# Dragon fly nymph =[



## Punki (Apr 30, 2011)

I found the shell of one in my dwindling fry tank today, today there was a huge loss along with its skin. I read they shed their skin a few times so it still is probably hiding in all the duckweed, my fry are two weeks old, theres maybe 4-5 left in the 10g tank and i dont know what to do. If i remove the duckweed i worry a fry may be hiding in it, but i worry if i remove the fry they will die, plus itll be hard to catch them..... I dunno what to do =/ Anyone experienced this and successfully saved their last few surviving fry? Im devastated that this somehow slipped by me =[


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## bby1984 (Jul 18, 2011)

That really sucks! I'm sorry this is happening to you. Maybe you could transfer some water from your fry tank into a new one like you were doing a water change, then transfer the heater/ filter etc. Add more water and then your surviving fry all the while being carful not to transfer anything unwanted along. I'm pretty sure if you transfer your things and some plants over very carefully you can either spot or avoid transferring over a Dragon Fly Nymph (DFN). They are fairly big. If you leave things as is it will surely eat your remaining fry. They are incredible hunters and they can eat alot. Are you certain it's a DFN? They are ambush predators so if you have one it's most definatly hiding somewhere in wait for your babies. :-( I hope it all works out for you!


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## Punki (Apr 30, 2011)

Yeah i found a second, then a third, then a fourth, i ended up carefully removing the duckweed and tossing it, putting an airstone on an airhose and syphoning water into a 2.5g then carefully syphoning the fry with my gravel vac. I got 8 out and looked forever for anymore. Now i can tear the tank down and clean it all really good then put them back in a week or two, ill just have to change the water in 2.5 daily for the time being but its better then them all dying tonight. By any chance do you know how big a dragonfly nymph is at its smallest form? I see tiny almost microscopic critters that have legs and remond me of dragonfly nymphs but they are just dots, i ignored them thinking if a net couldnt catch them the fry could but now i worry they were tiny tiny dragonfly nymphs that grew, if thats the case they are in all the water, and a couple slipped into the 2.5 when id syphon a fry, the fry could eat them if they tried at this point, so hopefully they do, if not ill be syphoning at them in the morning, hopefully all is safe tonight. Thanks for the suggestion, your right, they do hide VERY well. and stay really still. I took a pic of the first one i found, im pretty sure its a dragonfly nymph


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I have never noticed a newly hatched DFN. But I know adult bettas could eat young DFN. If you're not certain about the tiny ones, siphon them out - better safe than sorry. 

I once found over 30 of them in one of my fry tubs. It's safer to tear everything down and start a new setup. 2.5 is an adequate temporary tank for 4 - 5 fry, specially if you're using filters. Hope they all make it. .... Good Luck


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## bby1984 (Jul 18, 2011)

Wow is that picture from your tank? How big was it? I think the size depends on the species of dragonfly. Most start out tiny but if they have molted a couple of times they are probably larger, somewhere between 5 and 7 cm. We studied them in my biodiversity lab at my university. They are really cool creatures but I definitely would not want them in any of my aquariums. Wow, how unlucky to have so many of them in your aquarium. How were they introduced? Do you keep live food cultures outdoors, or do your plants come from an outdoor pond or something? I now that many people are comfortable using outdoor sources to grow/collect resources for their fish keeping but this is exactly why I like keeping all of my cultures and indoor plants indoors. I am cheering for you, good luck with getting all those guys away from your fry! Please keep us posted.


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## Punki (Apr 30, 2011)

I used an outside food source but i filtered through 2 nets to avoid them so unless they were these microscopic looking things i didnt put any in that way. Im pretty sure it was the plants, i gathered them from the canal out back, i QT them for 2 weeks in a 5 gallon bucket outside, rinsing them every other day and changing their water, i guess this would be adequate for an adult, he could eat the newly hatched ones that may have been dropped off JUST before introduction but not for fry. I was so thurough though, its hard to know i somehow missed them. 
All 8 fry i siphoned into a 2.5 last night have survived overnight, they are picking at the marimo ball this morning, thank goodness they were 2w old before the dragonfly nymph took most out, easier to see and hardier. Thank you 
Edit: the picture is from the bucket i siphoned it into it was alittle more then a cm long, alittle less then an inch, pretty large, and there was 2 more of its size, then a few smaller ones. discusting little things!


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