help me identify please

**duncanl36** · 20th Jul 2010, 19:34

DSC00279.jpg
can someone please help me identify this?
saw it swimming around in my tank

**biggles** · 20th Jul 2010, 21:15

Hard to tell from the photo but it looks like it could be a dragon fly lava. Is your tank open topped or have you introduced any new plants in the last few days?

**duncanl36** · 21st Jul 2010, 23:16

open top and no new plants

**rafimo** · 22nd Jul 2010, 00:13

look like dragonfly nymph....most probably the egg came together with the plant.........lucky you manage to catch it or your small fish(tetra) will become dragon snack.

**tripleJ** · 22nd Jul 2010, 00:28

looks more like a damselfly. refer to link

**howe1985** · 27th Jul 2010, 23:36

I have this in my tank also!
somebody said it will eat the CRS, is it the true?

**biggles** · 28th Jul 2010, 06:02

Yes if it is a large dragonfly nymph they can grow up to two inches long and will eat anything smaller than themselves including your shrimps. Best to let it go in the local storm drain.

**Wolfgangs246** · 28th Jul 2010, 15:01

Hi Duncanl36,

to me that looks like a damselfly larvae. they are carnivorous and very good hunters. I initially found one after losing 30% of my tank community, then discovered 3 more after another series of mysterious deaths in my tank. You had better check your tank for more.

They can be introduced to your tank via eggs on plants, but take a while to grow to a size capable of hunting fish or CRS. I've found that adding medications that color the water help to bring them out of hiding as their natural color was semi-translucent and they tend to blend into the shadows.

Good luck hunting.

**biggles** · 28th Jul 2010, 15:27

Damselfly or Dragon fly there the same thing. Just keep it out of the tank if you have anything smaller than a whale in the tank as they will try to eat it