What is this insect?

[hotweldfire]

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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

 

[wearsbunnyslippers]

its a type of may fly

 

[Gfish]

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

 

[hotweldfire]

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

 

[wearsbunnyslippers]

nope, most fly larvae are fish food not vice versa

 

[dw1305]

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

 

[hotweldfire]

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.

 

[dw1305]

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

 

[dw1305]

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

 

[He-Man]

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.

 

[hotweldfire]

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!