# What is this insect?



## hotweldfire (24 Aug 2011)

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Dead (more or less) in the pic. Got itself stuck to the light fitting with one part of it's tail. 

To be clear has a twin tail, a long body with stripy markings and fairly small wings.

The reason I ask is because it appears to have left its offspring in my nano


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## wearsbunnyslippers (25 Aug 2011)

its a type of may fly


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## Gfish (25 Aug 2011)

Excellent! Then you have fish food live and ready for consumption 
It is a form of ephemeroptera. Mayfly are the largest of these and this little felloe is what flyfisherman know as an 'Olive' 
There's about 27 different upwinged insects of this genus. All are edible to a fish, I'm pleased to say


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## hotweldfire (25 Aug 2011)

Thanks both. No fish in there yet but will be eventually (although very small - microrasbora). Do the larvae pose any threat to shrimp/shrimplets?


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## wearsbunnyslippers (25 Aug 2011)

nope, most fly larvae are fish food not vice versa


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## dw1305 (29 Aug 2011)

Hi all,
Looks like it is a "Pond Olive", _Cloeon dipteron_, they are very unusual for a may fly because you often get the larvae in water butts etc. The larvae are "Swimming may fly" nymphs, the fish love them, but they swim extremely quickly and it is quite funny to watch the fish chasing them. I usually get the odd one survive to hatch as an adult, even in the tanks with _Apistogramma_ etc. 

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloeon_dipterum>

cheers Darrel


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## hotweldfire (29 Aug 2011)

They seem to like my living room, there's loads of them in here. I better get some fish in this nano sharpish else there'll be loads more.


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## dw1305 (30 Aug 2011)

Hi all,
I think the adults are attracted to light, because I often get Mayflies in the moth trap. You may be able to see the nymphs in the tank, they will perch on the vegetation, and you can see their gills (on the back) beating. If you disturb they swim incredibly quickly, with an up and down wriggling action, a bit like the "Man from Atlantis" for older readers, or butterfly stroke without the arms for swimmers.

cheers Darrel


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## dw1305 (30 Aug 2011)

Hi all,
I think the adults are attracted to light, because I often get Mayflies in the moth trap. You may be able to see the nymphs in the tank, they will perch on the vegetation, and you can see their gills (on the back) beating. If you disturb them, they swim incredibly quickly, with an up and down wriggling action, a bit like the "Man from Atlantis" for older readers, or "butterfly stroke" without the arms for swimmers.

cheers Darrel


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## He-Man (3 Sep 2011)

Just be wary of waterbutt creatures, I have had to remove dragonfly larvae which Do attack fish and anything they can as the voracious little predators they are.
These fascinating creatures certainly don't belong in your average fishtank but are good fun in a species only tank I might add.


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## hotweldfire (3 Sep 2011)

Going to add one of the ember tetras from my main tank tomorrow. These mayfly babies are getting alarmingly large. There's also a horde of other tiny organisms swimming around in there. Hope the fish don't get too fat!


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