Larvae In Leaf Nest On Glass!

Anyone ever seen anything like this? I'm stumped.

To start with I thought it was a piece of leaf that had somehow got attached to the glass, but when I looked closer I saw it's actually a small larvae (looked like a tiny maggot) which was inside the nest of leaves. See the white bit in the middle? That's the larvae, and it was moving. Only 1 of them.

Whatever laid it there even put it in the flow of water from the filter, and the leaves were stuck to the glass. And whatever laid it is obviously still in my tank but I've not got a clue what it is.

Quite amazing really, but I had to remove it because that kind of thing just screams parasite and I'm not willing to take a chance with it and unfortunately I don't have a hospital tank to keep it in. But whatever laid it must be quite reasonable in size in order to grab the leaves and then also be able to withstand the flow from the filter that's directed onto the glass while holding onto them. I have shrimp in my tank but they tend to spawn don't they and not build nests?

Any ideas?

I don't think that could be a parasite because whatever build the nest has got to be big enough to move/build the nest.

I still wouldn't take any chances though.

It could be the larva of a caddis fly. So the caddis fly made the nest and then deposited the larva inside to grow. I'd have loved to see it making the nest. I guess that means I still have a caddis fly in my tank somewhere. I'll have to keep an eye open for a moving twig!

I recently had a major re-jig of my tank and bought a load of new plants that are shipped from Singapore, so it might have hitched a ride from there. The plants are supposedly treated when they enter the country, so that's obviously not working too well.

BigBadBurrow said:

It could be the larva of a caddis fly. So the caddis fly made the nest and then deposited the larva inside to grow. I'd have loved to see it making the nest. I guess that means I still have a caddis fly in my tank somewhere. I'll have to keep an eye open for a moving twig!

I recently had a major re-jig of my tank and bought a load of new plants that are shipped from Singapore, so it might have hitched a ride from there. The plants are supposedly treated when they enter the country, so that's obviously not working too well.

Click to expand...

I have just purchased plants from IN form this really great website. What country do you live in? If you live in America then I am guessing the shipping would be less money. The plants are really healthy too.

Heres a link to the site if you want to check it out.

Yep its a Caddis

Thanks for the clarification.

This might be a dumb question, but an adult Caddisfly is a moth-type creature, but it lays it larva in water? While it's in the water it starts as a grub (like I've seen), and that then grows bigger where it makes a shell out of bits of rock? So is it always classed as a larva while it's in the water, even when they get quite big and build shells and start walking around?

Can a Caddisfly lay larva while still a larva itself? If not, how on earth did a Caddisfly get into my tank in order to lay its larva underwater?

Answers on a postcard