PING Nikki

[sophiefishstuff]

.... wasn't it you who had a damselfly nymph in your tank? I found a 1.5
- 2 cm dragonfly nymph in mine yesterday. Very good at hiding, very
fast, and rather scary. It's bigger than the rasboras... So I took it
out and it's in a jar at the moment; I think I'll move it to a large
mixing bowl with water, sand & hornwort and something sticking out for
it to climb out at some point in the next four years, then move it to
the Q tank when that's empty.

is yours still going?
--
sophie

www.freewebs.com/fishstuff
(under construction. ish.)

[Nikki Casali]

sophiefishstuff wrote:

>
> ... wasn't it you who had a damselfly nymph in your tank? I found a 1.5
> - 2 cm dragonfly nymph in mine yesterday.

Dragonfly nymphs are supposed to be bad news for small fish.

Very good at hiding, very
> fast, and rather scary.

Yes, scary looking! I got goose bumps.

It's bigger than the rasboras... So I took it
> out and it's in a jar at the moment; I think I'll move it to a large
> mixing bowl with water, sand & hornwort and something sticking out for
> it to climb out at some point in the next four years, then move it to
> the Q tank when that's empty.
>
> is yours still going?

I put mine in a quarantine tank where there's some watersprite. I
haven't seen it since. But I haven't tried all that hard to find it. I
don't know how delicate these creatures are, or how sensitive they are
to nitrate levels or pH. Maybe I'll do a search through the plant growth
tonight.

A couple of years ago I found a dragonfly nymph in my external canister
filter eating the sucked up dead organic matter. Now that was goose
bumps. These are like alien intruders.

How do these things get there? Did you ever see any flies recently?

Nikki

[sophiefishstuff]

In message >, Nikki Casali
> writes
>sophiefishstuff wrote:
>
>> ... wasn't it you who had a damselfly nymph in your tank? I found a
>>1.5 - 2 cm dragonfly nymph in mine yesterday.
>
>Dragonfly nymphs are supposed to be bad news for small fish.
>
> Very good at hiding, very
>> fast, and rather scary.
>
>Yes, scary looking! I got goose bumps.
>
> It's bigger than the rasboras... So I took it
>> out and it's in a jar at the moment; I think I'll move it to a large
>>mixing bowl with water, sand & hornwort and something sticking out for
>>it to climb out at some point in the next four years, then move it to
>>the Q tank when that's empty.
>> is yours still going?
>
>I put mine in a quarantine tank where there's some watersprite. I
>haven't seen it since. But I haven't tried all that hard to find it. I
>don't know how delicate these creatures are, or how sensitive they are
>to nitrate levels or pH. Maybe I'll do a search through the plant
>growth tonight.
>
>A couple of years ago I found a dragonfly nymph in my external canister
>filter eating the sucked up dead organic matter. Now that was goose
>bumps. These are like alien intruders.

I know; I found it when I was taking everything out of the tank to move
it - this weird, mad HUGE thing descended out of the hornwort and
disappeared under a bit of bogwood. I'm ashamed to say that I moved the
bogwood with a knitting needle because I was too alarmed to do it with
my hand till I knew what the Thing was. And if it could bite.
>
>How do these things get there? Did you ever see any flies recently?

no, and it's (a) too big to be very new and (b) a dragonfly couldn't get
into the tank, the access holes are too small. Though having said that,
we do get loads of dragonflies round here

the tank's been going for over a year, BUT around october I took out the
gravel substrate and replaced it with sand, and while it's possible that
it was there then, I doubt it. I suspect it cam in with a plant, and
given that the water's kept at 24% - a fair bit warmer than anything
outdoors in the winter round here - it's growing abnormally fast. It's
very cool, now I know what it is. And it eats brine shrimp. And, I would
imagine, bloodworms. And also the baby rasbora I'm about to out in the Q
tank, ahem.

I think I might email a photo to these people:

http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/

and see if they can tell me what to do with it! (it's a lovely site,
with photos of all the UK dragon/damselflies, and most of them have
photos of the shed skins, too.

