Unwanted Hitchhikers, The Solution?

[JoshuaA]

Hello there,

I recently started a new tank and have live plants. ( Cycled, just recently stocked. )

Currently in the tank are 4 Bronze Corys, 2 Golden Apple snails and 2 Red Cherry shrimp. Everything was going swimmingly until I was vacuum'ing the tank whilst water changing and placed it just above an anubias. To my surprise I saw a bug fly out and resist the water flow. I tried my best to suck it out the tank but it was just able to resist the flow of water.

Anyway on my hunt to find out what this unwanted pest was I started removing some plants, moss and my log. When all of a sudden I see a damselfly/dragonfly nymph appear out from behind a shrimp, I swiftly caught and squashed it, it had the tell tail 3 piece tail. However I fear there may be more eggs/nymphs in my tank. Without nuking my tank what is the best way of removing them?

What I'm looking for is past experiences and reasonable advise and I absolutely DO NOT want to keep it alive. It is no doubt non native and will be better off dead. Encouraging them to live would be sentencing my shrimp to death.

I don't want any of my fish, shrimp or snails injured in the process. So far my own action is vaccuuming/removing plants and searching hard with my eyes. I have only found one nymph so far though I believe it wouldn't be too far fetched to have some more in there.

In the end if the only way of removing them all is nuking the tank then I may actually have to take that approach to save my shrimp.

Thanks in advance

- Joshua

 

[flix_cw]

What I'm looking for is past experiences and reasonable advise and I absolutely DO NOT want to keep it alive. It is no doubt non native and will be better off dead. Encouraging them to live would be sentencing my shrimp to death.

I found a damselfly nymph in my tank too. I've got cherry shrimp and it didn't pose any threat to them at all. It completed it's larvae stage and turned into a beautiful damselfly. It's a real shame you killed it, they really add a bit of diversity to the tank.

They honestly pose no threat to your adult shrimp. They feed on much smaller prey. Only shrimplets are at risk if you plan on having any, but there's no way it'd even get through all of them. They're incredible to watch and i was lucky enough to witness mine emerging from the water and burst out, it was fascinating. Sadly it was february time and too cold for it to survive outside so it died after a few days. This time of year is perfect to release them.

I only ever found the one, so i should think that might be your lot. As i said before, shame really, but each to their own i guess.

Here's my thread i had on it, complete with pics:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/319568-just-found-a-damselfly-nymph/page__hl__damselfly__fromsearch__1

 

[JoshuaA]

My shrimp are maybe max 1.5cm if not less, I would say the damselfly nymph was over 2cm long possibly up to 3cm. I deem that as a threat to my precious friendly shrimp!

I've read many accounts of them sucking the life out of shrimp and fry and would find it too hard to bear with if something did happen to my shrimp after knowingly leaving it in there.

I sincerely hope there won't be any more, otherwise I'm probably going to have to have my "Fish Addict" label changed to "Mass Nymph Murderer".

 

[flix_cw]

Your call mate!

 

[JoshuaA]

Your call mate!

I called it, pressed R3 and it was all over for the nymph.

So afaik there are no other ways of catching them other than by hand/net. Would subduing them with their favourite food work, on a little piece of string?