new critters in the pond

[Nepen]

Yesterday I started doing some messing around in the pond and decided to clean my home made pre-filter since the water is starting to be get more and more brown.

I openned the top and voila, the pre-filter is totally filled with muck! no wonder why my water is getting more brown

In the process of taking out the filter pads, I discover this little green thing that looks to me just like an out of space critter - black head with little claws and legs and very green short body and brownish 'tail'. They all live in my 'blue' prefilter.

I've never seen them before. Before I have the pre-filter I have the filter in my water fall and I would find the red worms and some other type of worms but this green one is quite huge compared to the other worms I've seen and also they are soooo many of them.

Today I found out they are Common netspinner larvaes, a netspinner little critter.

Eventhough they gross me out but I learn about it today. I wonder, since it eats all type of thing, and it spin the net around itself and catch the food - is it helping in anyway as a filter to my pre-filter box

My fish wont be able to eat them because they are in the filter pad, no way the fish will get to it.... I'm hoping when they need to turn to fly, they will come out and that's when my fish will get to have yummy snack

 

[crsublette]

Extremely interesting.

Thanks for sharing!! :banana: :afro: :claphands:


Nature is amazing with all of the aquatic critters out there that exists to eat the pond muck and plant decay.

Here is another critter you might find interesting to read about, assellus aquaticus.


When muck is allowed to accumulate, then these critters are most definitely helping.

 

[Nepen]

Wow, very interesting, thanks for sharing!!!

. I'll have to look to see what else I found in my filter. I know there are a couple bugs crawling around but I never thought they'd be aquatic so I didn't give them any thought. I saw some other type of worms and also I saw one big earth worm but I thought may be it can't be earthworm since the earthworm can't live in water...it just look so much like one (tried to catch it but it escaped into the mass of filters so I wouldnt be able to get it out without killing it)

This netspinners that I saw are so green it popped out of everything in the filter. I gave some to my fish today and they seems to love it but the fish won't be able to get to them without my help since they live inside the filter.

My wildlife water garden is also getting all sort of bugs. I found one red dot moving on top of the water, it looks so cool but super tiny and super red...wondering what it is...