Tiny critters on glass- newish tank

[yourmom]

These are itty bitty and I have a big cluster of them on the front of my 3 month old tank. They appear to be very slowly crawling and showed up overnight. Are they crawly copepods or something more menacing?

 

[Sam816]

look like pods. observe them. are they moving?
google pics of copepods. see if u have similar pods

 

[LegendaryCG]

These are itty bitty and I have a big cluster of them on the front of my 3 month old tank. They appear to be very slowly crawling and showed up overnight. Are they crawly copepods or something more menacing?

pods - they are good and a sign the tank is maturing

 

[yourmom]

look like pods. observe them. are they moving?
google pics of copepods. see if u have similar pods

I think they might be pods, it’s hard to say because they are sooooo small. They do move, but very slowly. Do they show up in a cluster overnight like that?

 

[yourmom]

pods - they are good and a sign the tank is maturing

I hope you’re right!

 

[LegendaryCG]

Theres probably some algae on the glass they are eating, even if you cant see it.

 

[Sam816]

they can come in with coral frags, live rock & sand. its a good thing. they eat detritus. grow enough pods n you can get a mandarin..

 

[yourmom]

they can come in with coral frags, live rock & sand. its a good thing. they eat detritus. grow enough pods n you can get a mandarin..

[crosses fingers]

 

[Sam816]

feed some zooplankton( live is better) every 2-3 days and some chaeto(with light) in sump will be good home for these pods. i got my tank flooded with these pods in 3 weeks like this. my mandarin is in QT right now

 

[king aiptasia]

might be some tiny grazing worms also, a lot of little flatworms and others like the biofilms that form

 

[Ennvi]

These are itty bitty and I have a big cluster of them on the front of my 3 month old tank. They appear to be very slowly crawling and showed up overnight. Are they crawly copepods or something more menacing?

pods, good news! fish love em lol, free snacks

 

[yourmom]

feed some zooplankton( live is better) every 2-3 days and some chaeto(with light) in sump will be good home for these pods. i got my tank flooded with these pods in 3 weeks like this. my mandarin is in QT right now

I don’t have a sump, it’s an AIO set up. Do I really need to feed them something or are you suggesting that if I want to build the population?

 

[Ennvi]

feed some zooplankton( live is better) every 2-3 days and some chaeto(with light) in sump will be good home for these pods. i got my tank flooded with these pods in 3 weeks like this. my mandarin is in QT right now

oh man i want a mandarin so bad but they make me so nervous!! all i ever see is how difficult they are!

 

[Sam816]

not really. their population depend on availability of food. dosing planktons increase the population for the mandarins. mandarins eat a lot of pods so u need a large population.

 

[Sam816]

oh man i want a mandarin so bad but they make me so nervous!! all i ever see is how difficult they are!

they are a difficult fish in a smaller tank as they can eat a lot of pods in a short time. if u have a smaller tank then buy a captive-bred one. they can be trained to feed on brine shrimp n blood worms.
they are the easiest fish in a big established tank. it finds food by itself if u forget to feed the tank.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Isopods are very common and free food for fish and coral. Adding Phytoplankton is one way to offer them a food source