Isopod ID help

[rayadog]

Can rolling in a ball be considered a defining chatacteristic? Anyways. Could use some help identifying these unwanted extras.

I bought a cup of amphipods with filter floss and gracilaria in it. Was trying to get them off the floss and algae gingerly when I noticed two wide boyz (shout out iykyk). For once I actually took a good look in the cup and sure enough… amphipods and isopods. I love when things are advertised right

Anyways, here’s 1 of the videos I took and a screen capture within the video.

The do roll up, most of them. The eyes look “not mean and to the side.”

Then I also had this one random crawler that looks different out of the water:



I separated the rest from the amphipods but I know, for sure, two got in my tank. I still saved the rest for now.

 

[tbrown]

@ISpeakForTheSeas

 

[rayadog]

Bump. Somebody has seen these they just haven’t seen this thread.

 

[rayadog]

I can’t well enough tell distinguish between Cirolanid and Sphaeromatids in this case. Maybe if I can get a better zoom or wait for them to die; it’s hard to get a rough focus on them squirming.

If they were beneficial, I’d add the rest. 2 for sure snuck in the tank. So hopefully they are not micro predators/bad and not females with full brood pouches. It’s just more and more interesting that they were in an amphipod cup from the fish store… if they’re just hauling amphipods out of a general shared area… they might likely be equal detritivores? But then I can’t help but think, well certainly a fish store would be a great place for parasites too.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Can rolling in a ball be considered a defining chatacteristic? Anyways. Could use some help identifying these unwanted extras.

I bought a cup of amphipods with filter floss and gracilaria in it. Was trying to get them off the floss and algae gingerly when I noticed two wide boyz (shout out iykyk). For once I actually took a good look in the cup and sure enough… amphipods and isopods. I love when things are advertised right

Anyways, here’s 1 of the videos I took and a screen capture within the video.

The do roll up, most of them. The eyes look “not mean and to the side.”

Then I also had this one random crawler that looks different out of the water:



I separated the rest from the amphipods but I know, for sure, two got in my tank. I still saved the rest for now.

@ISpeakForTheSeas

Sorry, life is a little extra crazy at the moment - rolling in a ball is absolutely a defining characteristic, yes; it's called conglobating and it's a sure sign of Sphaeromatid Isopods (good CUC) in a marine environment:

Haha, yeah that's a male Sphaeromatid isopod - the long "prongs" by the tail (the elongated uropods) are a good way to tell, same with the conglobation (rolling into a ball); the eyes can be a good tell, but some Cirolanids and similar have small eyes as well, so it's not my preferred method of differentiating them. Another way is by looking at the underside of the tail - flat = bad; round (domed/vaulted) = good.

 

[rayadog]

Sorry, life is a little extra crazy at the moment - rolling in a ball is absolutely a defining characteristic, yes; it's called conglobating and it's a sure sign of Sphaeromatid Isopods (good CUC) in a marine environment:

Oh my gosh, no worries! Thank you! You are a great resource but surely can’t be the one and only! I appreciate you though. I was finding old threads, just nothing that I felt was definitively furthering my ID; probably looking at too many and causing me to waver back and forth.

Good luck with everything!

I didn’t hate this read that I think Jay Hemdal shared in another thread https://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/index.php

Authored by Ronald Shimek

 

[tbrown]

Oh my gosh, no worries! Thank you! You are a great resource but surely can’t be the one and only! I appreciate you though. I was finding old threads, just nothing that I felt was definitively furthering my ID; probably looking at too many and causing me to waver back and forth.

Good luck with everything!

I didn’t hate this read that I think Jay Hemdal shared in another thread https://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-05/rs/index.php

Authored by Ronald Shimek