Another Hitchhiker thread

Tobek28 · Sep 23, 2020

I found this in one of my planted 20L tank with ramshorn snails. No fish, it should be cycled, but I plan to do either shrimp or put my rainbow shiners in there after quarantine. After looking through the hitchhiker thread, is this a dragonfly or damselfly larvae/nymph? It is at most 1 inch, green, with 6 legs. I found it when rotating one of my moss balls. About a week ago I saw a snail shell without a snail and now I wonder if this guy was the culprit.

AdoraBelle Dearheart · Sep 23, 2020

Yes, it is, get it out! And look for others. I think damselfly, but could be wrong. But it's definitely one of them, recognise that predatory face anywhere, and they will eat fry and shrimp.

Ch4rlie · Sep 23, 2020

Definitely a damselfly nymph.

Get rid of it as it will predate on shrimps and small fish.

Ive had them in my tank before, easiest way to catch them is with short syphon hose, get syphon ready full of water, thumb over end where water comes out of hose and position syphon end near damselfly nymph about an inch or two away and suck it up through hose and into bucket. Dispose of as you wish.

Net is hard work to catch them with as plants and decor will get in the way!

HoldenOn · Sep 23, 2020

Vicious little guys.

AdoraBelle Dearheart · Sep 23, 2020

I catch them in my garden pond now and again if I'm doing maintenance on it. I let them go in there, they're a part of that ecosystem, but I'd freak out if I found one in my tank.

Do look for others too, even if you find one. Usually they make their way into tanks as eggs on plants, and the eggs are laid in clusters, so there's a good chance of there being more than one in there. Sorry man. Hope that isn't the case for you!

Ch4rlie · Sep 23, 2020

Here, there was actually 5 of these darned critters in my tank at the time, caught three within an hour or so.

Larger darker one is female and smaller green ones are males if remember right.

Where there is one, then likely there may be more hiding. As @AdoraBelle Dearheart mentioned, they came in via a plant I bought at a Maidenhead aquatics and realised they brought the plant in from an outdoor holding container full of plants!

Lesson definitely learned there!

AdoraBelle Dearheart · Sep 23, 2020

Ch4rlie said:
Here, there was actually 5 of these darned critters in my tank at the time, caught three within an hour or so.

Larger darker one is female and smaller green ones are males if remember right.

Where there is one, then likely there may be more hiding. As @AdoraBelle Dearheart mentioned, they came in via a plant I bought at a Maidenhead aquatics and realised they brought the plant in from an outdoor holding container full of plants!

Lesson definitely learned there!

View attachment 117472

I'm not generally one for shrieking about creepy crawlies (except for house spiders, urgh - hate them!) but since seeing a video of one of these eating a guppy fry, I have an involuntary shudder reaction to seeing them in this photo. The thought of them in one of my tanks.... nope, nuh huh, I'm tearing that thing apart until I'm sure there are none left.

I don't panic seeing them in the garden pond mind, even though there are fish there too, but they're a part of that ecocsystem, so it's different. Glad you caught all of them! What a nightmare. Hope you didn't lose fish or shrimp, although they look a bit large to have just hatched... :unsure:

Ch4rlie · Sep 23, 2020

AdoraBelle Dearheart said:
I'm not generally one for shrieking about creepy crawlies (except for house spiders, urgh - hate them!) but since seeing a video of one of these eating a guppy fry, I have an involuntary shudder reaction to seeing them in this photo. The thought of them in one of my tanks.... nope, nuh huh, I'm tearing that thing apart until I'm sure there are none left.

I don't panic seeing them in the garden pond mind, even though there are fish there too, but they're a part of that ecocsystem, so it's different. Glad you caught all of them! What a nightmare. Hope you didn't lose fish or shrimp, although they look a bit large to have just hatched...

Afraid I did lose I think 4 of my juvenile Threadfin Rainbowfish (Iriatherina werneri) and no idea how many shrimps to these critters

I remember watching that tank like a hawk for a long time just waiting for one of these guys to appear, I got my eye in to know what to look for when spotting these, I always had a bucket and syphon hose on standby next to my tank just to pounce and suck up these damselfly nymphs.

CassCats · Sep 23, 2020

Great mosquito control though, so would be worth releasing back outside if there's water nearby.

Tobek28 · Sep 23, 2020

Wow, quite the little group you have there. I hope you didn't lose anything to those.

I hope I only have the one. I only got my plants from 3 sources. It must have came in on my red root floaters. I don't think it came in on my Bacopa. I can't find it now, but I'll hunt it down over my next few days off starting tomorrow.

I've got a slow flowing creek a few blocks from my apartment. I don't know about releasing it though, cause it came from out of state and I wouldn't feel comfortable with that.

goldfish_is_orange · Sep 23, 2020

Damselfly! I had one of those..came in with new plants. I even had the plants in quarantine for 2 weeks, but didn't notice the nymph until I put the plant in the main tank. Luckily it didn't get to any of my shrimp. Sorry, @Ch4rlie for your rainbowfish and shrimp

Retired Viking · Sep 23, 2020

I had a damselfly nymph in my shrimp tank and it killed at least 6 of my shrimp before I found the little #$@%$^$ and killed it. Nasty killing machines for small fish and shrimp.

Tobek28 · Sep 24, 2020

Got home this morning from work and found the little guy hiding under my drift wood and sucked him out. I squished him cause I didn't want him introduced to my area's ecosystem just in case of invasive species.

I hope I don't see any more, but I'll keep my eye out. Luckily there are no fish, only snails, in the tank for at least a 4-6 weeks. The fish I will put in there are in quarantine.

Ch4rlie · Sep 24, 2020

Good, glad you managed to catch the little critter.

Evil little things but very interesting creatures in their own right actually, I researched into them when I had them and found they are interesting, just not in my tank is all!! :lol:

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