Aquatic predator...what is this?

[Farom]

I accidentally scooped this little critter up when I was catching some tadpoles. I think he's been eating some of them, so I decided to separate him into his own cup. Can anyone identify it? It's about half an inch long. I'm thinking it could be a diving beetle larva? Or something along those lines.

 

[dtknow]

water tiger....diving beetle larvae.

 

[Farom]

That's what I was thinking. Thanks!

 

[Galapoheros]

After looking around on the www, people seem to call many species of water beetle larvae "water tigers". Can somebody nail it to a species? How big was this one? I like keeping pred larva in an aquarium, too bad they eat each other.

 

[Farom]

It's about half an inch right now, so I'm pretty sure it's still just a young nymph. I plan on raising it through adulthood.

 

[Jer]

After looking around on the www, people seem to call many species of water beetle larvae "water tigers". Can somebody nail it to a species? How big was this one? I like keeping pred larva in an aquarium, too bad they eat each other.

Species - no. But definately of the genus Dytiscus of the family Dytiscidae.