Giant Copepod?

Harrycalihan · Feb 13, 2020

He's quite large for a Copepod

JustO · Feb 13, 2020

Looks like an amphipod to me

old salt reefer · Feb 13, 2020

JustO said:
Looks like an amphipod to me

It looks like one because he is one a AMPHIPOD( I know you know that JustO). It has never been and never will be a Copepod.

Scwahl44 · Feb 13, 2020

Appears to be an amphipod to me , they are a great addition to clean up crew and awesome to have in your tank

RayDRoot · Feb 13, 2020

Giant copepod. lol

old salt reefer · Feb 13, 2020

Scwahl44 said:
Appears to be an amphipod to me , they are a great addition to clean up crew and awesome to have in your tank

Until they get to great in numbers and eat your zoas and LPS corals. Then again if you get something that eats them(think wrasse,dottyback,etc.) and keeps them in check they are a great addition to your clean up crew.

Softhammer · Feb 13, 2020

Amphipods do not eat corals.

LarLarsLair · Feb 13, 2020

I'm no expert but I thought there are indeed some that will...? I know my population of pods got way outa control and my frags started to suffer. But not positive they were munching on them or just bothering them by crawling all over an stuff. Im pretty sure I saw a video on one of these forums that a guy took of the pods munching on the coral...?

Harrycalihan · Feb 13, 2020

Thanks for the replies y'all
I'm surprised he's survived to get that big. We have two decent sized Mandarins in there

ThePurple12 · Feb 13, 2020

Softhammer said:
Amphipods do not eat corals.

I've heard of it happening when the population becomes big. Maybe they do it because there's not enough food for so many amphipods.

old salt reefer · Feb 13, 2020

Softhammer said:
Amphipods do not eat corals.

There are videos on Youtube of them doing it--VIDEOS of them DOING IT. It has happened to me. Just because it hasn't happened to you DOES NOT mean IT DOESN"T happen.

old salt reefer · Feb 13, 2020

ThePurple12 said:
I've heard of it happening when the population becomes big. Maybe they do it because there's not enough food for so many amphipods.

You are wrong, Softhammer says so.

Softhammer · Feb 13, 2020

You make have heard or broken your thumbs YouTubin. I and many others have very real tangible experience. It is totally false. If you perceive it to be feeding, your coral is dying And amphipods are feeding at the margins. They do crawl on corals at night, and guess what, they tend to get eaten by the corals. Mostly detrIvores or scavengers.. a few out of the 1900 species may be predatory such and the half pounders in Lake Baikal. Yes a real place and freshwater lake in Siberia. Anecdotal stories don’t prove science. People like you post these things up to which you reference. Until you can provide actual scientific references Keep your unfounded stories to yourself.

ThePurple12 · Feb 13, 2020

That says nothing about whether or not they eat corals. Just because it hasn’t happened to you doesn’t mean it can’t happen...

xxkenny90xx · Feb 13, 2020

Amphipods eating coral? I'm skeptical of that claim but there may still be one or two facts out there I don't know yet. Maybe make a new thread discussing that guys?

vetteguy53081 · Feb 13, 2020

Amphipods .
No need for debate/argument. Not a good way to show a new member how we answer questions.
IT'S N O T HOW WE DO IT NEW MEMBER

WVNed · Feb 13, 2020

If they ate coral all the coral in your tank would be gone in 3 days.

lilgrounchuck · Feb 13, 2020

Amphipod. Fish love em. Mine snag em as soon as they pop out of the rocks, the usually catch them right after lights out and right before they come on. Shine a flashlight on your rocks about two hours after lights out and you’ll see them crawling around.

Daniel@R2R · Feb 13, 2020

Hey guys, I just want to take a moment to remind everyone that one of the things that makes R2R great is our friendly atmosphere. Let's do our best to be respectful of one another even when disagreeing.

We're all here for the love of the hobby!