hmm what is this in my tank?

[mattbeau]

well I thought it was a stem

them it moved

then I saw legs

Then I moved him because I didnt know what it was.

hes in the snail tank now and seems to have aa liking for snail eggs



heres a few pics, but hes pretty hard to get a good shot of.

any idea of what it is?

 

[mattbeau]

and a closer picture after I pulled him out and put him in a bowl

 

[phoenixfire]

i believe it to be some type of freshwater bug i saw something very similar to that once and i was told it was a bug...its a little different...could u describe it more...how does it move where is its mouth etc. hopefully i will not be the only one helping you because im not sure...i would not however place it back in your tank because it could pray on fish

 

[mattbeau]

Oh believe me it wont be going into the community.
I have alerady had enough issues

the snail tank I dont see much of a problem with as its taking a little longer to get the snails spawning like mad

as for the bug...

if you look at the left side of the picture you can see its legs, if he is disturnbed he just lays dead like a twig, once comfortable again yhe crawls about on the grown

he for the most part doesnt move around very much

 

[BigC]

A calculated guess would be that it is some sort of fly larvae. of which there are 100's (ie: dragonflies, damselflies, mayflies and alderflies) all lay their eggs in water and when they hatch they spend their first part of their life sub-aqua. Feeding on any thing they can get hold of including fish fry. Then at a certain point in their development they crawl up plant stalks and out of the water where they pupuate and eventually emerge into fully developed flies looking for mates to start the cycle all over again.
To be safe you were right to remove it from your tank.
Regards
BigC

 

[kimbowee]

I think it is a Water Scorpion. My daughter was bitten by one of these last year so be careful. We were out by the creek last summer & she thought it was a walking stick. It left quite a welt.

Here are a couple of links I found.

http/bugguide.net/node/view/109


http/www.kentuckyawake.org/templates/pla...nstanceID=15255

Forgot to mention they are carnivorous and will eat small fish & fry.

 

[phoenixfire]

to me it doesnt look like a water scorpion..wheres the head? and all the other body parts...i think it is def a larvae of a water bug...u should keep it and see what it turns out to be! did u get any recent plants for that tank? is there a pond near by?

 

[black angel]

It could be a cadis fly larvae. They build their homes around them from anything they find in the substrate.

 

[mattbeau]

thanks for the link kimbowee those are pretty neat but he doeant go near the surface so

I think I'm going to have to agree with black angel, it looks like a a piece of stem
so maybe he made a csae with the plants

I think he got tossed in with the ghost shrimp and just didnt notice it

neat link