What happens if you release a bunch of brine shrimp babies and nobody eats them?

[Jan]

I did that about a month ago, released my harvest of newly hatched napauli brine shrimp (Great Salt Lake variety) in my tank. The fish didn't seem to eat them and I figured they were too small to see. I assumed the corals would eat them all. Well now I'm wondering about that, because of what I see at night when I look in the tank. At first I thought they were amphipods because of the segmented bodies and their large size. But do amphipods have tails and eyes that glow in the reflection of the flashlight? I have bunches and bunches of little orange guys in my tank with tails and glowing eyes. They crawl all over the rocks at night. Could these be brine shrimp that nobody ate? In my tank I have a Foxface, Sailfin tang, 2 firefish, and a clownfish, 1 cleaner shrimp and a peppermint shrimp.

What if they are brine shrimp and they keep growing bigger and bigger...??

 

[trido]

In the long run their population should level out. If you really want to put a dent in your pod population, or brine shrimp population, you could get a mandarin or wrasse. My four line has a huge belly at all times.

 

[NaH2O]

Jan - I wonder if they are still another type of pod and not brine shrimp. They could also be a type of mysid shrimp. There is a video of the mysids running movement at the end. I have alot of these in my sump I like to watch: Aquarium Possums - Mysids in the Aquarium

If not, check out this article and see if it helps with your identification: You Can't Tell Your "Pod" Without a Program

Amphipods

 

[Jan]

Oh yeah, Nikki, I think you hit the nail on the head. The mysis look exactly like what I've got. Hmmmm

 

[JoshF]

And... mysis are a decent thing to have around. Another detrivore, food for fish, release gametes and larvae that feed corals, etc. Good stuff!

Josh