# Killer Dragonfly Larvae



## LiveHumanSkeleton (Jun 25, 2010)

I've had a planted 10 gallon tank for three months now. Few weeks ago I noticed a strange little creature that looked shrimp-like with a grasshopper's head and forked tail. I was warned that it might be a dragonfly larvae and that it could spell trouble for my fish. 

Then I caught the bugger munching on an oto. The poor fella didn't stand a chance and soon succumbed to his injury. It gets worse from there, I ended up finding three more of these things. I didn't hesitate to squish them, but I have no idea if I'm looking at an infestation here. I can only assume they came along with one of my plants. 

So basically I just need to know what my options are for controlling this pest. I welcome any and all advice. Thank you.


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## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

well, for i have seen on tv (animal planet, etc) they live underwater for a year or two, can not remember exactly...so, if you got them and they are young they probably will want to stick around for a while which in my opinion is sort-a cool exept for the part that they prey on fish =/ anyho, it would be awesome if you could share some pics!!


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## neilshieh (Jun 24, 2010)

someone gave me one of these guys along with a yellow shrimp order... thank god i always pour my shrimp into a bucket to count them and see if i was jipped  well i found the guy, brought it to a friend to id it and accidentally left it in my locker... it froze to death. buy i vaguely remember reading somewhere that pond keepers frequently keep a fish called mosquito fish? i don't know something like that, it eats mosquito larvae


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

May be one day you will discover a beautiful dragonfly on your tank. Here are the damselflies that I'd found on my tank:


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## mthom211 (Sep 3, 2010)

I would treat the tank with copper if you don't have shrimp and snails. I had some and they ate every lst one of my cherry shrimp.


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## Trower (Jan 4, 2008)

I have often thought of getting some just too keep in a planted tank to rid myself of extra guppys! I love dagon flies, but if you wanted to rid yourself of them copper is the only safe thing I can think of......but as stated before it will kill snails and shrimp as well.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I got one of the dreaded guys in a plant order too and while he was cool, I had micro-rasboras in the tank, so he had to go...


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