COPEPODS

Gotta love the pods on the glass

Got to love that so far its the only photo that should be in the competition lol.

There are thousands of species of copepod. I agree that amphipods don't fit, but it seems you think there is only one type of copepod in our tanks.

DHaut, if you are referring to me, then yes both amphipods and isopods are not copepods. There are many species of copepod we see in our tanks, but most have this basic body shape and are very small in size(single long tail may be absent). it looks like harpacticoids have the most variety in shape .

Agreed. So you still think my photo contains an isopod?

I think there may be one deciding factor of the animal in your pic. If your pod has those longer, retractable grasping appendages up front (a pair of them, sort of like claws, the isopods fight with them if you've ever seen them interact) THEN it is most likely an isopod.

However it's tough to see the front legs in the photo (there is a slight hint of them, but that could be something else).

There are harpacticoid copepods that look like your pod in the pic (their side-view is very similar), but its very hard to tell what your pod is, exactly. Its small so it can be either. it looks tailless but again some copepods have tiny and sometimes forked tails that are unnoticeable w/o a scope.

If its an isopod then its likely related to these guys:

http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/tiere/3803_Isopoda_sp..htm

Your photo contains either an isopod or some variety of larger copepod.

I think your pod is much closer to the topic than all the amphipods we see here.

Again, I'd have to say yours is an amazing pic! You even have a story for it!

Good info. The others I've seen in my tank look more like that harpacticoid copes than the iso you linked to. But I've had those iso's in the past as well (they remind me of these guys: http://housecentipede.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/House-Centipede-Scutigera.jpg ). The ones in my tank like the one in my photo are almost never on the glass. I usually see them on the rocks. They do have very slender tails (you can barely see it in the pic). Still, tough to tell without a better picture.