In that case, you’ll want to protect your fish by getting rid of the bugs. That can be extremely tiring and stressful for the fish, potentially leading to severe health problems. You might see your fish flashing against objects in the tank or shaking in response to the irritation that the bugs can cause. Often, when dense numbers of these water mites are present in our tank in their free-swimming life stages, they can irritate your fish by crawling on the fishes’ skin. If you don’t have bug-eating creatures living in your aquarium, a population of “pods” can be a nuisance. In fact, many marine species feed on amphipods and copepods as their primary food source, and some hobbyists breed these creatures in a refugium specifically for use as live food for fish for adult fish and homebred fry. Of the thousands of species of “pods” that exist, only a few are parasitic or carnivorous, and those are very rarely encountered in marine or reef aquarium systems. These creatures live on phytoplankton, which are microscopic algae and plants that drift through the water column, microzooplankton, and detritus. There are thousands of species of copepods and amphipods that make up the plankton soup that’s commonly referred to as zooplankton. However, when the water temperature is warmer and there’s plenty of food available, you might see a bloom of these “pods.”Ĭopepods are found in all aquatic ecosystems, including brackish, marine, and freshwater, whereas amphipods occur primarily in saltwater, although there are a few terrestrial and freshwater species, too. Mostly, these harmless residents remain invisible to the naked eye. How Did Amphipods And Copepods Get In My Tank?Īmphipods and copepods usually find their way into your fish tank as hitchhikers in live rock, sand, and aquarium plants, depending on the species of critter you’re dealing with.
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