WHAT IS THIS?

[MuddyWaters]

Hi all, I have bamboo shrimp, a couple of cherry shrimp and a couple of Mexican dwarf crawdaddies. What is this little guy?

 

[Ch4rlie]

That’s a damselfly nymph.

A predatory nymph that will become a dragonfly when becomes adult.

It will basically predate on your small fish and shrimps unfortunately.

Would recommend taking this out and disposing of.

Easiest method is to use a syphon hose, fill with water as usual, thumb over the end of hose and other end of hose to hover just above the nymph then take thumb off end of hose and suck up the nymph into syphon hose and into the bucket.

That’s what I did when had nymphs in my tank years ago.

You can try using a net but not that easy as they are deceptively quick swimmers.

Nasty but very fascinating critters.

 

[MuddyWaters]

Oh no! How in the world did it get in here?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Pic of two damselfly nymphs I caught from one of my tanks I had a number of years ago. Hitchhiked via a plant.

The darker and larger nymph is female and the smaller and light nymph is male. They come in variety of colours, usually green, brownish or blueish colours.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Oh no! How in the world did it get in here?

Normally hitchhiked from plant from LFS, especially if LFS has plants stored in containers outside.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Those things are ferocious. If it were bigger, it would be coming after you. Really, really interesting, though, and beautiful if its own way. I recommend putting it in its own mini-tank and feeding it water fleas and such so you can watch it hunt. So fun.

 

[MuddyWaters]

Those things are ferocious. If it were bigger, it would be coming after you. Really, really interesting, though, and beautiful if its own way. I recommend putting it in its own mini-tank and feeding it water fleas and such so you can watch it hunt. So fun.

Wow ok will do. He's small now. Hope I can get him before he does damage

 

[Ch4rlie]

Wow ok will do. He's small now. Hope I can get him before he does damage

Yeah, they stay small for quite a long time actually.

Best way to see them in your tank is they tend to attach themselves to long leafed plants or near plants waiting patiently to ambush anything that swims or move nearby.

Takes practice to see them when scanning the tank, take your time looking, but once you see them it becomes easier.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

A large turkey baster is also a useful tool for such circumstances.

 

[Ch4rlie]

A large turkey baster is also a useful tool for such circumstances.

Not sure that would work, might do, never tried it.

When I use the syphon hose method, they would sometimes try to swim away but the suction of water going into syphon hose was too strong for them to escape.

So a baster might be too weak and the nozzle end of a baster is not that large so the nymph may not actually fit.

Worth a try but the hose is my number one choice tbh.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Not sure that would work, might do, never tried it.

When I use the syphon hose method, they would sometimes try to swim away but the suction of water going into syphon hose was too strong for them to escape.

So a baster might be too weak and the nozzle end of a baster is not that large so the nymph may not actually fit.

Worth a try but the hose is my number one choice tbh.

Perhaps it depends on the turkey baster in question?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Perhaps it depends on the turkey baster in question?

View attachment 144954

Yep, that’s pretty much the same as I have had in past, notice the nozzle at the end, tapers to a narrow point, a nymph may not fit through that narrow point is what I mean and thus would escape.

Like I said, worth a try and not a bad idea really truth be told but if I want to be sure to catch it rather than let it escape and it may take another couple of days to spot it again, then in that case a syphon hose method is best imho.

 

[Myraan]

should these be on the "fish" suitable for 3 gallons lol

 

[MuddyWaters]

Ok this is crazy, but I just saw the nymph in my green fire tetra's mouth. I scrambled to get a pic and it was gone. He either ate it, or it got away. Man, I hope he ate it. The tetra is small (slightly bigger than my neons), but the nymph is really small. Maybe the fish solved it? My first thought was that the verocious nymph had buried himself in the fish's mouth to eat him from the inside...but then ... I think the dang fish just ate it! The green fire tetra's pick at the plants all the time, looking for bits of whatever on them.

Am I crazy?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Respect for the fire tetra!

T