Went to the pond today.

[feemia]

I've been wanting to start cultures of daphnia and scuds, but I'm cheap so I decided to try to catch some myself at a pond near my house.

As I climbed back up the hill from the pond to go home I ran into a guy and his son with a goldfish in a bag.
I must have given him a funny look as I studied the goldfish because he held it up at started telling me about how the owner of the pond wanted the fish out so they were bringing him to the pond to release him. I immediately offer to take the fish and put him in my pond. He may actually go in a friends tank with her lonely koi though.

I came home with two gallons of pond water and spent about 20 minutes sitting on my back porch just looking in the bucket. It's full of critters, but I have no idea what any of them are! Some of them are kind of scary looking. Kind of creeps me out that I used to jump into any open body of water that I encountered.

I think I'm going to go back tomorrow and dump all of the critters back in the pond. I'm also going to collect some of the giant pink duckweed that I saw.

[Easydoesit]

sounds like an interesting trip to the pond
any pics?

[eroomlorac]

I never heard of giant pink duckweed. :confused:

[Rbishop]

Good save on the goldie.

[feemia]

Giant pink duckweed spirodela polyrhiza

[cam191919]

some of the creepiest things are dragonfly nymphs, but its cool to see them evolve

[ZSandmann]

Those things bite like crazy when you try to take them off a seine they are clamped onto.

[feemia]

some of the creepiest things are dragonfly nymphs, but its cool to see them evolve

I think I got 2-3 of those. When I saw the first one go into the bucket, I immediately moved my feet out of the pond.

[BadDogsPa]

This weekend we went to a local pond and cought some wild crayfish,and a bunch of water bugs for my fish to chomp on as a treat..

[Notophthalmus]

Cool stuff, Feemia. Put up pics of the bugs and I should be able to help you ID at least some of them.

[cam191919]

i remember catching crayfish. good times

[feemia]

Got a few pics before it got too dark. There's a lot more in the bucket that's just too small or too fast to photograph.

[Lady G]

Wow, those are some crazy looking critters you got there!!!

[Notophthalmus]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53525&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1213676656 (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53525&d=1213676656)
1. Beetle larva; not sure what kind, but it may be a small dytiscid (water tiger)
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53526&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1213676656 (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53526&d=1213676656) 2. Damselfly larva

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53529&stc=1&d=1213676656
3. Fish larva; hard to ID at this size, but may be fathead minnow (Pimephales)
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53533&stc=1&d=1213676656
4. Cladoceran, probably Daphnia species

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53535&stc=1&d=1213676731
5. Mayfly larva
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53537&stc=1&d=1213676731
6. Copepod, perhaps Cyclops
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53538&stc=1&d=1213676731
7. Hard to say; might be a predatory leech
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53540&stc=1&d=1213676731
8. Copepod with eggs


I hope this helped! I deleted photos which seemed to be repeats.
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[Reefscape]

Awsome critters...great photo's....

[feemia]

[/URL]
1. Beetle larva; not sure what kind, but it may be a small dytiscid (water tiger)
[URL="http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53526&d=1213676656"] (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53525&d=1213676656) 2. Damselfly larva


3. Fish larva; hard to ID at this size, but may be fathead minnow (Pimephales)

4. Cladoceran, probably Daphnia species

5. Mayfly larva

6. Copepod, perhaps Cyclops

7. Hard to say; might be a predatory leech

8. Copepod with eggs


I hope this helped! I deleted photos which seemed to be repeats.
__________________

YOU ARE AWESOME!

Other than the leech, are there any that I definitely shouldn't put in my tank?

[ZSandmann]

Anything that says larva will be come the adult if it doesn't get eaten first.

[Notophthalmus]

The beetle larva will get big and voracious; I've seen them feeding on 2" long green sunfish and pirate perch. It's gotta go.

The little fish and the damselfly larvae will probably feed on the daphnia and copepods, but if you have a good starting population they shouldn't do any serious damage. I'm not sure what sort of mayfly that is, but it looks like a grazer; a handful of dead leaves in the tank will keep it happy.

[feemia]

Makes me wish that I'd picked up the microscope that I saw in a thrift store a few weeks ago.

So, I've got an empty 10 gallon tank and a 1/2 gallon of greenwater. I think I'll divide the tank and put the tiny creatures on one side and the almost microscopic creatures on the other side and see what I end up with.

[smoochxoxo]

all i gotta say is ewwwww:yuck:! oh and um Im never puttin my toes in nooo pond water ever ever ever ever ever again!
:thud:
GL with your bugs

[Hooked Newbie]

Notoph-

Great IDs! I know this is GCC, but I think you should do a post in General Freshwater. Maybe a kindly Mod would sticky it since it's a frequently brought up topic. You know pics and IDs of critters safe to culture and feed... Whatcha think?

[Notophthalmus]

Sounds like a good plan! I'll see what I can whip up in the next week or so.

[Hooked Newbie]

Sounds like a good plan! I'll see what I can whip up in the next week or so.

Awesome! :headbang2: