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Help ID crustacean(?)


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#1 NotCousteau

NotCousteau
  • NANFA Guest
  • Minnesota

Posted 03 May 2016 - 09:58 AM

Hey All,

There are tons of these tiny, oval off-white/beige creatures swimming around in an old container pond. Do you know what they are?

I was hoping they'd be safe to feed to my fish. Sorry for the blurry picture.

Thanks!

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#2 CowBoYReX

CowBoYReX
  • NANFA Guest
  • Trenton, FL

Posted 03 May 2016 - 10:06 AM

Seed shrimp, they are safe

#3 NotCousteau

NotCousteau
  • NANFA Guest
  • Minnesota

Posted 03 May 2016 - 11:20 AM

Seed shrimp, they are safe


Awesome! Thanks!

#4 gerald

gerald
  • Global Moderator
  • Wake Forest, North Carolina

Posted 03 May 2016 - 11:21 AM

Yup, aka ostracods.  Safe, but not all fish can crush and eat them; shells are too hard for some fish.


Gerald Pottern
-----------------------
Hangin' on the Neuse
"Taxonomy is the diaper used to organize the mess of evolution into discrete packages" - M.Sandel


#5 NotCousteau

NotCousteau
  • NANFA Guest
  • Minnesota

Posted 03 May 2016 - 05:16 PM

Yup, aka ostracods.  Safe, but not all fish can crush and eat them; shells are too hard for some fish.


Thanks! Good to know. I'll test out a few first.

#6 gzeiger

gzeiger
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Posted 05 May 2016 - 07:57 PM

If you can spare the space they are every bit as interesting as fish to keep.



#7 NotCousteau

NotCousteau
  • NANFA Guest
  • Minnesota

Posted 05 May 2016 - 08:16 PM

If you can spare the space they are every bit as interesting as fish to keep.


That's an interesting idea. Do they need aeration or filtration?

Could I keep them in a large, unfiltered, unareated vase I have that houses some spare plants?

#8 littlen

littlen
  • NANFA Member
  • Washington, D.C.

Posted 06 May 2016 - 05:39 AM

I have a 10gal tank with several breeding Red-spotted newts.  Those little things (now I know are called Seed shrimp) are everywhere in the tank.  There is nothing more than the newts, pea gravel, and coontail in the tank which is only 1/2 full of water.  


Nick L.

#9 gzeiger

gzeiger
  • NANFA Guest

Posted 06 May 2016 - 06:04 PM

Filtration is probably a negative since they are detritus feeders. Whether you need aeration depends on the surface to volume ratio and amount of decaying organics (ie whether they actually need air). A vase will probably work.

 

These are vernal pool organisms, and like Daphnia they will respond to an increase in dissolved solids in their water by laying resting eggs and then dying (this is their environmental cue that their pool is drying up).



#10 NotCousteau

NotCousteau
  • NANFA Guest
  • Minnesota

Posted 06 May 2016 - 07:26 PM

Thanks for the input, all!




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