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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / I Have a Monster in my Aquarium. What is it?
« on: 27/11/2010 23:33:02 »
A monster's moved itself into my house. And I've not even shagged it.
I have a small indoor heated aquarium which fits within a picture frame and hangs on the wall of my living room. The tank is about 2.5 foot long by about 18 inches high by about 2 or 3 inches deep and is fully enclosed in a wooden frame. It contains guppies and a lot of weed and snails.
A couple of weeks ago I saw what I thought was a spider drowning, thrashing/swimming in the tank. I tried to fish it out but it buried itself in the gravel and I lost it. A few hours later I was amazed to see it sitting in the weed. Upon closer examination I could see it has six legs, clearly has a head, abdomen and thorax, has a laterally flattened body and it’s abdomen was pulsating, presumably to facilitate breathing. It was then about 10mm long but is now about 15. No fish seem to be disappearing and I have a number of baby guppies which are smaller than it is. But I suspect it is eating snails.
I assume it is an insect larva and was probably introduced on the weed, possibly as an egg. But since it is a tropical tank I have no idea whether the weed is of native or foreign origin. Obviously it would be irresponsible to release a non native insect species into the wild – although at this time of year it would probably mean instant death even if it is native.
Any entomologists out there? Has anyone got any idea what it is? What can I do with it?
Monster, Naked Sci 1.JPG (49.19 kB . 403x293 - viewed 12546 times)
Monster posing 2 weeks ago.
Monster, Naked Sci 3.JPG (43.31 kB . 392x294 - viewed 11023 times)
Monster posing tonight.
Monster, Naked Sci 2.JPG (49.31 kB . 392x294 - viewed 11068 times)
Monster's home.
I have a small indoor heated aquarium which fits within a picture frame and hangs on the wall of my living room. The tank is about 2.5 foot long by about 18 inches high by about 2 or 3 inches deep and is fully enclosed in a wooden frame. It contains guppies and a lot of weed and snails.
A couple of weeks ago I saw what I thought was a spider drowning, thrashing/swimming in the tank. I tried to fish it out but it buried itself in the gravel and I lost it. A few hours later I was amazed to see it sitting in the weed. Upon closer examination I could see it has six legs, clearly has a head, abdomen and thorax, has a laterally flattened body and it’s abdomen was pulsating, presumably to facilitate breathing. It was then about 10mm long but is now about 15. No fish seem to be disappearing and I have a number of baby guppies which are smaller than it is. But I suspect it is eating snails.
I assume it is an insect larva and was probably introduced on the weed, possibly as an egg. But since it is a tropical tank I have no idea whether the weed is of native or foreign origin. Obviously it would be irresponsible to release a non native insect species into the wild – although at this time of year it would probably mean instant death even if it is native.
Any entomologists out there? Has anyone got any idea what it is? What can I do with it?
Monster, Naked Sci 1.JPG (49.19 kB . 403x293 - viewed 12546 times)
Monster posing 2 weeks ago.
Monster, Naked Sci 3.JPG (43.31 kB . 392x294 - viewed 11023 times)
Monster posing tonight.
Monster, Naked Sci 2.JPG (49.31 kB . 392x294 - viewed 11068 times)
Monster's home.