View Full Version : tiny hopping bugs (w/pic)
phoenix
09-09-2005, 6:33 PM
I have a planted 20g high which has been going for 9 months now. Today when I was feeding my fish I thought i noticed some little bubbles popping on the waters surface. Well as more and more caught my eye I realized that it was really super ting bugs hopping around on the waters surface. It appears as if there may be a dozen or two of these little guys. I would say they are smaller than a pin head. If they are a problem I'd like to get rid of them, otherwise I don't really care. Can anybody tell from this pic what it is I've got?
http://www.pbase.com/phoenix_dz/image/48991886.jpg
sumthin fishy
09-09-2005, 8:11 PM
Call me crazy, but it looks like an aphid!! You don't have rose bushes near your tank, do you?
spegheticonfeti
09-09-2005, 8:24 PM
wow thats interesting! it might have come from the plants in your tank but its wierd if they just now showed up since ur tank has been running for a while. i guess i would just try to get rid of them lol it kinda does look like an aphid though but that blue thing on its back is strange.
JinxXx0085
09-09-2005, 8:26 PM
mmm if those bugs are just hopping around on the surface not going down into water.. it shouldn't hurt anything. Fish might make a meal out of them if they manage to catch one.
I don't know much of general info about bugs ... yet.
sumthin fishy
09-09-2005, 8:31 PM
I think the "blue" thing is really clear, with a bluish reflection from behind.
sumthin fishy
09-09-2005, 9:18 PM
OK I looked arround and its not an aphid. Try this site, mabey you can ID it there
http://www.whatsthatbug.com
wataugachicken
09-09-2005, 9:30 PM
congratulations.
you have some weird f'ing bugs. it's kind of cute, and yet. . . i have this feeling that i'll be seeing it in my nightmares sometime soon. . .with sharp teeth. . .
phoenix
09-09-2005, 9:52 PM
lol no rose bushes near the tank.... and yes that bluish part on its back is blue. There were a couple of them on that leaf and the other one was just a solid green looking color. To the naked eye they are just super tiny yellow/green jumping things. I didn't realize how fully featured they were until I pulled out the macro lens.
This pic gives a little more perspective, the leaf is Alternanthera.
http://www.pbase.com/phoenix_dz/image/48999255.jpg
TipStylez
09-09-2005, 10:26 PM
holy **** your cam can zoom.
JinxXx0085
09-09-2005, 10:28 PM
holy **** your cam can zoom.
I second that! WHOAAAA! What cam do you use? or did you have a microscope??
hurdledude1298
09-09-2005, 10:38 PM
i know you may not think it is but i seriously believe it is and aphid that somehow found its way to your tank. they will eat your plants (i think this because i looked it up in a bug book i have for a stupid biology bug collection project.)
Puffernewbee
09-09-2005, 10:59 PM
ONe heck of a camera you got there. I cannot find anything about underwater aphids. Everything I found about aphids on pond plants had a cure of submessing the plant and drowning the aphids. Not sure what it is but my daughter and I agree that it's a cute little thing.
Have the fish shown no interest in eating them?
TipStylez
09-09-2005, 11:03 PM
dosnt look like the fish can even see em.
phoenix
09-09-2005, 11:07 PM
well the first thing i did was try to get rid of them but i didn't have very much success. I tried squirting them down into the water column for my fish to eat. I tried soaking them up in a paper towel. I tried scooping them up with my brine shrimp net. They just pop around everywhere on top of the water and they either escape my every move or they are just very water repellent..... When I was trying to submerge them i saw two very tiny sort of shiny things sinking in the water but my fish just spit them back out. They might not have been the bugs though, maybe baby snails that I knocked off one of the plants.
btw. for the pics I was using a Canon 10D and a Sigma 180 Macro lens. The first pic is a 100% crop.
svtcontour
09-10-2005, 12:01 AM
I have these as well. They were congragating around my Pengium Pro-60 biowheel kit. They are about 1/10th the size of a small ant, if not smaller and they hop around on top of the water until they get to something they can hold onto like the aquarium side or a filter spout or something.... Definitly too small for fish to see or care about. They dont seem to harm anything so I've left mine.
Not an aphid but a springtail, and that is a very nice picture of for such a tiny subject.
And you if you do have a microscope have fun observing them because they ping off the scope objectives when they jump. :)
Tom
phoenix
09-10-2005, 8:53 AM
Thanks Tom, I googled springtail and found some pictures that look very similar to what I've got here. It looks like people sell springtails as live food so I guess I won't be too worried about having them around in my tank.
jaylin
09-10-2005, 8:59 AM
Yup, that's a springtail and that's an awesome picture!
I love spring tails. They're pretty cool little critters. In the mountains here in Colorado, you can find those guys sitting in groups on the snow around little rivers and streams in the springtime. They jump around and look almost like snow that's blowing.
(Most species eat detritus, diatoms and algae ... )
Grimace
09-10-2005, 9:17 AM
Kinda cute though, if they start multiplying then i would worry a little.
Great food for dart frog babies...
NDferro
09-10-2005, 12:46 PM
http://www.tased.edu.au/tasonline/dorsetww/parap.png