Reference site for identifying and keeping isopods as pets, built on peer-reviewed taxonomy and macro photography to address rampant misidentification in the hobby.
Key Takeaways
Isopods are relatively understudied invertebrates; the hobby suffers widespread misidentification that scientific-literature-based ID aims to fix.
Macro photography rig: Olympus E-M10 Mark 4, Laowa 50mm 2:1 macro lens, single flash with DIY diffuser.
All photos are copyright-protected with automated detection agents scanning social media and websites before legal action.
Selective breeding for morphs is covered: isolate unique-trait individuals from the colony to establish and reinforce new lineages.
Isopods are framed as low-maintenance pets with a growing hobbyist community around buying, keeping, and breeding.
Hacker News Comment Review
The top thread debated whether the professional-quality photography is AI-generated; one commenter identified the author as established macro photographer nickybay.com, largely settling the question.
The debate exposed a credibility trap: flawless macro photography now triggers AI suspicion that mediocre work would avoid entirely.
Multiple commenters treated the site as a model for the pre-social-media web – a single-person passion project with no commercial angle, bookmarked as a positive example.
Notable Comments
@jrdres: reports images fail to render at all on both Firefox and Chrome, leaving only empty boxes – a loading issue others may hit.
