Will it eat my fish?

I was out collecting in (~middle) Georgia this weekend and brought back a pretty big water bug of some sort because I thought it looked neat and wanted to add it to my planted 55-gallon tank. Now I'm concerned because when I was trying to ID it online I noticed not only that I couldn't, but that everything that it kind of looks like eats fish.

Here are some pictures that I took of it:
 Mystery_Bug__1_.jpg   24.27KB   2 downloads
 Mystery_Bug__2_.jpg   59.92KB   0 downloads
 Mystery_Bug__3_.jpg   40.64KB   0 downloads
 Mystery_Bug__4_.jpg   54.76KB   0 downloads

It doesn't really move, and when it does it crawls very slowly and rather awkwardly. It spends all its time at the bottom of the cooler, underneath a wad of plants. I haven't seen it surface for air and it resists leaving the water.

Can anyone tell me what this is? Based on it's size will it eat my fish (right now I have a few shiners, chubs, darters and a madtom - all of them at least 2-4" in size)? Do you have any suggestions for keeping it happy?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

-Alejandro

Edited by alejandro, 27 October 2008 - 01:16 AM.

well before anyone else gets to you, you really shouldn't keep things you dont know how to take care of or cant identify , and the way your bug looks, it most likely eats fish

I can't get to to species, genus, or family, but you do have an Odonate. Odonata order includes dragonflies and damselflies. These nymphs can live around 2 years and they are just like the adults - predators. Most dragonfly larva are hunters, but they eat other inverts/larva, some worms and crustaceans. They will not eat your fish - though I would imagine if you had a wriggling fry on the bottom they ould eat it. I I have had one live for about 4 months in a tank. It was actually suppose to be food for my sunfish, but one escaped and I didnt see it again until I rescaped my tank. So, I don't know what he was living off of. Hopefully someone else can give you the family of your critter, and give you some tips on keeping it alive.

That big fella is a larval dragonfly of the genus Macromia, AKA belted river skimmers. I believe Macromia are less likely to eat fish than, say, darners such as Aeshna and Anax, but it is still a potential threat. Some of your fish may harm the dragonfly, pulling at its legs and generally harrassing it.

I had always thought that (all) dragonfly larvae were long and slender with big extendable jaws so it never would have occurred to me that this was a future dragonfly. I think I'll go ahead and set up a separate tank both for its and the fishes' sakes. Thanks!