# Sunburst Diving Beetles (56k warning)



## Villosa (Jul 18, 2007)

Just got 11 of these guys in this morning and already two of them got themselves butchered when I was at school...I fear non-stop feeding on my part coming soon...darn. 

I think they're so into feeding that when they accidentily bite each other it's usually fatal or near fatal and that causes them to swarm the injured. when they're not feeding they just sit around and sometimes males will try to grab a female (which usually lasts only a few seconds)

Anyway here are some pictures. My plan with these guys is to start a breeding program and to study if controlled feedings will lead to larger beetle sizes and also time of development. That is if they don't murder each other...






Stuff like this gets each other killed, I feed smaller worms now that can be scattered instead on a single piece of food. 
























Look who snuck into the shipment...a backswimmer.

Additions: 





Setup: 6 gallon tank


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## Ted (Jul 18, 2007)

gorgeous specimens!!
i want some!!


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## beetleman (Jul 18, 2007)

awesome! ya finaly got em! that's great:clap: enjoy em they are a trip to keep.


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## Villosa (Jul 19, 2007)

Yeah I finally decided to drop the money for these...just couldn't hold out anymore. They're so fun to watch, swimming about like little boats with paddles. And did I mention beautiful, I mean wow, absolutely beautiful beetles and of a good size too.


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## sick4x4 (Jul 19, 2007)

insane where did you get those???? im in cali lol


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## Villosa (Jul 19, 2007)

Got them at hatari inverts, nice people and great service.


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## zimbu (Jul 19, 2007)

oh wow those are beautiful O_O.  how big are they?


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## Villosa (Jul 19, 2007)

The biggest ones are about 15mm, usually female. Males are about 10-12mm and have suctions cups on their forelegs for gripping the female's back.

I've already witnessed a few matings though very fast so I'm not sure it was even successful.

Edit: so far they've taken krill, ocean plankton, and frozen bloodworms.


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## dtknow (Jul 19, 2007)

Very nice! Good luck with them. If you ever want to trade babies...


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## Villosa (Jul 19, 2007)

New pictures up


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## zimbu (Jul 19, 2007)

Very cool.  Thanks for the info... I might have to buy some of those.


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## Villosa (Jul 19, 2007)

Well...no one died today, so that was good. I had to feed them a lot however, you'd be surprised just how much these little guys can eat.

Reactions: Sad 1


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## JColt (Jul 19, 2007)

excellant pictures! Nice bugs. Thanks for posting.


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## beetleman (Jul 19, 2007)

POGONOMYRMEX said:


> Well...no one died today, so that was good. I had to feed them a lot however, you'd be surprised just how much these little guys can eat.


oh man when i had mine they wouldn't stop eating i would put a huge frozen/thawed silverside in there.......there was nothing left in no time little piranhas w/legs i tell ya had afew eat eachother here and there but not often. enjoy yours


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## Wade (Jul 22, 2007)

They will also eat fish food flakes. Not as much fun, I know, but you do get less of a feeding frenzy!

Most dytiscids lay eggs on emergent plants, but these apparently prefer to lay eggs in soil ajacent to the water (although I've seen pics of eggs on plants also). There was an article on breeding these in the proceedings for the SASI Invertebrates in Captivity Conference a few years back. Might be worth looking into! If I remember correctly, the author used a large tank (like a 40 breeder) with a sloping sand "beach" as an egg laying site.

Wade


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## Villosa (Jul 22, 2007)

Ah great tips as always Wade, I surely will look into that. I have black sand from my previous aquarium that will be perfect for their light-ish colored eggs. As for the frenzy, they've completely stopped that now once they've settled down and are kept well fed. I usually feed them small shrimp and they just grab a piece and take off in a hurry, more than enough to go around and they come back for seconds too.


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