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Bugs you might encounter in your aquarium

Great reference point this thread. When you think about all the things going on just under the water in that small pond that looks so tranquil. Some of those lovely looking Damsel and Mayflies that we love to see that their life underwater developing consisted of such brutality and horrors added to the fact most small fish get predated .Poor fish
 
Indeed lovely thread.. :) i used to catch this one as a kid in the near by swamp, had a few in my garden tank..
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Very intresting spider, very rare to find nowadays that was different 40 years ago, the only one living in water and only in northern europe.
Diving Bell Spider - Argyroneta aquatica
 
Hi all,
Very intresting spider, very rare to find nowadays that was different 40 years ago, the only one living in water and only in northern europe.
I've never seen one of these, I've looked in plenty of places, but never with any luck.

I have seen the semi-aquatic <"Dolomedes fimbriatus"> on <"Godlingston heath">, and they are fantastic.

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cheers Darrel
 
Hi all, I've never seen one of these, I've looked in plenty of places, but never with any luck.

I have seen the semi-aquatic <"Dolomedes fimbriatus"> on <"Godlingston heath">, and they are fantastic.

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cheers Darrel

Indeed fantastic, spiders are realy wonderfull animals.. This spider i never saw, at least i do not remember seeing it.

Those diving bell spiders i caught here around 35/40 years ago by the dozens.. At the LH side not on the picture was a few acres of bogland, with puddles of clear stagnant water and the springs feeding the ditch around the castle. Not many kids ventured in there.. I did and actualy never met somebody else there, it was kinda dangerous too, but knew my way around. Always had my bucket and net hanging on my belt, it was my most wonderfull time as a kid.. With one scoop a variety of maybe 10 different aquatic animals i took a lot home to study in the garden tank.. :) Shame, back then photography wasn't as easy as today, i would have had a huge and wonderfull collection of photo's. Now i only got distant memories, it was like one scoop to catch salamanders (Lissotriton vulgaris) with the firy red/orande spickled belly, the very colorfull 3 horned stickelbacks, those fat yellow striped water beetles. Name it, it was there.. :) Today i would not know a place which isn't destroyed enough to find all that again at the same spot. :(
 
An old college poster :) who wouldn't like to have it.. i do..

Most critters on it are very rare or completely disapeared from our puddles..
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1 - Culiseta annulata with larvae
2 - Odontomyia ornata
3 - Odontomyia ornata larvae
4 - Hydrometra stagnorum
5 - Hydrometra stagnorum
6 - Argyroneta aquatica
7 - Asellus aquaticus
8 - Dytiscus marginalis
9 - gyrinus natator
10 - Haemopis sanguisuga
11 - chelicerae (Hydrachnellae)
12 - Argyroneta aquatica and his bell
13 - chelicerae
14 - Hydrophilus piceus
15 - Thermonectus sp.
16 - Notonecta glauca
17 - Thermonectus sp.
18 - Thermonectus sp.
19 - Nepa cinerea
20 - Notonecta glauca
 
Anyone any idea what this little worm thing is? I bought a few different type of Mosses from a guy online. Put the mosses into separate jars and left them by the window for now. Then noticed this worm-like thing swimming around the jar with the flame moss in it:

Edit: I have discovered they are indeed "Detritus Worms" harmless but unsightly!
 
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Does any one have any idea what these are? They do have a jerky way of moving about and up to the surface. Water fleas maybe?
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Cyclops / Hüpferlinge.. The last one is the german name it says "little hop arounds" because they do, like you say in a jerky motion.. The one with the big balls are the girls, the one without the males. :)
 
Thank you for posting this, great thread.

I have these freshwater limpet snails in my tank. I either squish or manually remove them. Where the heck do they come from? How do I get rid of them once and for all? without harming fish and shrimp.
Live copepods, tubifex, daphnia.. are fed to my fauna on a daily basis (on different days.. in case you were wondering.. LOL)

I have some tubifex under the substrate but not many as the corys' especially the peppered.. love to dig them out.

Some of the creepy crawlies look disgusting.. eww... :doctor:
 
I recently discovered planaria, and what i believe to be fishfly larvae (at least thats what it mostly resembles); in my 10 litre shrimp tank, along with hydra!

Major pain, I reckon I accumulated them from a recent gathering of enthusiasts I was at recently; tank isnt even fed really :(
 
I recently discovered planaria, and what i believe to be fishfly larvae (at least thats what it mostly resembles); in my 10 litre shrimp tank, along with hydra!

Ewwww..... Good luck with that son!
I got 99 problems but planaria or hydra ain't one lol.
 
Lol first time for everything :p

My very worst experience was anchor worm, pray you don't get that one!

What the hell is anchor worm?! Sounds like a waterborne tape worm... Ugh...

When that day comes the aquarium will no longer be tropical. It'll be freshwater outdoors mate looool..

How did these invaders infiltrate your tank? Live food, plants, contaminated fauna?

*pass me the sick bucket* YUCK!
 
What the hell is anchor worm?! Sounds like a waterborne tape worm... Ugh...

When that day comes the aquarium will no longer be tropical. It'll be freshwater outdoors mate looool..

How did these invaders infiltrate your tank? Live food, plants, contaminated fauna?

*pass me the sick bucket* YUCK!

a lot of the time its russian roulette depending on the LFS you visit, or people that can import fish for you at lower prices etc. I recently got a bunch of plants really cheaply, had to nix the lot as it turned out to be bathed in copper sulphate, killed all my red cherries.

Basically a learning curve, that cheaper isnt always better!

The anchor worm got introduced when i rescued a fish, and had to bomb the tank with sodium chlorite to kill it off; including the bacterial colony in the tank. Absolute nightmare.

So yeah, all I'd say is be very, very conscious of where you source plants and fish.
 
I've only sourced fauna from local PAH, Kesgrave and Aquatic Design Centre. Plants only from PAH and ADC.

What do you need to neutralise copper? I should bear take extra precautions with owning shrimps.

Hope you get it all sorted soon. How awful. Are your fauna holding up ok?


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Red Watermite :) Counted 3 of them in the outdoor tank..
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They seem to hunt and eat Daphnia, i cultur also Daphnia in the garden. I started this year with a startup culture from the LFS. So probably a few came with it and scooped them up with catching daphnia and feeding the fish. Fish are curiously watching them, but do not eat them. They seem to taste awfull.
 
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