Could i have Copepods and not know it?

I'm sitting here watching my clowns, and they are finally exploring the tank. And they are poking at rocks and eating off the sand. Could they be eating uneatin food from feeding a few hours ago? I don't think clowns are known to poke at rocks. But i don't see any copepods so could it be possible and their just eating all of them without me knowing it?

 

yes they normally try to hide as good as possible

 

A easy way to tell, at night when the lights are off, shine a flash light on the glass and on the rocks, you should be able to see them if you have any.

 

ok, i'll try that tonight

 

it's just so weird how all of a sudden these clowns are poking at stuff. I have never seen them poking at the sand or rocks, and they are finally checking out the one cave i have in the tank. I don't know if their just finally relaxed and feeling at home after two weeks, but they usually do not do this. lol it's nice to finally have some active fish

 

They're really small so not surprised you haven't seen them yet.

http://www.bigelow.org/foodweb/copepod.jpg

 

yea haven't seen them, i've been looking for them all these 10 weeks have yet to see any. Just thought it was strange to see clowns poking at the rock and sand

 

wait a couple hours after lights out. Then point a flashlight at the tank for about 15 minutes or so. And then go back and look.



Another trick is to cover a flashlight with red/pink saran wrap and use that to explore the tank. The red light generally doesn't cause the critters to scurry away.

 

ok, last night i tried the flashlight *normal white light flashlight* about an hour after lights out, i looked in the area that the fish were picking at and i couldn't find any. Maybe tonight i'll try to find something red to put over the flashlight to see if i can find any.

 

I know this post is extremely old but I still wanted to add my 2 cents.

I'd say that pretty much any marine system with any kind of live rock or live sand is going to have pods in it. They might be tiny and they might be extremely well hidden. Whenever they get big enough to actually go exploring and be seen by you is about the time they get eaten. So it makes sense that you'd never see any. In my display I hardly ever see a pod but when I look in the sump my macro algea is completely covered.