What is this strange creature in my tank?

[tennesseemom]

I was moving some plants around in my yellow shrimp tank when I saw something that wasn’t yellow move. What is this strange creature in my tank and how did it get there? It’s very shy, walks like a leaf bug, has a head like a fly, a butt like a 3 leaf clover and is black and white. It’s slighly smaller then a yellow shrimp, but longer.

Have I spawned a new creature that I can name after myself and make me famous for all time? Or should I feed it to my cichlids?

 

[PaulJ69]

looks like a damselfly nymph

 

[cam191919]

hed make a meal out of a small fish or shrimp, so id reccomend getting him out

 

[BigNorsk]

That's what it looks like to me too.

If you aren't familiar a damselfly adult looks like a quite slender dragonfly. The distinctive characteristic of the two is when they sit at rest, the dragonflies wings are still held outward like in flight, the damselfly folds them up above the body.

Marv

 

[Notophthalmus]

Yep, definitely a damsel. Get him out of there!

 

[jm1212]

damsel...squish him before he eats your shrimp.

 

[tennesseemom]

Thanks everyone! I didn't squish him, I just can't kill things. So I put him in my endler tank instead. I'm a bit sad that I didn't discover a new critter, but my kids and I learned something new today. Thanks!

 

[DrNo]

Those guys always look alien-ish to me.... hope I never find one in my tank.

 

[247Plants]

It will eat your baby endlers too! Vicious little bugs from what I have heard, though not as vicious as dragonfly nymphs.

 

[bushwhacker]

feed him to the cichlids