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Hellagramite in a tank?


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#1 Guest_Nightwing_*

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Posted 03 March 2008 - 10:32 PM

Ok...my fish roster consists of a boatload of assorted darters(rainbow and greenside), some NRBD, blackchin shiners, western banded topminnow, mudminnows, flagfish, gamusia, and eventualy, some small sunfish species(banded, bluespotted, blackbanded, or some mix of the above.) I also plan on introducing dwarf crayfish.
Anyway...in a jar of mud I had literaly forgotten about sitting on my sill..I found a live hellagramite. Not a clue what it's been eating, as there is nothing in the mud save a few blackworms...and it's been sitting there just evaporating for literaly months!
It's alive, and looks very cool..so thought about putting it into my tank. However...hate to see it take any of the fish. (not so worried about it being eaten..if so, then i guess that's how it goes).
Anyway...thoughts? Has anyone kept one of these before? I know I won't see it for years..but just the fact it's in there, and adds to the overall fauna of the tank, is enough for me.

#2 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 03 March 2008 - 10:38 PM

I had some in the 100 for a year or so (found them again when I treated with nox-ich for the Tates Hell Demon :( ), never bothered anything. Think they were pretty content eating mysis.

Todd

#3 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 04 March 2008 - 10:38 AM

So Todd, are you saying they are minnow and darter safe? And avoided the chubs? That's cool... but did you ever really see them, or were they just one of those things that you know you have (even if you can't show it to anyone)?

I had some in the 100 for a year or so (found them again when I treated with nox-ich for the Tates Hell Demon :( ), never bothered anything. Think they were pretty content eating mysis.

Todd


Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#4 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 04 March 2008 - 11:17 AM

I don't know if it will eat fish, but I can promise you, fish would love to eat it!
Take that baby down to a stream with smallmouth or trout, hook 'em through the collar, toss 'em upstream in a deep pool and let the current drift 'em through the pool. I doubt you get more than one drift!

Edited by mikez, 04 March 2008 - 11:18 AM.


#5 Guest_Casper Cox_*

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Posted 04 March 2008 - 12:31 PM

i had a big hellgrammit for well over a year. too big for the fish too eat and i dont "think" it ever bothered the fish. they do have some nasty pinchers on them tho, so who knows if a tankmate swam too close and turned up missing. they are pretty cool to observe. yea... and they make great bait. the abdomen has pulsing breathing feather gills. from my experience they only live in healthy fast flowing cool gravel runs.

the only thing uglier than a hellgrammit is a dobsinfly. i once saw both a male and female giant
dobsinfly around a shower house light at big south fork. i would like to see another one day as they are very interesting. the males have these long pinchers that cross well beyond its head. they stink too. i suspect there are different types of hellgrammits / dobsinflies, certainly in size. i believe the round, flat, white casings one sees on rock faces and bridge overhangs are egg casings of dobsinflies.

enjoy.

#6 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 04 March 2008 - 01:25 PM

There is only one dobsonfly (Corydalus cornutus) in eastern North America, but there are several similar-looking, but smaller, megalopterans in the genera Sialis (alderflies) and Chauliodes and Nigronia (fishflies). All have aquatic larvae.

#7 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 04 March 2008 - 02:00 PM

So Todd, are you saying they are minnow and darter safe? And avoided the chubs? That's cool... but did you ever really see them, or were they just one of those things that you know you have (even if you can't show it to anyone)?


Yeah, they're safe... But you'll never see them. The two I had were in the large piece of driftwood in holes and with the pattern on their heads, even if they were right in front of my face, I'd never see them.

Man, it would totally rule, though to have one emerge.

Todd

#8 Guest_Nightwing_*

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Posted 04 March 2008 - 10:40 PM

Todd...any thougths on how it would react with dwarf crayfish? I'd assume they are at least fast/strong enough to thwart it while not in molt..but I have to worry if it happens upon a molting one. (not that it would be nearly the problem a fish would be!). Oddly...I have some amano shrimp that are not much, if any, larger then dwarf crays..and the molt all the time, and appear to come though each one ok!




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