Maybe my coolest hitch hiker yet?

So I've described my policy of encouraging any and all micro-critters to colonize my tanks by the addition of unwashed plants, rocks and driftwood, and by directly poring them in when I can catch them.
It's a policy I used to enjoy flaunting on the mainstream aquarium hobby boards to stir up trouble with the "Experts" who would positively quiver with indignation as they described in great detail all the horrible plagues, diseases, paracites and preditors that would wipe out my tanks. Kinda like the way I would make them tweak when I admitted I don't use GAC, test kits or water conditioners.
Well I've grown out of the need to tweak teenage aquarium experts, plus I've finally found a forum of like minded freaks who think like I do.

Anyway, of all the inverts in the world, terrestrial or aquatic, my number one favorite by far are the lepidoptera. My passion for butterflies, moths and caterpillars approaches the level of passion I feel for fish and snakes.
One of the psyco photography projects I used to persue was to phtograph the life cycle of as many lepidoptera as I could, from egg to butterfly, with emphasis on capturing the trasformations as they occured.
One group of leps that always intriqued me were the aquatic moths. I had always planned to try and collect eggs and raise them in an aquarium to photograph. I frequently observed egg laying from the generic white aquatic moth which I believe is an introduced species that eats milfoil. I never got around to it though and my photography habit died when my antique film camera fell off a tripod.
I guess this is too much intro and better get to the gist before you lose interest.
Last night whilte checking my fry tank I found this guy perched on a piece of duckweed. He must have just emerged and while photographing him, he eventually started flapping his wings and finally flew off for parts unknown. A cursury search online did not reveal the species so if anyone has a guess, I'd appreciate it.
I'm guessing I have added moth larvae and/or pupa on many occasions without realizing it but hey must get eaten before I notice. Being in a tank of tiny fry is my guess for why this one survived.
Be sure I'll be looking alot closer at the plants I collect!

You might want to try sending an image to these people: http://www.whatsthatbug.com/ They've helped me identify insects before.


It looks like they're kind of busy these days, but if your moth is somewhat unusual they might add it to their site.

Hey, that's pretty awesome! I too am a lepidoptera fanatic! I have wondered about these aquatic moths but never seen any of them. That's pretty cool!
As a side note however, if you want to try raising any Saturnidae, I raise silkmoths in my spare time in summer and so if you want any eggs, I may have some to send you I usually have luna moths at the very least, and a two years ago I had about 50 pupae in my fridge for the winter.

Cool critters.

Do you by chance have water lily in your tank? Maybe, just maybe Waterlily Leafcutter Moth: Synclita obliteralis .

 waterlilyleafcutter.jpg   35.4KB   0 downloads
2008 Tom Murray

Edited by truf, 04 March 2008 - 03:04 PM.

Do you by chance have water lily in your tank? Maybe, just maybe Waterlily Leafcutter Moth: Synclita obliteralis .

 waterlilyleafcutter.jpg   35.4KB   0 downloads
2008 Tom Murray

I think you nailed it! Thanks!
I do not have any water lily [not counting dorment roots under the sand] but I've got lots of everything else. The moth was perched on a small clump of duck weed. A quick google of Synclita obliteralis revealed duckweed as one of their food plants. Very cool!

Hey, that's pretty awesome! I too am a lepidoptera fanatic! I have wondered about these aquatic moths but never seen any of them. That's pretty cool!
As a side note however, if you want to try raising any Saturnidae, I raise silkmoths in my spare time in summer and so if you want any eggs, I may have some to send you I usually have luna moths at the very least, and a two years ago I had about 50 pupae in my fridge for the winter.

Cool critters.

I appreciate the offer but I better decline for now. I'm kinda On the Wagon when it comes to raising caterpillars. I've found it to be an insidious addiction that spreads and grows out of control quickly. It's not very socially acceptable and for some reason my wife objects to me keeping clumps of weeds in all the window sills. She especially objects to clumps of weeds that produce a steady litter of tiny green pellets.
She did think it was cool when the missing monarch caterpillar turned up as a beautiful adult butterfly flying around the house but she's still not convinced that I'm not responsible for the little moths that fly out of the cat food and old corn meal.