What’s this?

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

It’s about 15-18mm long. Living in my heaterless, low tech nano.

 

[Le duke]

Damselfly or dragonfly larvae.

It will eat shrimp and small fish.


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[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Damselfly or dragonfly larvae.

It will eat shrimp and small fish.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

He’s in a Pyrex dish currently, on his way to the garden pond to live his life to the fullest. 👍🏻

 

[dw1305]

Damselfly or dragonfly larvae.

It is a swimming Mayfly Nymph, almost certainly the "Pond Olive" (Cloeon dipterum).

It will eat shrimp and small fish.

This one is harmless, but fish really, really like them.

Cheers Darrel

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

It is a swimming Mayfly Nymph, almost certainly the "Pond Olive" (Cloeon dipterum).

This one is harmless, but fish really, really like them.

Cheers Darrel

Well he’s come out of my algae and detritus filled, fish free nano and is now in my pond with swarms of minnows. Oops. 😖

Weird, when you google damselfly nymph and dragonfly nymph you get lots of results that look just like this one. Mayfly nymph however is a better search that shows exactly this.

It was fascinating to find.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Mayfly nymph however is a better search that shows exactly this.

The females are attracted to light, so you <"occasionally get them in fish-tanks">, even inside. Most Mayflies need really good quality, highly oxygenated, cool water, but the one species (the <"Pond Olive">) is a lot more <"tolerant of warm water"> etc.

When scientists are <"looking at water pollution">, in both natural and wastewater situations they use <"bioassay organisms"> as the <"final stage of water assessment">. <"Asellus aquaticus"> and Crangonyx pseudogracilis are fine as <"tolerant organisms"> but we can't use <"Gammarus spp.">, Mayfly (Ephemeroptera) or Stonefly (Plecoptera) nymphs in the tank as "sensitive organisms" (due to the temperature effect on dissolved oxygen availability).

cheers Darrel

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Part 2 - What’s this? Active after lights out, moves like an amphibian, about 15mm to 20mm long.

 

[X3NiTH]

Axolotl larvae.

 

[Conort2]

View attachment 219184

Part 2 - What’s this? Active after lights out, moves like an amphibian, about 15mm to 20mm long.

A newt larvae. Have you received any plants from a pond recently? Newts wrap their eggs in plant leaves.

 

[X3NiTH]

Newt most likely unless you bought plants from Melville recently and Axolotls have laid some eggs on the Elodea/Egeria in the plant tray.

 

[Cazza]

Awesome! That's a newt eft. Really cool.
*Edit: not quite an eft yet- doesn't look like it's got legs + it's too early.
Probably a Smooth or Palmate- definitely not a Great Crested.

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

A newt larvae. Have you received any plants from a pond recently? Newts wrap their eggs in plant leaves.

I’ve got some hair grass which came from my pond. Also collected some leaves and sticks from the local river.

He seems quite happy in the tank. I’m a little concerned he may become a shrimp baby predator but I have time to catch him and relocate him to the pond at some point. 👍🏻

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Awesome! That's a newt eft. Really cool.
*Edit: not quite an eft yet- doesn't look like it's got legs + it's too early.
Probably a Smooth or Palmate- definitely not a Great Crested.

I think he might have very tiny front legs but couldn’t see any back ones.

I have confirmation however that he came from my pond! My wife took this photo of our pond this afternoon:

I think that’s fairly conclusive evidence. 👍🏻

P.S. Apologies for the non-native floaters in the pond. Just a temporary measure to keep algae down while my lily pads grow.