# Alien Invasion!!!



## Conankills (Aug 26, 2007)

Umm... yeah... should I be worried?










Just noticed it today and it is about ONE INCH LONG!
I think it came with the duckweed, which I got from the local swamp LAST October.
I think its a Dragon Fly larva.
I think I would really appreciate some more expertise on this invasion of my NPT (like does it eat cute little Neon Tetras?).

(By the way - I set up my NPT around last August/September, everything going good, still haven't bought her book!)


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 19, 2008)

It's definitely a larva of some kind, and it may or may not be able to eat your fish. Either way, just remove it ASAP. Better safe than sorry, right? It won't be beneficial to your tank in any way, so just get rid of it.


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 19, 2008)

Or maybe it's a cricket that fell into your tank? That would be funny lol.


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## joycould (Mar 13, 2007)

I googled it as dragonfly nymph and it sure looks like one. Then a little more research and found out they are predators so if you have fish in there I would get rid of your alien. If your fish were big enough they would have already taken care of him.


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## Carlos1583 (Jul 7, 2006)

That's crazy looking...


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## Jareardy (Feb 14, 2008)

yeah they prey on small fish


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

Definately Dragon fly nymph.
We use to find them under rocks.
Have a real long lifetime in the water.
I had a damsel fly nymph and it molted and flew away (to die on a window sill some where)


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Too horrid. :spider: I had the dragon fly thing also. It came in with wild plants. I will NOT take any wild plants anymore. I even treated with bleach dip. I would use potassium permanganate next time (if I can ever find the stuff - it's so regulated you would think it was plutonium or something!)


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## Conankills (Aug 26, 2007)

Thanks guys, real good help. 
I am always looking to add interesting new species of animals to my tank.
But predators like that one, well, just don't make the cut. 
Plus I just bought 4 new young Neon Tetras yesterday.

And as a testament to why cycled NPTs are far better humane aquariums, my Neons have already acclimatized to the tank! 
All I did was put the bag (got them from Petco) in the water to sync water temperatures, then let them out. Thats it! I have gotten two different batches of Neons in the past - all of them died after a complex step-by-step introduction except for one (Neons are wimps). These new guys are acting like they've been in the tank for months.
If this isn't THE reason to switch to an NPT setup, then I don't know what is!rayer:


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## newbie314 (Mar 2, 2007)

Are glo-light tetra wimps too?
I just got 6 more for the 20g-long.
To add to the 3 there.
Now they school 
I needed something more interesting going on. Sometimes snails and shrimp just don't do it.


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## Conankills (Aug 26, 2007)

newbie314, 
You could get a dragonfly larva, that'll put some excitement in your tank.
Trust me, I have experience in this. 




(I removed it yesterday)


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## dirrtybirdy (May 22, 2007)

lol you should have kept it in and watched it morph into a dragonfly lol


what kind of fish do you have?


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

Oh yeah, that is a dragon fly nymph. I used to see these when on frog hunting expeditions when I was young. They do bite quite well so be careful when removing it.


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## Afyounie (Aug 10, 2007)

I think you should have put it in another tank or something, or fed it mosquito larvae so it wouldn't eat your fish. Then you would have been able to say you have raised dragonflys as well as fish.


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## Conankills (Aug 26, 2007)

I have 1 Otto, 3 Neon Tetras, 3 Danios (ones that have trout-like spots on them), 1 Gourami, and a bunch of snails (and a colony of freshwater shrimp in the filter medium). 

I was thinking about keeping it, but I didn't want my aquarium to turn into a feeding box. I might just raise one in the summer. 
I'll post a new picture of my tank as soon as I have time.


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## DanD5303 (Oct 12, 2004)

When I taught HS biology, we would collect stuff at a local lake. We brought home several dragon fly larvae hidden in plants. They will cheerfully eat all the fish you mentioned except maybe the gourami, depending on the size. I've even had one try to take one of my fingers. Dan


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