardous environment, I can only guess how they'll do when all the dangers are removed.

HERE ARE TIGGERPODS for comparison:

Matt

 

[Luis A M]

See the antennae are short,with few segments here.Your pods are unususal,look like harps with calanoid antennae!:lol:
Try to culture them and find nauplii as per my directions above.
Take a slide with one under an optical scope and count body and antennae segments.And by all means,keep some in alcohol for future ID work.

 

[mwp]

So far there's no real change in the Calanoid culture...the T-Iso seems to have grown a bit more (aka the water looks more brown than when I started the culture a couple days ago). Copepod population looks about the same.

On another note, several months (maybe even a year) back I posted a thread about my rotifer/copepod co culture. Well, I finally got to take a look at this MINI Copepods under the QX5, they are harps and they are SMALL and we know they are mature because they're mating ! Here's a couple glimpses...the Rotifers in the first picture are L-Strain.

FWIW,

Matt

 

[Fredfish]

Matt. During the day they swim in a horizontal pattern?

I have a copepod species in my refugium that I have named buzzy pods because the movement reminds me of the way some flies buzz about.

I just looked at mine and the move in all directions during the day. They swim about 5-10mm in one direction and then abruptly change direction. Up, down, sideways; direction is random.

I have no idea what mine feed on as I have not dosed phyto for at least 6 months and they still thrive. I do know they make a good first food for seahorses. I currently have one 3+ month old juvenile horse in my refugium (which I have never fed) that is currently decimating the amphipod population.

I spoke to Adelaide about these almost a year ago. She said that someone else had sent her a sample of these, but she was unable to identify them.

Edit: Mine stay within 2-3" of the bottom of the tank and in protected areas.
Fred

 

[mwp]

Fred, yes, mine do tend to swim horizontally during the day - the movement you describe is exactly how the calanoid species swims.


Matt

 

[Fredfish]

Thanks Matt. Sounds like we have different species.

Good luck with your culture efforts.

Fred

 

[mwp]

I just wanted to hop back onto this thread and note that so far I've been unsuccessful in getting any "blooms" of the calanoid species I isolated from my mandarin tank. They seem to be "stable" but in such low quantities that their use as a food would be limited. It may take some further tinkering.

FWIW,

Matt

 

[FMarini]

matt-
did you forward this thread to adelaide? After talking w/ her this weekend at MACNA- man she know her stuff. I'd guess she could ID this for you. just tell her I sent you.