HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I found this strange creature in my Chinese firebelly newt tank... and I have no idea what the heck it is..... it looks like a wingless dragonfly and yellow in color. Scared the crap out of me:shock: and its creeping me out..... does anybody know what it is? It must have come in on some live plants I bought from petsmart a couple months ago.....


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That is exactly what it is - either a dragonfly or damselfly. Get it out of there ASAP! They are voracious predators and could potentially harm your newts. No joke - they can take down frogs and fish. It would be definitely be cool to raise it, but do it in a separate container.

Oo crap.. it must have been living in there for months!! Now I'm not sure how to find it I have so many live plants.... where to start?

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They like to hang up near the surface to catch other bugs, so I would start up higher in the tank and work your way to the gravel.

Ooh, and they bite, so be cautious! You might want to get creative with nets and things rather than using your fingers.

We have those suckers here, they're nasty! I hope you can find him. Wear gloves!
If you're feeling brave, it's really cool to watch them transform. You could set him up in a nice jar or KK

Well I found it and got it out... its not one of those things where if you hsve one you will have more... things is it?
I put it in an old betta tank, what does it eat? I think it would be cool to try and raise it

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No, they're still juveniles so they can't reproduce. Takes the flying form for that.

Care: http://wandertokyo.com/?p=629

The only thing I would be concerned about is the species. If the plants it came in on were important, then it's likely not a native species and y'all know I how I feel about releasing something not native!

Be on the lookout for more - I"m seeing a lot of mentions in aquarium forums that they tend to come in groups on live plants, so you might have more than one.

I checked the tank and as far as I know there are not any more. But I'm going to keep checking. When I bought the plants from petsmart, I believe it came on hogwart. I got a bunch of little critters, like cute little shrimp things, and I put it in a betta bowl for a while since I had gotten a new betta and was aquamating him to better tank conditions. Sadly the betta didn't make it. So I transferred the rest of the hogwart toy newt tank and he must have been attached. I didn't see anything else in the plant as I transferred it, but then again I missed him.
Any plant that I have bought from my petco iv never gotten critter suprises except for the nuisance snails. So this was weird to me.
How should I keep him if I cannot release him? Dragonflies creep me out so I'm not sure if I'm really going to enjoy having a live one in my house:shock:

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This might sound mean but do turtles eat them? If so maybe you can fine someone with a turtle and give it a treat

nana3 wrote:This might sound mean but do turtles eat them? If so maybe you can fine someone with a turtle and give it a treat

Or if you squish his head you can feed him to the crabs (the freezer would work too, but it's a little quicker for him if you just lop off his head)