Baby Water Striders

[KamailesZoo]

So I have had my water striders on the top of my 20G fish tank for a while now, and they've been laying eggs for a good while as well. My water levels are not constant, though, so I think all of my early eggs dried out. I tried putting a pregnant guppy in a breeder box at one point (I felt too bad and ended up just getting a separate tank) and the breeder box is still in the tank because the water striders have laid numerous clutches of eggs there, and it moves up and down with the water.

Now to my point. I have my first water strider nymph in the breeder box, and it is TINY! I've been feeding my water striders flightless fruit flies and the occasional grasshopper, but this nymph isn't even half the size of my flies! Will I need to find something smaller to feed it, or will it be able to feed on the flies even though they are so much bigger and tower above the nymph in the water?

 

[WeightedAbyss75]

Might be best to try and leave a carcass on the surface, either of the water or something directly on top of it near an edge. I have NO idea about water striders, always wanted to raise some. Good luck!

 

[KamailesZoo]

Might be best to try and leave a carcass on the surface, either of the water or something directly on top of it near an edge. I have NO idea about water striders, always wanted to raise some. Good luck!

I do normally have at least one or two carcasses on the surface in the breeder tank (the fish eat them anywhere else) so hopefully my babies will get something to eat there. I just worry -- they're so tiny!

 

[sdsnybny]

Springtails float, and some species are tiny, maybe give them a try.

 

[KamailesZoo]

Springtails float, and some species are tiny, maybe give them a try.

Where could I get some? I do have a local pet store that will order things in for me (I got my fruit flies that way) but I don't know if they could get springtails.

 

[sdsnybny]

Where could I get some? I do have a local pet store that will order things in for me (I got my fruit flies that way) but I don't know if they could get springtails.

Check the classifieds here, your local CL and any dart frog site or FB page. Not sure if pet stores will carry them. there are lots of good YouTube videos on culturing them. Try Aquarimax's YouTube page.

 

[schmiggle]

It's pretty cool that you're keeping water striders--care to post pictures?

I believe these are usually scavengers, so they should be perfectly happy to eat things larger than themselves so long as it's dead.

 

[KamailesZoo]

I decided just to go with fruit flies for now, and it seems to work. I've seen a couple nymphs on flies, and they've been molting as well.

And I'm finally uploading pictures for everyone to look at!

 

[cold blood]

I believe these are usually scavengers

I always understood them to be significantly predatory.

 

[schmiggle]

I always understood them to be significantly predatory.

Ah, it sounds like you're right. I guess some species are deposit feeders, though (at least according to wikipedia). Given that they want their prey to be moving, I bet if you sort of jiggled dead food they would take it if they didn't know you were there.

 

[Salmonsaladsandwich]

Ah, it sounds like you're right. I guess some species are deposit feeders, though (at least according to wikipedia). Given that they want their prey to be moving, I bet if you sort of jiggled dead food they would take it if they didn't know you were there.

Well it doesn't really matter either way, they still have no problem with prey that's larger than they are.

They respond strongly to moving prey but they still recognize and feed from dead stuff. Especially if there's already other water striders feeding from it.

 

[KamailesZoo]

Water striders do tend to be predatory (I strongly recommend watching them in action -- fascinating) but they do feed well on still prey, too. My striders actually go around the tank sticking their piercing mouthparts into everything includes floating fish food and plants when they get hungry and looking for food. Maybe mine have learned this behavior in captivity, but I know that they've jumped right onto both live and dead prey since their capture.