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Uninvited bug in tropical tank
Hi,
I was hoping you could help me with identifying this. I found it in my tropical freshwater fish tank the other day but not sure how it got there as it has been set up for 3-4 months and has a lid!! After looking through your site, the closest I could find is a Naiad but it doesn’t share some of the features. If it is a Naiad it’ll have a hard time getting out of the water let alone opening the lid of the tank, so I shall have to rescue it! What sort of time-frame is there for them turning into dragon-fly (if thats what it is)? Thanks for all the great work you guys do…
Laura Wells
(UK)

Hi Laura,
Yes, this is a Dragonfly Naiad. We are confused as to why you cannot remove the lid from your tank. Is it sealed? How do you feed the fish? This Dragonfly Naiad might have been very small and it might have arrived on the plants. We are also curious what it has been eating as they are carnivores.

Thank you for identifying it. Although I can remove the lid of the tank, I doubt a dragonfly can and there is no way for it to climb out of the water, so I shall rescue it this afternoon! It certainly hasn’t been eating my fish but I do feed the fish blood-worm once a week, pehaps this has been sustaining it? Thank you once again, we are all very grateful for your hard work…
Laura

Hi Laura,
Thanks for writing back and clearing up our confusion. We had visions of an hermetically sealed fish tank, fish and all, that was imported from China. The Blood Worms, aquatic midge larvae in the family Chironomidae, have probably been sustaining the Dragonfly Naiad. Additionally, the Dragonfly Naiad was probably introduced along with the living Blood Worms.

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