Just Found A Damselfly Nymph

[flix_cw]

I just did a water change, when out of the corner of my eye i spot a ghostly white creature crawling across my rock, scared the hell out of me!

Don't know how it got in there since i haven't added any plants for weeks, yet this is the first i've seen of it. Guess it's taken a while to grow from an egg, it's probably about 3cm in length.

I looked in the "Hitchhikers" thread and it says it might be a danger to any fry, but i don't have any, nor am i planning on getting any. All i have is some 5cm danios and some 3-4cm cherry shrimp.

It's disappeared again, should i remove it next time i see it? I've had a recent camallanus outbreak so thought it might be a useful beastie to have if any hatched worms reappear?

 

[razer121]

cool, call me grose but i want one!!

 

[ian]

so...as they get older do they not learn to fly?

 

[flix_cw]

apparently they go through 6 stages of moulting before finally moulting at the surface and becoming airborne. Can take years. Not sure how big it's going to get...!

It's a bit disconcerting, really alien-looking. Gives me the shivers!

 

[ian]

are you gonna keep him or get shut of him?

have you got a big fish that'll have him for dinner?

 

[flix_cw]

I don't know - that's why i posted on here to get people's opinions!

Only got danios and shrimp so no biggies in my tank.

 

[ian]

just reading about these things and they are getting quite rare in the wild, so, if it were me i'd remove it and pop him in a pond somewhere.

 

[flix_cw]

really? Where are they rare? I'm in UK, always thought damselflies were dead common.

 

[razer121]

well im in the uk and never heard of them?

 

[ian]

we get loads of Dragons near me, but i have never seen a grown up Damsel. Also in the uk.

 

[flix_cw]

Interesting! They're similar to dragonflies, you see them a lot in the summertime. Maybe my country roots allowed me to see so many.

 

[three-fingers]

I had some grow up with my betta fry lol, check my thread: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/314482-watching-the-babies-grow-up-bettas-and-damselfly/page__p__2604962__fromsearch__1&#entry2604962.

If it came on live plants from eggs (like mine did) they will be an exotic species (so don't let it out - it will die in the cold anyway, and will probably only take a couple of months to get to adult stage at tropical temperatures (like mine did).

They will eat baby cherry shrimp to survive, but not enough of them for you to notice a difference.

 

[flix_cw]

I had some grow up with my betta fry lol, check my thread: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/314482-watching-the-babies-grow-up-bettas-and-damselfly/page__p__2604962__fromsearch__1&#entry2604962.

They will eat baby cherry shrimp to survive, but not enough of them for you to notice a difference.

Looking at those photos I'm not entirely sure it's a damselfly nymph. It was completely translucent, a bit like an amano shrimp.

It's about the same size as my cherry shrimp. Maybe a little smaller. Doubt it'll harm them, i hope not since i've only got the 3! Can't spot it anywhere now, anyone know if they burrow under the gravel?

 

[razer121]

that is well cool! i reall want one of these, your fly did it survive? what happened to it? (sorry havent got time to read your thread just yet lol)

 

[ChrisCook]

The picture in the link a couple of posts above is the emerging form of the damsel, as it makes its transition from nymph to fly.

This is a damsel nymph:

And this is a dragonfly nymph: