Has anyone kept Giant water bugs?

[funnylori]

Those are too cute for such vicious little creatures... What am I saying, they aren't as cute or as vicious as tarantulas. Remember to save me a stripy one named Frank!

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Today's update: 15-ish nymphs separated, and I've gotten five or six to feed when offering 1/3 of a mealworm.

A free-floating stripe-morph:

Another bug feeding:

Another different bug feeding:

Now all that remains is clearing sales with the grad student I got the culture from. Ultimately, it's his decision. *crosses fingers*

 

[dtknow]

Lookin good! The striped one is very cool looking.

I received a few of these from Wade(adults and nymphs), and after experimenting the best food items appear to be gammarus(scuds, these were very eagerly taken)and rice flour beetles both adults and larvae. I got some to take cut pieces of redworms off a pipette and also blackworms, but the blackworms tend to break apart and escape and the nymphs area not very ga-ga about them. They probably do best in very shallow water and I've seen them take a food item and then haul it out on land to consume it.

 

[EAD063]

I know they're probaly not related, but I'm hoping some other people keep "water bugs" and may know what I'm talking about. We had an ecology class that spent about 2 days a week with waders on, kicking rocks around in the river and small streams and using the current to catch everything in nets. One thing we found was a bug that looked almost like a clam worm but it has pinsors on both it's front and possibly the back end too. We used shallow buckets and pans to keep all of our speciemen in while we ID'ed them and such, and the professor let us put a small fish in with the bug, to our surprise the bug/worm thing attacked the small minow with it's pincors and readily seperated the head from the body of the fish in an instant. I was wondering if any of you marine lovers have encountered this before because they seem like a highly interesting animal to study. I am pretty sure we still have the bug preserved but I maybe wrong since I dont goto that school anymore. Any help would be appriciated.

Ed

 

[Mr. Mordax]

It wasn't a hellgrammite,was it? They're the larvae of dobsonflies, order Megaloptera.

image: http://www.nicerweb.com/doc/class/pix/RiverWatch/hellgrammite 3.jpg

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Lookin good! The striped one is very cool looking.

I received a few of these from Wade(adults and nymphs), and after experimenting the best food items appear to be gammarus(scuds, these were very eagerly taken)and rice flour beetles both adults and larvae. I got some to take cut pieces of redworms off a pipette and also blackworms, but the blackworms tend to break apart and escape and the nymphs area not very ga-ga about them. They probably do best in very shallow water and I've seen them take a food item and then haul it out on land to consume it.

Mine have been eagerly accepting mealworm thirds, but I have to be careful. I found that if I leave the leftovers in the water too long, the nymphs die. Trial and error learning has cost me a lot of nymphs . . . including all the stripe-morphs I had .

 

[Wade]

Nymphs also seem to be very fond of dermestid beetle larvae.

The small nymphs are indeed, very delicate. Water cleanliness might be the issue, removing prey probably helps, but I like to always feed the day before I do a water change anyway. Large nymphs and adults are not nearly so sesnsitive.

I've wondered if the problem isn't the dirty water itself, but the film (protien?) that develops on the surface. Perhaps this drowns the small nymphs as they cannot break through to breath, while larger nymphs can penetrate this. Some type of flow-through system (as discussed earlier) might help here.

Wade

 

[Mr. Mordax]

The grad student said he'll get me a copy of his rearing procedures as soon as he finishes editing them. He suggested frequent water changes, and I've only lost one more since then. Fingers officially crossed.

 

[funnylori]

Fingers officially crossed.

I'll cross mine too. Frank died? Sad. I am still going to wait though, for another Frank, another striped morph. So cool!

 

[EAD063]

It wasn't a hellgrammite,was it? They're the larvae of dobsonflies, order Megaloptera.

image: http://www.nicerweb.com/doc/class/pix/RiverWatch/hellgrammite 3.jpg

I think thats it, once I read "dobsonflies" I had a feeling I was going to click on a familiar image...does anyone rear these in captivity or no sense they develop into something else? All I know was it was one bad a** bug.

 

[Stylopidae]

I'll cross mine too. Frank died? Sad. I am still going to wait though, for another Frank, another striped morph. So cool!

Oh, Frank

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Well, this morning I had two or three stripes. There's still PLENTY of eggs left to hatch, so I'm sure I'll get it down by the end of this.

 

[arachnocat]

Those are so cool. I have a big tank ready for something... Maybe I can afford to get a few of these guys in a few months.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

A bunch more eggs have been hatching, and I'm having fewer dieoffs. I'll need to buy some more hex bolts today. If the grad student OKs selling, I'll post here first. And I'll probably need to upgrade my paypal account .

 

[arachnocat]

Good luck with them! Keep us updated

 

[Mr. Mordax]

25 nymphs this morning, and eight stripes (one died last night ). Last night the adult male stripe cast off the egg cement. This morning, more than half accepted food. I still have three broods left and one hasn't even started hatching yet. If I continue to do this, I think I'll separate the adults by sex and only do ONE brood at a time.

Hopefully the stripe will mate again soon. I think they get started on another brood almost as soon as they're finished with one.

 

[dtknow]

So far most of mine are molting into 2nd instar with no problems. I lost one that molted deep inside a clump of java moss and got stuck. I have them singly and in pairs and so far no cannibalism(they are getting fed alot)...but I am getting them split up as soon as possible.

What do you guys usually give the adults? I brought in some feeder goldfish and to my surprise they were taken quite eagerly(though I highly doubt these bugs can catch healthy fish in the wild with any amount of regularity). They seem to be very atune to surface vibrations as opposed to those of fish however.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Update: I'm at capacity with 41 nymphs, and MORE keep hatching! I was tempted to try pairing them, and if you haven't had cannibalism, I'll give it a shot.

I'm feeding my adults mealworms, as well. They also accepted B. lateralis feeder roaches.

 

[dtknow]

I just make sure that they stay at opposite sides of the containers by using java moss clumps as barriers. I keep pairs in drinking cups and also 3-4 in containers with floorspace a little more than a CD but with lots of moss to make barriers. Also keep them stuffed with food. I haven't seen them attack each other, except on one occasion one nymph dragged a worm bit on land and another one had the other end and after a few minutes took it and ran. I imagine when they get older you will have to seperate them...but we'll see what Wade has to comment on that.

 

[Wade]

I try to keep them split up if possible. As you guys are guessingh, keeping up wih ALL of hem is probably impossible. In an elborate aquarium I imagine you might keep cannibalism to a minimum, but when they hatch out in the tank with the adults they're gone wihin days.

BTW, today I set up a group rearing tank that holds 26 32oz cups. The main tank is a forty gallon breeder. The cups have small holes burned in the sides so water can flow through. Filtration is provided by two submersible filters positioned on opposite corners. To set this up new would be horribly expensive, but it was all stuff I had lying around anyway.

Now I just have to wait for a new brood to hatch to try it out!

Wade