Some Uninvited Tank Inhabitants.

[oliesminis]

amazing pictures. i never get anything like that in my tank. how big would you say they are?

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Very cool!

I believe I have some of those copepods in my tank...

 

[Gill]

Amazing Shots Liam.

 

[iSnail]

Truly amazing pictures of those weird and wonderful creatures Liam
I would have a tough job just to spot them in the tank with naked eye nevermind taking pictures

The worms (nematodes) always creep me out Are the hydrae in your shrimp tanks ?? Hope they are not harming your shrimps.

You should list your camera specs in your signature since you get asked every time

 

[Shrimper]

Are the hydrae in your shrimp tanks ?? Hope they are not harming your shrimps.

The ones in my shrimp tank don't seem to be, i don't let them get very big though before they get scraped off the glass. Based on their size the biggest one i've seen (its body was about 5mm long and the hairs/tentacles about 1/2mm) they would probably only bother a newly born shrimplet.

There aren't that many in there though, i've probably spotted 5/6 in the last month and only 1 was that big.

 

[Liam]

Thanks all, the bugs are more popular than I expected, I wasn’t even going to post them, so I am glad I did.

I have a Canon D400 with a 60mm lens, an off camera flash and for most of these pics I used an extension tube which allows the camera to focus closer to the subject. I just change f-stops depending on where in the tank the bug is. Manual setting and manual focus as autofocus doesn’t work with the extension tube, I have photoshop elements and used that for some pics. (the exif for the first pic is f9, speed 1/200, iso 100) The daphnia were quite big compared to the Cyclops but they hop a lot so quite hard to photograph plus the fish were eating them fast. The copepods are much smaller than the ones in my pond, can only see them by looking very close to the glass.

I put newborn endler fry in for a few days to feast for a bit in the shrimp tank, they love the nematodes, which I don’t like much either iSnail.

I don’t think hydra can catch shrimplets, some sites say they can but I have seen tiny shrimplets jump away from them as soon as they touch them. I do remove big hydra if I can.
I do find the pond life interesting and beautiful in its own alien way.
A couple more not so great one of a Cyclops swimming and one of the back of a daphnia, looks like its wearing a see-through helmet.