Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was checking some stuff under my tank this mourning and found this guy hanging out on my fogger casing. It is a fresh water hydra about the size of a small fruit-fly. It had just eaten to, which was pretty cool.

np

Cool! I thought I was the only one who had those! I love finding them in my tanks, and get a kick out of showing them to people. Good pic of it, I was wondering if one could do a macro of something that small!
Divegod

Please educate me. I've seen these on biological supply company sites. What are they? Is there any use to them in a Dart tank for food or creating some beneficial indirect balance? I have no idea what they are. How did you even see something so small?

Thanks-Maggie

Those are hydra. Kinda like a sea amenome or coral polyp, but smaller (a few millimeters). They are completely aquatic and feed on very small aquatic organisms, such as daphnia. I don't really see them as a benefit to your frogs in any way, but they really are cool little creatures.
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Randy

I get them in my fish tanks on occasion, usually a result of over feeding the tank. Fish dont seem to pay much attention to them. Hydra will feed on wrigglers and really small fry, so I imagine they could be harmful to tads if one swam by it.

Thanks you guys! Sounds sooo neat! Maggie