Predaceous diving beetles noob questions

[biggus dickus]

I caught a diving beetle larvae this summer, fed it, and got it to transform. I now have a gorgeous male, Dyticus verticalis maybe.

He is in a 5 gallon aquarium with filter, logs to crawl out on, fake and real plants.

He wont take food from tongs so far but he scavenges dead mealworms and stuff.

My question is, how long will he live, and Is it possible to hibernate him in captivity. No way does he lives as long if He doesnt imo.

A follow up question, If I catch more larvae next year(tried and couldnt find any last week) and get them to turn into beetles, can they cohabitate the tank safely, or will they kill each other. I already know the larvae kill each other.

Thanks

 

[kingshockey]

i have no idea yours is the first post i have read regarding this.if you do succeed in this please keep this thread updated especially if you can breed em good luck.

 

[biggus dickus]

Idk how popular they are in english speaking circles, I think they are more common as pets in asia. Idk where to find that info though

Edit

this korean kid says they can be kept together, and to feed them less in winter. I guess that kind of answers my questions. He also says they will breed and lay eggs in captivity, on the plants

If I do get eggs in future, I would have to seperate them and keep dozens of vials probably. Could always release excess ones back into the pond.

I think ill go muck around in the pond again, maybe I was just unlucky last time.

 

[nervousspider]

BugsinCyberspace.com sells diving beetles and is pretty knowledgeable about them! Check his website for info, and he also responds to DMs on instagram so I'm sure he could help you out.

 

[biggus dickus]

Thanks ill ask him

I went to the pond again today, caught 3 species of adult beetle. 1 scavenger beetle, and 2 predator beetles, one was 1cm the other was 3 mm. 0 larvae of any kind. So my conclusion is that they dont overwinter as larvae, only adults. Ill have to wait till next summer to collect more larvae.

The 1cm diving beetles might be interesting too if I can catch more. The one i got jumped away.

 

[biggus dickus]

Took a finer net to the pond. Found hundreds of small beetles. At least 2 more species judging by size alone. One ~3mm, other ~4mm. Kept 5 of the 1 cm ones.

With all this high diversity and abundance, not ONE larvae.

Ill observe the 5 1cm and my 1 3cm over the winter.

 

[biggus dickus]

Well my big diving beetle passed away. He is only 4 months old as a male adult, so its not old age. Idk what it was. Im very upset about this. My best guess is he couldnt haul out to rest? My set up is 5 gallon tank, filter, fake plants, real plants, and floating sticks about 1.5 inches in diameter. I never saw him on the sticks so I wonder if he died of exaustion or something. Ill take some water out, And put a rock or ornament or something on the bottom that Gives a haul out island. Still got the new little diving beetles.

 

[Ajohnson5263]

Did you test the water parameters? a pic of the setup might also help determine the cause of death

 

[biggus dickus]

No, I didnt think of that since they live in stinky mud puddles in nature.

Heres some pics. 1-3, the tank. 4, the tank next door, my female theraphosa stirmi juvinile. Its night and she is hungry as you can see.

Some old bonus pics:
5, 7, 8, pupation pics of the beetle. 6, a green darner i fed and transformed this summer and let out the window. No dead beetle pic. Ive got him drying out next to the furnace right now

I wanna be able to give these guys a long life and maybe breed them if possible please help guys

 

[Ajohnson5263]

they do live in poor water conditions in the wild, but you can still keep up with water changes so it stays clean. grab a cheap strip test kit to see where your nitrates are at. Also, where did you get the branch from? some trees can leech toxins in the water and can't be used as driftwood because of this.

 

[biggus dickus]

branch is probably poplar or manitoba maple. Ill look for strips, I was gonna go check out the aquarium store in town anyway.

I was looking at what turtle owners do, they make a table out of plastic mesh and pvc pipes. I could do the same thing with some finer plastic mesh and some straws/chopsticks or whatever.