Damselfly Nymph

[Ch4rlie]

Had a power cut last night!
 
Groan, filter, heater off for about 5 hours, good job am an early riser! 
 
Water at 21C, luckily did not have to prime filter as was still full of water so a little bit of debris came out the filter but less than thought would be, and heater warming the water to 25C now. Whew!
 
Fish and shrimps behaving as normally, all have good appetites as just fed them, so that a relief!
 
There is something wrong with electric in kitchen somewhere, i isolated that in fuse box and will get an electrician to check/test sockets and power circuit hopefully this week if any available!
 
So everything in kitchen working from extension cords from the lounge and hallway power sockets apart from the oven! Luckily we have a gas cooker so just need matches to light the hobs when we need it, also have an electric shower as the boiler is in kitchen and thats off due to isolated electric.........
 
The Damselfly Nymphs, thrown them into the garden for the birds!! 

 

[214jay]

Blimey, you are having all the luck at the moment, glad they are all okay, at least the water cools quite slowly with a power cut and 21c is not too low!

 

[Ch4rlie]

EDIT - realised I may have made a mistake regarding the sexes of these damselflies, found that the males are more colourful than females so it may be the case of my pictures posted earlier with 3 damselflies that the two green ones may actually be males and the brown one is a female.
 
Apologies if I have mistakenly misidentified the genders of these. Kind of difficult to find out!! 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Update:
 
Finally came home after a week away due to work commitments, GF been looking after the tanks.
 
Having a cup of coffee and looking at my tank in general.  

 
Saw something a bit odd with one of the Vallis leaves..............a tiny bit of green sticking out.......... weird................facepalm...............groans.............oh no!  

 
Yup here is...............
 

 
Damselfy not number 1, not number 2, not number 3 .........but number 4!!
 
For goodness sake!
 
But caught this one like a pro!  

 
Stayed calm, keeping an eye on the little booger, took jumper off, quickly got my bucket and a bit of syphon hose, took light hood and hood fittings off the tank, calmly..........holding breath.............he moved, but thankfully not far and actually in easier position for me to get at him.........carefully and slowly positioning syphon about half inch away from him..........fish nibbling on my arm and hand...distracting, little smile.......quick prayer..........sooked up the little booger first time straight into bucket........YEAH!  

 
But, unbelievably, 4 damselfly nymphs!

 
Really hope there are no more in my tank, TBH would be surprised if any more as reading online, most people have 1 or 2 but only a couple of accounts of people having 3 or 4 of these damselfly or dragonfly larvae so, touch wood, no more!
 
PLEEEEAASSSEE NOOO MOOOORRRE!!!!!  

 

[214jay]

No way! Really?!?! That's pretty nuts, thought they would be long gone by now!! Maybe I should lend you my red clawed crab!!

 

[Ch4rlie]

yeah really, PITA!
 
Would not mind a red claw crab, GF wants one one day......

 

[Shelster]

No way!!!

Saw the update on this thread and thought surely it can't be more?!?!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yeah, way!
 
Damselfly still in bucket, wish could ask it if any more of his buddies in the tank..........

 

[Ch4rlie]

*Groans* 

  
 
Guess what? 

  
 
Yup 

 
Another one 

 
Female this time I believe 

 
Here is Damselfly number 5  

  

 
 
Need I say any more...............

 

[214jay]

Shame there are no compatible fish that would hunt and eat them!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Red Claw Crabs maybe?
 
Chichlids?
 
Angelfish?
 
Don't know if they can but would like to see 

 
But problem is I can't stock any of these in my tank, and nor do I want to at this moment in time, maybe when set up my large tank one day I will, but for now, siphon hose and bucket does the trick, took me all of 30 seconds to catch this one!

 

[214jay]

Certainly would be interesting! At least your becoming an expert at catching them!

 

[Ch4rlie]

LOL
 
Yeah, actually becoming pretty adept at catching these little critters.
 
I saw a tiny portion of its head only just sticking out from behind one of my bogwood in tank. Recognised it straightaway! 
 
Sighed and silently swore to myself and got my kit, and took the critter out quickly.
 
Girlfriend so surprised I could see it, as she scanned the whole tank and could not see it, at least until I had siphon hose next to it!

 

[Shelster]

Ch4rlie, you'll be able to advertise as skilled damsel fly catcher, make some money

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ch4rlie, you'll be able to advertise as skilled damsel fly catcher, make some money

 
Heh, nice idea but won't be much demand for that I don't think!
 
Looking back to my first few posts, realise I was little daft to take all the plants and bogwood out of tank to catch these little boogers but having said that, was all new and worrying for me at the time.
 
Now it seems, a sigh, a few swear words, and resign myself to catching these critters and just carry on until no more pops its head out somewhere in my tank, if they do, they are destined for my siphon and bucket! 

 
Think the birds now think I'm gonna fed them regularly with a nice fresh tasty insect for them! lol