# Mayfly Larvae



## crimsonbull57 (Jan 7, 2009)

Well I woke today and inspected my 20 gallon tank, only to see this creepy little critter on one of my MTS so I get on my computer and do some investagating and found out that there eaither mayfly larvae or stonefly larvae.
so my questions are
1. How do I get rid of these guys?
2. Will they hurt or kill my snails?
3 Will they kill fish or will fish eat then?

They are about a 1/2"


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## seds (Jan 30, 2009)

All mayfly larva are peaceful scavangers/algae eaters.

They are harmless. BUT they make a nice light snack for fishes, if they can catch one. Stonefly nymph on the other hand, MIGHT be dangerous to tiny fishes or invertebrates. Mayfly usually dart about and have many fins along the side, you probably won't be able to see any jaws. Stonefly nymph usually crawl around and they don't swim with their gills.
If they are half inch, they are probably mayfly, those are typically smaller.


*Stonefly nymph are usually carnivore.

I don't see a need to get rid of them, they are cool. They take a few months to mature. The adults of both are harmless.


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## Crawdad259 (Feb 15, 2009)

I've had three so far. The first two were different colors, one white and the other more brownish. None of my fish took an interest in them. I transferred the white one to my co-workers betta bowl with a rooting spider plant. The next morning he entered to find the may fly clinging to the spider plant. I found the remains of the second one in my aquarium, presumably unable to escape. I spotted the third one this week but haven't seen it since.


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