Look what turned up

[chris]

I was checking some photos of a newly metamorphosed montandon's newt when I was this creature in front of its snout. It's a Hydra. I haven't seen one since the 1960s when I was in Froggy Ward's biology class!

Here it is a little bigger.

And, for sake of completeness, here's a larva not quiet finished growing.

Chris

 

[john]

I used to have them in my Tylototriton verrucosus tank bank in 2000/2001. They came in with the plants I bought at the local Bristol pet shop. Rumours of the demise of Hydra in the UK have been much exaggerated. Nice to see you again Chris

.

 

[john]

Oh, and nice montandoni!

 

[chris]

Yes, it's been a long time, no visit. I got bogged down with work.

I took a small piece of the plant from my outside pond when I set up the photo tank for the newts. There must be thousands in there!

I think the Montandon's are totally underrated, by the way. I just bought one pair, for a ridiculously low price, and the female laid about 20 eggs, all of which survived.

Regards,

Chris

 

[chris]

Oops. Re-reading the first line of my original post, I have just noticed a rather unfortunate spelling mistake.

It's not true - what I meant was, I SAW this creature!

 

[jennifer]

Chris, very nice. May I use your photos on Caudata Culture?

 

[chris]

Michael.

Unfortunately, they won't stay in the water for more than 2 or 3 days, then they climb out. So feeding will be more of a problem.

Jennifer.

Yes, feel free (but a credit would be nice). Thanks for asking - most don't!

Chris

 

[sergé]

Hydra is not rare in the Netherlands, actually it is a real pest. They often enter your aquarium when you feed Daphnia's. To adults they are not harmful, but for tiny, just hatched, larvae they can damage the the larvae with their nettles. Often small larvae die after those incidents, so better not get them in your aquarium where you hatch your eggs.

 

[alan]

They're common, usually arriving when feeding Daphnia or adding plants. Although they are not fatal to adult newts, I believe they are harmful, irritating the animals by repeatedly stinging sensitive parts.
Difficult to remove. Many methods, I've tried them all. Chemical treatments not successful in my hands. You have to deal with the problem or they just reappear. The two methods that work best for me are:
1) Starve them out. They tend to disappear if deprived of suitable food items (e.g. brine shrimp, Daphnia, copepods) for a period of several weeks.
2) Some snails such as ramshorns graze on them. Not sure of they eat them or just dislodge them.

 

[juraj]

As David L wrote "It`s time for spring tails"

Very nice photos thanks for sharing them.