# Advice on keeping aquatic insects?



## saltyscissors (Jan 16, 2010)

In the spring, I'm gonna try keep some pond skaters, water scorpions and great diving beetles, but I have no idea what special requirements they have. I know they're carnivores, and I know they're aquatic, but how much would they need feeding? does the water need changing every now and again? what substrate?

I'm thinking of a Gerris sp, Nepa cinerea and Dytiscus marginalis. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Nomadinexile (Jan 16, 2010)

saltyscissors said:


> In the spring, I'm gonna try keep some pond skaters, water scorpions and great diving beetles, but I have no idea what special requirements they have. I know they're carnivores, and I know they're aquatic, but how much would they need feeding? does the water need changing every now and again? what substrate?
> 
> I'm thinking of a Gerris sp, Nepa cinerea and Dytiscus marginalis. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


I would recommend talking to a good aquarium store.  They will basically be fish tanks for the water scorpions anyway.  The skaters probably don't need oxygenated water, but it will need cleaned and what not.  That's all I have.


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## BiologicalJewels (Jan 17, 2010)

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=90127
http://scabies.myfreeforum.org/Giant_Water_Bug_about1952.html


dig around my friend, dig around.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Galapoheros (Jan 17, 2010)

I don't think clean water is a necessity since these things live in ponds and creeks and large temp puddles.  I've kept some of this stuff over the years, never serious about it though.  You don't need deep water.  I've never kept whirligig beetles though, caught them but never tried to take care of them.  I've got a giant water bug right now, thought it would've died already or tried to fly away but it's still doing great.  They like to be able to grab on to something close to the surface, maybe floating, driftwood or something like that.  I don't think sub is important but water bugs like stuff on the bottom the can grab on to when they swim down.  This water bug I have tries to swim towards me when I walk by, thinks I might be something to eat, they can see pretty well.


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## Acro (Jan 17, 2010)

If you are into aquatic insects, you should get the book "Assassins, Water Scorpions and Other True Bugs".  It covers: Giant Water Bugs, Water Scorpions, Water Striders, and Backswimmers.  You can find it here:
http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/elytraandantenna/

When you get the inverts set up, please post some pics!

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Deroplatys (Jan 17, 2010)

I reared some water scorpions to adult last year, i still have them in fact 
Heres a care sheet i wrote on them 



> *Common Name:* Water Scoprion
> 
> *Sienctific name:* _Nepa cinerea_
> 
> ...


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## Deroplatys (Jan 17, 2010)

Oh and heres a couple of vids i made for them, they are very fun to keep 

[YOUTUBE]KgiQ2UqS2yA[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]wCQGRJd_ILU[/YOUTUBE]


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## Galapoheros (Jan 17, 2010)

Cool, I think I remember seeing the pics.  How do you tell the females from the males?  I've been wondering what sex I have here.

Reactions: Disagree 1


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## JPJ (Jan 17, 2010)

Dragonfly nymphs are really easy and cool to keep as well.


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## blazetown (Jan 17, 2010)

I learned you can feed mealworms to water striders last summer. I would suspect tiny minnows or smaller surface insects to be better food though.


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## Nomadinexile (Jan 18, 2010)

Galapoheros said:


> I don't think clean water is a necessity since these things live in ponds and creeks and large temp puddles.  I've kept some of this stuff over the years, never serious about it though.  You don't need deep water.  I've never kept whirligig beetles though, caught them but never tried to take care of them.  I've got a giant water bug right now, thought it would've died already or tried to fly away but it's still doing great.  They like to be able to grab on to something close to the surface, maybe floating, driftwood or something like that.  I don't think sub is important but water bugs like stuff on the bottom the can grab on to when they swim down.  This water bug I have tries to swim towards me when I walk by, thinks I might be something to eat, they can see pretty well.


outdoors, there are other creatures and life "cleaning" and oxygenating the water.  Even with plants in your habitat, they are not large enough, nor is your tank biology complicated enough, not to have something "cleaning".  

It might be filters, it might be algae eaters, but if you stick a few plants and a few bugs in a tank and just leave it, you will have a mess on your hands sooner the later!!

then again, maybe I'm wrong here.  And, hypothetically, you could create a passive closed loop system that wouldn't need any "cleaners", but that would involve a lot of room and plants, maybe a large aqua culture fish tank.  You could run water (even waste water) through a system of old bath tubs outside, that grow floating aquatic plants, another tank with tilapia and clams, and then through your tank, where expelled water is then recycled back into the system.  But that would be a lot of work.  But then you would have a beautiful aquatic garden!  You would have home raised tilapia you know what they've been fed!   And you get to reuse and recycle your waste water!

For more info on systems like I describe above:  

Toolbox For Sustainable City Living- A do it ourselves guide
By: Scott Kellog and Stacy Pettigrew
copyright: 2008        ISBN: 978-0-89608-780-4
Published by:  South End Press; Cambridge,MA

This book covers water filtering/recycling, passive solar, producing your own ethanol, bio-gas (Natural gas type mix), growing food, setting up a composting system, AND EVEN Insect production of feeders for fish and chickens and Humans!  

Anyway, I don't have any connection to the book writers, publishers, or anyone else who profits in anyway from this.  I am just a BIG fan of this book.   I think it could save your family, or even your communities in the coming years.  And you could make some awesome bug habitats working within designs of book.   Systems can also be scaled down and up, check it out!

Reactions: Funny 1


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## saltyscissors (Jan 18, 2010)

Hey Deroplatys, is tap water safe to use? And if so, does it need changing every now and again, or scavengers?


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## Galapoheros (Jan 18, 2010)

At the least I would circulate the water just a little, these don't filthy up the water as much as fish do, I've found I don't need a filter.  I do have Daphnia swimming around, they help out.  The water bugs and beetles the op is talking about breathe surface air so water quality and oxygenation isn't terribly important, not for them anyway, it's how they can live in stagnant water but you don't want a smelly aquarium of course.  My bug aquarium has a lot of Spirogyra algae in it, they like that kind of stuff but there is too much in it right now.  When it gets like that I just reach in, grab it and chunk it.


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## Acro (Jan 19, 2010)

Check out this old post for a fun read.  Be sure to look at page two for my contribution!  Enjoy!

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=143272


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## Reptiliatus (Jan 24, 2010)

Here's a video of my Canadian native Water scorpion eating a guppy! 

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD4iUQcsiGg&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]


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## GiantVinegaroon (Feb 6, 2010)

I recently kept a _Ranatra_ sp. until it disappeared (I think my crayfish ate it).

Really easy to keep.  Think of it as an underwater arboreal.  Just offer things to cling onto(especially near the surface since they breathe with that tube on their abdomen) and feed once in awhile and you're good.


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## Villagecreep (Dec 19, 2018)

anyone have advice on where and how to catch aquatic insects? I know this thread is old but i'm just curious.


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## Schledog (Dec 20, 2018)

It’s simple as putting a net in the water and dragging it along the bottom, but you can also check around really bright lights for giant water bugs

Reactions: Like 1


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## Villagecreep (Dec 20, 2018)

Schledog said:


> It’s simple as putting a net in the water and dragging it along the bottom, but you can also check around really bright lights for giant water bugs


Oh okay thanks this is really helpful! You'd think I'd know this because I have a stream in my backyard!


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