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pest identification

D

danmil3s

Member
Joined
11 Jan 2010
Messages
756
first of guys sorry no picture the little b*%£^*d lost his tail when I tried to grab him, next time I'm going for the head. Best I can describe it was part shrimp part praying mantis, green like a common mantis to. Any ideas as to what it might be. I've done a quick search and only marine stuff comes up. I'm a bit worried evil looking bugger.

cheers
 
If you Google for images of "Dragonfly nymph" and "Damselfly nymph" you may find what you are looking for. If so, you need to get it out of your tank, and check for any more, as they will eat fish.
If you think it came in with plants it could be a non-native species, and should not be released into the wild. If you have any large cichlids they would make a snack of it.
If it came in with livefood it's probably a native, and could go in your (or a neighbour's) garden wildlife pond.
 
I'm not aware of any native dragons or damsels with green larvae. The part that came off is probably part of the gills, various invertebrate larvae have tail like arrangemnts that are the gills. A picture might help with id. Sparkyweasel probably has it right tho, non-native dragon or damselfly larvae. Has it actually eaten anything yet ? How big is it ?
 
thanks guys. pretty sure its the Damselfly nymph haven't seen it since i pulled its tail off, hopefully its dead. is there likely to be more?
 
Hi all,
I'm not aware of any native dragons or damsels with green larvae
Click to expand...
Definitely sounds like a Dragon/Damsel fly larvae and very likely to have come in on some plants, if it was slim and had an obvious tail ("3 caudal lamellae"), it is a Damsel like Devo says. I think nymph colour depends on habitat, and that some of our species can have green nymphs, if they live amongst vegetation. I get Emperor Dragonfly (Anax imperator) and Damselfly nymphs (possibly Blue-tail Damselfly - Ischnura elegans) in the pond sometimes and they can be really bright green. The Emperor Dragonfly nymph is pretty impressive, and the first one I ever found gave me quite a shock, you definitely wouldn't want in with your fish or small children etc.

This is the Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)
Common-blue-damselfly-early-stadium-nymph.jpg


and this is a picture of one that a Scots shopkeeper ("DMAC") sent me of a Damsel that had emerged from the plants in the shop, I posted the picture in a few places but we never got a definite ID.

Dragonfly3.jpg


cheers Darrel
 
ive had these in 2 tanks now, most recently in my shrimp nano yesterday . I used unbaked uk wood so guess that was the source. Bugger ate 2 chilli raporas before i found him in the HOB filter.
Snipping them in half does kill them but they arent normally alone...
 
thanks guys I'll keep my eyes open. only 5 neons in the tank so i might just take them out, and nuke the tank with some easy carbo. have a little bit of bba so two birds with one stone.
 
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