do mysis shrimp eat copepods?

[Sk8r]

I just had a bloom of mysis in my fuge---can't figure how they got there, unless the frozen mysis incuded viable eggs which got down to the fuge.

I know copepods have a habit of vanishing when they sense danger---but are they also vanishing down mysis gullets? Not that mysis themselves won't fill the bill for the fish, but more fish eat mysis than eat pods, so I have a small concern of increased pressure on the fuge.

I also (just an aside) have a black/dk gray and fast silverfish-like creature that's hanging with (or eating) mysis. Scurries along the sand and is flexible like a silverfish. If I photographed it, you'd only get a black dash against the sand. id, anyone?

 

[snorvich]

I wish I knew the answer to this sk8r. I do know that I have two refugia that are full of both. But, as you know, that does not really answer the question.

 

[Sk8r]

Both of us still want to know.

Any guesses?

I've started dropping a few food pellets down there in hopes they'll nosh on those and leave the copepods alone.

 

[rivoth]

A couple of links:

Reefkeeping article on Mysids

Advanced Aquarist aticle

Bottom line is that they are omnivores and are likely to feed on copepods.

Frank

 

[Sk8r]

Thanks, Rivoth. I'm pretty sure it sounds ominous for the copepods, but I also have a pretty huge cheato ball, so maybe they're breeding in the depths.

 

[bubbly]

I have a pretty good answer for you from direct observation -- "yes".

I was moving some mysis shrimp from my small 6 gallon to seed my large 55. I had also gotten some of the large red copepods that come live in the bottle. (The "tigger pods" you can get at the lfs sometimes).

I had some "tigger pods" acclimating in the same water as the mysis shrimp (tupperware type container that held a few cups of water), and soon enough I saw that the tigger pods were disappearing, and the mysis were swimming around with red dots inside them.