stinefeld Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 I just noticed them today sitting on top of the one leaf of my banana plant, the multi-legged ones not the snails. Also the dirt is because I am a fool and listened to someone that recommended that I use a more natural substrate for the gravel. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrazyJohn Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 You mentioned banana tree, just got one a few days ago, can you send a pic of yours please. Do you know how big they get. Sorry I dont know what those are btw. Look like some sort of shrimp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveO Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 That critter sure reminds me of a hellgrammite. That's a larval stage of a Dobsonfly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dancing Matt Posted April 21, 2022 Share Posted April 21, 2022 (edited) Can you get some closer pictures? Definitely could be something larval... here are some terrifying yet fascinating possibilities, it seems to have mandibles and some type of legs/swimmers(or external gills maybe?!) like these different "fly" larva. Could be Alderfly larva based off their descriptions... https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/hellgrammite PS. I cracked up at your "I am a fool" statement, I say that all the time. EDIT. I just read the article and they do seem to be gills (on the hellgrammite) It like a bad "read all instructions first" moment. 😑 Edited April 21, 2022 by Dancing Matt I forgot to read... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stinefeld Posted April 21, 2022 Author Share Posted April 21, 2022 It is definitely is something larval, and really does look like a tiny hellgrammite, but that was the best photo I could get with my DLSR camera.... so that's probably the best that I can do. The little guys were probably only 2-3 mm long. One odd thing that I noticed was that their mouths were hovering towards the surface like they were trying to breathe air. I had to go away for a few days so i just crushed them in case they started attacking my shrimp. If i notice any more I will snag it and move it into a tiny jar, feed it, and watch it grow since i would love to see it in the adolescent/mature stages... I just don't want to see that happen in my aquarium XD. And to Mr. KrazyJohn, since I am away i cant get a photo of it but its lost all of its "banana" bits and now just shoots off lily pads every few days. They've gotten to be about 5in diameter so I trim them back once every few weeks. But it did look like the banana plant that was advertised for ~5-6 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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