--
sophie

www.freewebs.com/fishstuff
(under construction. ish.)

[Gill Passman]

"sophiefishstuff" > wrote in
message ...
> In message >, Nikki Casali
> > writes
> >sophiefishstuff wrote:
> >
> >> ... wasn't it you who had a damselfly nymph in your tank? I found a
> >>1.5 - 2 cm dragonfly nymph in mine yesterday.
> >
> >Dragonfly nymphs are supposed to be bad news for small fish.
> >
> > Very good at hiding, very
> >> fast, and rather scary.
> >
> >Yes, scary looking! I got goose bumps.
> >
> > It's bigger than the rasboras... So I took it
> >> out and it's in a jar at the moment; I think I'll move it to a large
> >>mixing bowl with water, sand & hornwort and something sticking out for
> >>it to climb out at some point in the next four years, then move it to
> >>the Q tank when that's empty.
> >> is yours still going?
> >
> >I put mine in a quarantine tank where there's some watersprite. I
> >haven't seen it since. But I haven't tried all that hard to find it. I
> >don't know how delicate these creatures are, or how sensitive they are
> >to nitrate levels or pH. Maybe I'll do a search through the plant
> >growth tonight.
> >
> >A couple of years ago I found a dragonfly nymph in my external canister
> >filter eating the sucked up dead organic matter. Now that was goose
> >bumps. These are like alien intruders.
>
> I know; I found it when I was taking everything out of the tank to move
> it - this weird, mad HUGE thing descended out of the hornwort and
> disappeared under a bit of bogwood. I'm ashamed to say that I moved the
> bogwood with a knitting needle because I was too alarmed to do it with
> my hand till I knew what the Thing was. And if it could bite.
> >
> >How do these things get there? Did you ever see any flies recently?
>
> no, and it's (a) too big to be very new and (b) a dragonfly couldn't get
> into the tank, the access holes are too small. Though having said that,
> we do get loads of dragonflies round here
>
> the tank's been going for over a year, BUT around october I took out the
> gravel substrate and replaced it with sand, and while it's possible that
> it was there then, I doubt it. I suspect it cam in with a plant, and
> given that the water's kept at 24% - a fair bit warmer than anything
> outdoors in the winter round here - it's growing abnormally fast. It's
> very cool, now I know what it is. And it eats brine shrimp. And, I would
> imagine, bloodworms. And also the baby rasbora I'm about to out in the Q
> tank, ahem.
>
> I think I might email a photo to these people:
>
> http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/
>
> and see if they can tell me what to do with it! (it's a lovely site,
> with photos of all the UK dragon/damselflies, and most of them have
> photos of the shed skins, too.
>
> --
> sophie
>
> www.freewebs.com/fishstuff
> (under construction. ish.)

A couple of years ago. before I had a tank in the room, I found a large
dragonfly in the room.....(conservatory so quite warm in the summer). This
was early September.....In theory if it found it's way in there and was in a
position to lay eggs (or whatever dragonfly do) amd if I have another fly
in, there are openings for it to find it's way into the tank....and I
believe that they are attracted by water....

[Ross Vandegrift]

On 2005-05-01, sophiefishstuff > wrote:
> I think I might email a photo to these people:
>
> http://www.dragonflysoc.org.uk/
>
> and see if they can tell me what to do with it! (it's a lovely site,
> with photos of all the UK dragon/damselflies, and most of them have
> photos of the shed skins, too.

If you've got the time - please do! I haven't heard of this before, but
after reading this thread, I'm quite intrigued! I've never seen any
parasites or intruders in any of my tanks, though I have read about
them. It was sort of weird to read old aquarium books and have them
discuss the various predators that could crop up.

Of course, in those days, they suggested finding pools of stagnant water
from which to harvest daphnia ::-). I can hardly imagine doing *that*
with today's conventional wisdom of water quality control! Some of the
stuff in the books is really scary - but I don't think it listed
dragonflies.


--
Ross Vandegrift

"The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who
make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians
have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine
man in the bonds of Hell."
--St. Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, Book II, xviii, 37