Dragonfly Nymphs In Rcs Tank. Restart?

Hello folks.
I found a dead dragonfly in my office's window sill. Shortly after that I started seeing dragonfly nymphs in my RCS tank. Between yesterday and today I have removed 5 of them. I read dragonflies can lay hundreds of eggs at once.
Should I remove the RCS and restart the tank or should I just keep hunting them down?
Thank you!

I think the tail has only two thingies, not 3. Is this a predatory one?

 

Restart. I wouldn't take any chances. I didn't take damselfly nymphs seriously and after my shrimp colony was wiped out, I tore down the tank to find dozens of nymphs in the gravel.

 

Dragon and damsel nymphs are very efficient predators. I would do a restart.

 

I was afraid I'd have to do that, but I guess it is what it is. Big bummer.
Thank you for the replies. Much appreciated.

 

If you don’t wanna restart, you can add some guppies or soemthing like that and see if they will eat them. Worth a shot

 

Here is one of the little buggers

 

Thing is to do a restart would still mean removing the shrimp so that may not be an option unless you have a tank already setup.how many shrimp in the tank?

That one will destroy your tank it's a dragon fly nymph it will also have a go at small fish

 

Thing is to do a restart would still mean removing the shrimp so that may not be an option unless you have a tank already setup.how many shrimp in the tank?

I am not sure. Probably 30 or more.
I have extra tanks. I can sent up one quickly if needed.

That one will destroy your tank it's a dragon fly nymph it will also have a go at small fish

Nymphs are bigger than the shrimp. Would a fish that eat nymphs also eat the shrimp?

 

Yes that's the bad part in these Cisneros
These things are without doubt the worst thing to get in a shrimp tank

 

Yes that's the bad part in these Cisneros
These things are without doubt the worst thing to get in a shrimp tank

I'll restart it. It will give me a fun new project.

 

You'll have to be very careful not to transfer eggs into the other tanks. Can you post a picture of the tank

 

You'll have to be very careful not to transfer eggs into the other tanks. Can you post a picture of the tank

Here it is:


Its a 5.5 gallon. De-rimed, no lid.

I would take all the shrimp out and put them in a bare bottom tank. Clean all plants in a bleach solution, the driftwood I would boil and the substrate I'd let dry for a couple days. Then start a new set up.

What do you think?

 

Because there's no lid the dragon fly would have just dropped her eggs into the tank, as a rule they would lay them on a plant near the surface so you could go for referb or the other option is to carefully take out the plants,wood and large stones so you have substrate left, over the next week or so keep monitoring for any new hatch and remove as you see them, you can also do a gravel vac preferably into a white bucket that way any shrimp will easily be seen, they normally get into tanks on plants that you put in but I don't think so in your case

What did you decide to do in the end

 

Dragonfly larvae are extremely powerful predators and aren't afraid to bite. They have a mask-like jaw, with 2 powerful mandibles. They can shoot this out and retract it in the blink of an eye, they can catch small fish, small tadpoles, and aquatic invertebrates easily. Extremely dangerous towards smaller aquarium inhabitants and invertebrates.

 

You tought me something there, I didn't know about the jaw and mandible, glad they are not 6ft tall

Tell me Battabeetlesandbugs how many eggs can a dragon fly lay at a time I've tried to find out but no success

 

...or you can have a dragonfly nymph terrarium tank

I think they would be super fun to watch and feed! Dragonfly nymphs were one of my fav things to watch in the water when I'd go on salamander hunts.

 

I live in the wrong country

 

What did you decide to do in the end

I'll restart. It may take me a few days to get to it, so in the meantime I will watch and hunt.

 

Ok jo let y'know how it goes

 

Here is one of the little buggers
View attachment 476455

It's a damselfly nymph. Dragonfly nymphs are shorter and fatter. Either eat shrimp. I had one in my RCS tank once and lived through it fine, saw the lil guy resting on my tank after he finally morphed into his flying form. I also have container ponds of shrimp and they've had nymphs in them last year, and those ponds are still doing fine.

Whether they'll wipe out your colony depends on the size of your colony. My tank that had nymphs was/is a 5 gallon fluval spec, and the colony of RCS in there was over 1000 shrimp. I know it's over 1000 because I over the course of a week I sold 700+ shrimp out of that tank... and still had a bunch. I can't even begin to estimate how many shrimp are in my container ponds which are 27g and subject to many many more nymphs than I had in my spec v.

 

I stand corrected fishrfriendz I've just put the two together and your right. There seems to have been a lot of damage to tanks this year, my tanks are 500+ the average person may only 20 or so sharing with fish and it don't take long to wipe them out. Thanks for the update

 

It's a damselfly nymph. Dragonfly nymphs are shorter and fatter. Either eat shrimp. I had one in my RCS tank once and lived through it fine, saw the lil guy resting on my tank after he finally morphed into his flying form. I also have container ponds of shrimp and they've had nymphs in them last year, and those ponds are still doing fine.

Whether they'll wipe out your colony depends on the size of your colony. My tank that had nymphs was/is a 5 gallon fluval spec, and the colony of RCS in there was over 1000 shrimp. I know it's over 1000 because I over the course of a week I sold 700+ shrimp out of that tank... and still had a bunch. I can't even begin to estimate how many shrimp are in my container ponds which are 27g and subject to many many more nymphs than I had in my spec v.

Thanks for the info. Good to know. My worry is that I only have about 30 more or less.
I have been considering starting a tub pond for shrimp as well.

 

You'll get there jo