# Underwater Caterpillar (pictures)



## Valthenya (Feb 15, 2009)

if its true to its nature it'll ravage your tank plants


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

Are you sure it is a caterpillar? It looks like a mayfly larva or something. 

And those eat plants..

-Andrew


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## Minsc (Jul 9, 2006)

Get any plants from Aqua Forest/ADA-NA recently? Those have come as a 'bonus' for a couple people. MedRed had some that were munching his UG, I think he killed them by gassing the tank with CO2 (no fish were in the tank).
If you dig through his posts, you can find some discussion of the creatures.


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## Minsc (Jul 9, 2006)

By the way, those are not native to the US, as far as I know. Please find a way to kill them before there is a possibility of them changing to moths and escaping.


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## xiaxia (Mar 11, 2008)

no i have not gotten plants from there. the most recent was a plant i got from my LFS.
i'm kind of curious to see what it becomes but unfortunately i can't find it on the web...but i'll make sure it's taken care of.
thanks


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## DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR (Apr 25, 2008)

if you want to keep it around to see what it turns into for an experiment i would keep it in a closed container where it cant escape.

It doesnt look very cute either, i would terminate it by cutting it in half and then flushing.


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## Natty (Apr 2, 2008)

A Hill said:


> Are you sure it is a caterpillar? It looks like a mayfly larva or something.
> 
> And those eat plants..
> 
> -Andrew


I don't think they're anywhere that big though.



DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR said:


> It doesnt look very cute either, i would terminate it by cutting it in half and then flushing.


What if it did look cute? :hihi:


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## Cardinal Tetra (Feb 26, 2006)

Those are just caddisfly larvae. They live in streams and such. I've gotten them on plants from florida aquatic nurseries. They seem to be more common at certain times of the year. They munch on plants and as you can see will make little casings out of their leaves which they live in. Once they mature they will fly out of your tank.


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## DarrylR (Oct 9, 2007)

I wouldn't flush it, like I would never flush any plant/fish/shrimp bodies down the toilet.


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## Curator (Feb 20, 2009)

If it was cute, id cuddle it... and then everyone would be happy, cause it would be dead... although id be sad cause I just cuddled something cute to death...lol. O.O


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## Veneer (Jan 18, 2005)

I am not convinced that it's a caddisfly larva. There are definitely species of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) with aquatic larvae (even some gilled species, like those of the genus _Nymphula_. Some _Nymphuliella_ are known to feed on water lilies (_Nymphaea_) and to fold the leaves around them for protection.

If I recall correctly, _Nymphuliella_ were mentioned in a thread on this forum.


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## xiaxia (Mar 11, 2008)

well problem taken care of. fed it to my newts > < hopefully it wasn't posionous or that would be bad...now i will never know what it could have been :icon_cry:


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## Esox lucius (Feb 17, 2009)

Veneer said:


> I am not convinced that it's a caddisfly larva. There are definitely species of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) with aquatic larvae (even some gilled species, like those of the genus _Nymphula_. Some _Nymphuliella_ are known to feed on water lilies (_Nymphaea_) and to fold the leaves around them for protection.
> 
> If I recall correctly, _Nymphuliella_ were mentioned in a thread on this forum.


It is definitely a Lepidopteran, I have found some of the Nuphar (yellow water lily) burrowing species of moths in my research in Alaska ( I am grad student studying insects in Alaskan ponds), they burrow down the center of the stem at the node of the leaf to lay their eggs, pretty amazing. Trichopterans (Caddis) have distinct thoracic segments and head, usually scleritized (darker harder exoskeletal like). You should have let it pupate and hatch, now that would have been cool:icon_wink


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## xiaxia (Mar 11, 2008)

Esox lucius said:


> It is definitely a Lepidopteran, I have found some of the Nuphar (yellow water lily) burrowing species of moths in my research in Alaska ( I am grad student studying insects in Alaskan ponds), they burrow down the center of the stem at the node of the leaf to lay their eggs, pretty amazing. Trichopterans (Caddis) have distinct thoracic segments and head, usually scleritized (darker harder exoskeletal like). You should have let it pupate and hatch, now that would have been cool:icon_wink


aww poop i wish you relpied earlier ~ T T


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## stonedpuppy (Jan 26, 2009)

you should have released it into the wild and let it take over the world.


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## suebe333 (Feb 17, 2009)

stonedpuppy said:


> you should have released it into the wild and let it take over the world.


 LOL :hihi:


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## iluvbetta (Feb 11, 2009)

xiaxia said:


> well problem taken care of. fed it to my newts > < hopefully it wasn't posionous or that would be bad...now i will never know what it could have been :icon_cry:


Looks like it became fish food.


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## H0818 (Jan 12, 2019)

I have that too!! It came with the plants I bought... I thought I had fed it to my fish, a few weeks ago, but I just saw it in my tank. It made itself a nice home too...

I’ve now scooped it out and not sure what to do with it...


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## H0818 (Jan 12, 2019)

Hmmm ok, I’m completely new here...how do you post pictures? 🤦🏻[censored]♂🤦🏻[censored]♀


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## H0818 (Jan 12, 2019)

Aha!


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