Is this a Dragonfly Nymph Carapase in my Gym Tera tank?

[The Masked Shadow]

I have an outside 55g tank with Gymnogeophagus and a rapidly growing population of Mosquitofish, Platys, and sailfish mollies. There are a lot of plants, and 4 floating Water Hyacinth and Water Lettuce, and I saw this weird thing on a Water Hyacinth leaf. I think it’s a Dragonfly nymph carapace, isn’t it? I checked all my fish just in case they killed one, but all the gymno’s are there. So, is this a Dragonfly thingy?



edit: it’s on the brown lead closest to the top left.

 

[kno4te]

Looks like it.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Looks like it.

Could it have eaten my fish? Is it bad for the tank?

 

[Rtc/tsn]

Could it have eaten my fish? Is it bad for the tank?

Don’t think it’s too bad for your fish, I use them as fish bait all the time in the creek and bass love them so I don’t think it would be any different with the fish in the tank.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Do they eat any fish that are 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch.

 

[Rtc/tsn]

Do they eat any fish that are 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch.

Very possible but with platies and Molly’s I think they’d get the it first before it could get any of the smaller fish. as long as there’s a few bigger Molly’s and platties then I wouldn’t worry but if you want then you can take it out

 

[Deadeye]

I had one in my scud tank, still in the aquatic stage. Either they ate it or it got out because I couldn’t find it last time I looked.
Looks to be the same thing as what I had.

 

[Rtc/tsn]

I had one in my scud tank, still in the aquatic stage. Either they ate it or it got out because I couldn’t find it last time I looked.
Looks to be the same thing as what I had.

Sorry this is off topic but what’s a scud?

 

[Deadeye]

Sorry this is off topic but what’s a scud?

Common name for the freshwater amphipod. It’s a small shrimp-like crustacean that is a great food for fish and a great algae eater:

 

[C. Breeze]

Dragonfly larvae eat livebearer fry and other fish fry. Fish eat dragonfly larvae. I can’t see a 1.5” cichlids getting taken down by dragonfly larvae. I do have 100s of dragonflies and larvae throughout the season. The main thing to watch out for is dragonflies will sew your eyes shut while you sleep.