I Am Very Very Very Worried, Found A Critter In My Tank.

[l_l_l]

Hi!
First of all, I hope you all have had a great christmas and all..
 
As some of you might know, I've had a berried cherry shrimp for the past 3-4 weeks, and I was looking at the tank yesterday, to try and find any fry, and suddenly I see something moving and falling on my center piece rock.
 
I look at it and I think it's a debris or something.
 
Then suddenly, it starts walking and moving away from the rock!
 

You can see it on the top part of the rock, between the two leaves..
I have identified this as a damselfly nymph but am wondering how it got in my tank in the first place..
The last time I added something to my tank, was water lettuce, which was about 6 weeks ago.
I have never seen this critter until now and I'm worried as I have baby cherry shrimp on their way!
 
I heard they can be predators and will eat my shrimplets!!
 
The worst part is, by the time I realized what this was, the larvae hid, and is nowhere to be found anymore. I want to remove this from my aquarium!
 
Anyone of you know how to lure this critter out of it's hiding place?
 
Any tricks/tips on how to catch them?
 
Thank you!

 

[KirkyArcher]

Do you have fish in this tank? Your little critter may itself have been eaten by your fish, otherwise I think its just going to be a case of being extra vigilant and then super quick to try and catch it. Usually these unwanted visitors do come in with new plants and sometimes in with live food.

 

[l_l_l]

Do you have fish in this tank? Your little critter may itself have been eaten by your fish, otherwise I think its just going to be a case of being extra vigilant and then super quick to try and catch it

I have Neon Tetras but I don't think they will do anything to this critter.
I do have a Betta in Quarantine that is about to go back in there..
But the Betta will also be a predator to the shrimp, which I don't mind, I do mind this annoying damselfly nymph tho. It is really ugly!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Looks suspiciously like a damselfly nymph. Nasty little critters!
 
Kirky, i have had these in my tank and fish do not always eat them as they can hide extremely well amongst plants and decor.
 
Best method i have found is to be patient and wait to see when that pops out, they do not move fast when hunting prey, get a syphon hose and bucket, fill syphon with water thumb over the end of pipe over the bucket and get the suck end over and close as to the nymph as possible then suck him out of the water int the bucket.
 
BTW that looks like a female nymph, males are more greener in colour usually.
 
And be reassured they won't breed in water until they are fully matured into adults.
 
Here, you can read the troubles i went into when i discovered these, normally there will be just one to two at most in your tank that came in via plants.
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/424490-damselfly-nymph/

 

[l_l_l]

Looks suspiciously like a damselfly nymph. Nasty little critters!
 
Kirky, i have had these in my tank and fish do not always eat them as they can hide extremely well amongst plants and decor.
 
Best method i have found is to be patient and wait to see when that pops out, they do not move fast when hunting prey, get a syphon hose and bucket, fill syphon with water thumb over the end of pipe over the bucket and get the suck end over and close as to the nymph as possible then suck him out of the water int the bucket.
 
BTW that looks like a female nymph, males are more greener in colour usually.
 
And be reassured they won't breed in water until they are fully matured into adults.
 
Here, you can read the troubles i went into when i discovered these, normally there will be just one to two at most in your tank that came in via plants.
 
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/424490-damselfly-nymph/

Wow! That was quite the read!
Can't believe you had 5 of them in your tank, makes me even more scared!
I dreamt about the thing last night, in my dream there were shrimplets trying to hide from the monster! :O
 
And this morning I woke up, and went on the hunt for it, but instead, I found... A baby cherry shrimp!!!
 
Still! Makes me even more nervous now!
 
I hope I won't have to remove my decor like you did, looks like they will move a lot, maybe I'll be lucky.
 
In any case, I instructed my girlfriend to keep an eye on the beast while I'm at work, and if she finds it, she knows what to do.
 
20 minutes of gazing this morning, didn't find anything.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Sorry, i was trying to reassure you most keepers who have these nymph only have one or two at most, I was just very unlucky to have a plant that had all these, you will catch it eventually, 
 
Just be patient and have a bucket and about a meter of syphon hose by your tank at the ready should you ever need it, do not panic and remove hood, light or whatever slowly so as not to panic the nymph into hiding.
 
You have to look at plants more than anything, they disguise themselves so well, it took me several times before i knew what to look for, tail end or head tend to be sticking out ever so slightly that makes you look twice before realising its there. 
 
Good luck!

 

[l_l_l]

Thank you! I really hope I'll catch it soon!

 

[dave840f1]

These are predators and will as they grow think of anything moving small enough for it to have a go at as food, even Neons and your shrimplets.

 

[l_l_l]

I'm even more scared now.
I think remove some decor and try to spot the thing.
 
This will also be a good opportunity to take care of that moss that have been growing in a weird pattern!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yu can try to remove it by moving decor but truth be told, they cling on anything so if you take any decor/plants/wood out be sure to have water in a bucket and shake it, you might dislodge the nymph but hit and miss method really.
 
Patience is key and being careful to keep an eye out and having the bucket and syphon hose at the ready, you will get her eventually.
 
They only might eat a few shrmplets a week or maybe one shrimp very so often, you won't see a lot go at once, i lost maybe 5 shrimps and a few shrimplets in the time i had 5 of these darned things.
 
So just one will only be a few losses of shrimplets really.
 
Don't worry too much and keep calm, its be fine, you'll see.

 

[l_l_l]

Yu can try to remove it by moving decor but truth be told, they cling on anything so if you take any decor/plants/wood out be sure to have water in a bucket and shake it, you might dislodge the nymph but hit and miss method really.
 
Patience is key and being careful to keep an eye out and having the bucket and syphon hose at the ready, you will get her eventually.
 
They only might eat a few shrmplets a week or maybe one shrimp very so often, you won't see a lot go at once, i lost maybe 5 shrimps and a few shrimplets in the time i had 5 of these darned things.
 
So just one will only be a few losses of shrimplets really.
 
Don't worry too much and keep calm, its be fine, you'll see.

Thank you for your support, I tend to be paranoid about my fish.
My girlfriend thinks it's cute as for me, I'm scared to lose it!

I'll try patience.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yeah, I know the feeling you're going through very well.
 
It will NOT be a massacre or anything like that at all, you might lose a few shrimps by the time you get the little critter, it happens unfortunately.
 
Let me know how you get on and do take a pic of the critter when you get her.
 
Good luck!

 

[l_l_l]

Yeah, I know the feeling you're going through very well.
 
It will NOT be a massacre or anything like that at all, you might lose a few shrimps by the time you get the little critter, it happens unfortunately.
 
Let me know how you get on and do take a pic of the critter when you get her.
 
Good luck!

Will do!
I'm just feeling really bumed because it is my actual first at having baby shrimplets in my tank, (since this morning) and I realized this beast, lurking in the dark, would eat them!
 
Poor little shrimplets!!

 

[noobgamers]

if it hides in a rock or ornament maybe you could take it out of the tank if that would be possible then it would be easier to remove it

 

[l_l_l]

I really don't know where it hides, but this morning I found a dead cherry shrimp on the substrate..
I recently saw another one (a week ago) that was dead, half moulted.
I am not sure if those are separate incidents or linked, but I'm suspecting the critter to have killed this fella.
Somehow tho, I don't think the damselfly nymph would have left the place without its snack..