Strange Cricket-Like Aquatic Insect... Id?

[TaurineLittle]

hey guys, so as usual I spent my 30 minutes looking at my tank today, watching my fish and checking the growth of my plants and I saw something rummage around in my substrate and thought it was a bit odd. So i got my planting tweezers and pull this thing out of the substrate and to my surprise this cricket-looking thing came out...
 
Anyone know what this is? How it got in my tank? And if it is either harmful or beneficial to my fish, plants and/or shrimp?
 

 

 
Thanks for the help in advance

 

 

[Chad]

Here's a great aquatic insect resource I use http/www.harpercollege.edu/ls-hs/bio/dept/guide/gallery/aquatic_insects/thumb.html.
Your bug looks like a Skimmer Dragonfly Nymph. They are carnivores so not something to keep in the tank.

 

[TaurineLittle]

Oh wow, glad I got it out then. No idea how it got in my tank though. Thanks heaps for your response! is there anyway I can stop them from occurring again? as far as I know this is the only one that was in my tank. Also that page says that its a moderate pollution indicator species, does that mean my water quality is bad?

 

[Chad]

No, it doesn't mean water quality is bad. That's an indicator for the wild.
 
They can get into tanks in various ways, no telling for sure but they hitchhike on plants, can come in on wood and rocks, etc. It being in the tank really isn't an indicator of anything bad going on with the tank and usually not something you have to worry about, sort of a 1 off.

 

[TaurineLittle]

Ahh ok cool, Thanks again for your help tcamos appreciate it.

 

[Chad]

You're welcome. Some people keep them around in a separate container by the way and feed them just to see them transform.

 

[TooManyChoices]

I'd have good look through the tank. They're highly predatory and can take quite a while to metamorphose, potentially putting a dent in to your shrimp population. Best to make sure there aren't anymore lurking in there.

 

[Dreamer03]

Im generally fine with insects but that one is creepy....hope you dont find more of those in your tank.

 

[214jay]

I had one of these in my tank a week ago, I had been thinking I had saw something odd in there for a while then found it on a plant and managed to suck it up!  Put it in a barrel and it started shooting its mouth out....Needless to say I did not keep it.  I like insects but this one freaked me out a bit!
 
Mine came in from a set of plants from Pets at home along with 2 stonefly nymphs (similar but green and smaller), some seed shrimp and a ton of snails!! I have learnt since to wash plants better