Unwelcome tank guest

[Mirf]

I have recently set up a tank for shrimp...my first ever!

I thought I had everything sorted until I started finding dead shrimp, or what was left of them, on a daily basis.

In a panic I replaced the filter, did a water change, removed plants, tested the water yet still they continued to die. I lost 90% of my shrimp.

Then I found this little bugger.

A very fat and happy damselfly larvae......I can only assume it came in with some daphnia i bought as a treat for the shrimp :?

It has now been evicted to a local pond.

Is this a common problem with livefood or was I just unlucky?

 

[PM]

Well done! I'd have stamped on it's head!

How big is it then? Looks massive.

 

[nry]

I had one of those a year or two back...lets just say I wasn't as nice as you when I found it, creeped me out a little for some reason!

 

[Gill]

yep, you can get allsorts of nasties in with daphnia. One of the main reasons I grow my own.

 

[Mirf]

Well done! I'd have stamped on it's head!

How big is it then? Looks massive.

Knowing what it will become as an adult i didn't have the heart to hurt it, although I did invoice it for the lost shrimp

It wasn't that big, just under an inch in length, but with a massive appetite.

I had one of those a year or two back...lets just say I wasn't as nice as you when I found it, creeped me out a little for some reason!

Look at it's cute little eyes though......I have kept various inverts as pets in the past so wasn't too freaked by it. I prefered this thing to the cockroaches I breed that's for sure!!

@Gill. I very naively assumed that the daphnia would be reared in fairly sterile conditions. I certainly got that one wrong!!

 

[wearsbunnyslippers]

evicted to the pond??? after eating your shrimp... i would have chopped it up and fed it to the fish...

 

[Mirf]

You lot are brutal!!

 

[Mirf]

A quick update on this thread. I have had another tank set up for a couple of months ready for some dwarf puffers. I had some cherry shrimp in it temporarily. They started to disappear. I blamed the water quiality (all fine) so in the end blamed the pump possibly not being too shrimp friendly.

However, about an hour ago I watched this little guy climb out, shed and turn into this......sorry about the quality but my camera is dying.

To give you an idea of size it's sat on the handle of my little shrimp net.

So it seems my first little invader was not alone I am still losing shrimp in my main tank, so I'm guessing there may well be more to come. I can only assume they have actually come in with the plants and not the food, as I first thought.....great

 

[Nick16]

drop a hand grenade in there. that will cure alll your current problems... some may arise shortly after though.

not much you can do mate apart from move some shrimp to another space if they are valuable.

 

[Mirf]

As tempting as the grenade is, it might get a tad messy

Nowhere to move the shrimp I'm afraid. I appear to have/had them in both my tanks. The only place clear is my frog tank and the poor shrimp would have even less of a chance in there.