Damselfly larvae, daphnia, shrimps and fish... Who will be eaten first?

[parotet]

Hi all

Last weekend I found near home some good Daphnia populations and I'm growing them to feed my White Cloud Mountain minnows... They look gorgeous in just one week! This morning I've noticed that I had captured from the bucket with the syringe a larvae of Damselfly (probably Ischnura elegans, the most common one here). Larvae of this species are rather small but I'm sure she was eating Daphnia, I read somewhere they are actually their preferred prey. But now all of them are in the tank.

I try to put in the tank quite a lot of Daphnia at the same time... They don't last very long, but at least fish have some minutes of fun looking for them. The Damselfly larvae has disappeared immediately among the vegetation and my only fear is if she will eat the tiny shrimplets. I guess it will depend on who find first who, isn't it? I suppose Wcm minnows will also be interested in the Damselfly larvae

Jordi

 

[Andy Thurston]

Dunno but they eat fish

 

[parotet]

Nice video... My larvae is a first or second instar and my fish are adult, so not very sure if the result would be the same. I use to keep Anisoptera larvae, and mate, this is really a good predator, even for wcm minnows. At least medium size Gambusia were easily captured

 

[Andy Thurston]

Its just one a quick search turned up. Fantastic predators, The fish didn't see that one coming.
And i'd guess that if they eat daphnia they'll manage baby shrimp too