Thanks as always for the interesting post and the update on the aphids. I have not yet found out anything new, but will pass along any new information that I come across.

The aphids may need to be submerged before the ribbed newt larvae show any interest. I bet they would be grabbed from the plants by red-spotted newts ands other small, semi aquatic species.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

I’d be very interested in hereing what your contacts have to say on this.

I’m sure the pond at home has numerous aphids at this point. Right now a few are clinging to floating elodea leaves in a clothesbox with Pleurodeles waltl larvae(which have not shown interest). They seem to be doing fine and molting but for a true test I need lots of duckweed or other plants, and some animals interested in eating them.

Good to hear from you again…as always, I can count on you for a most original and interesting note (and to go beyond my own “alternate food” trials – I tried increasing aphid densities by enclosing infested plants in fine netting, without much luck!).

I think you may be onto something quite useful… great observation and reasoning. Many aphids reproduce sexually and asexually, and they have evolved to take quick advantage of abundant food sources. If fed well, they should explode in numbers. Smaller amphibians relish terrestrial aphids, and the same may well hold for those you mention. I’m in touch with a few people who share our penchant for such musings – I’ll be sure to recommend your idea.

Many quite large turtles, common snappers included, consume huge quantities of duckweed – not only for the plant itself but for the myriads of tiny creatures, such as those you describe, that are always found therein. In fact, a number of turtles have evolved a feeding method known as neustophagia to filter particulate food matter from the water’s surface. The turtle opens its jaws at the surface and rapidly pumps the throat, which has the effect of drawing in only the thin surface film. A rapid snap of the jaw expels the ingested water and retains the organic matter. Neustophagia enables a relatively large turtle to obtain significant nutrition from a food source that would be otherwise too small to exploit.

Thanks for keeping me thinking, enjoy,

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

I had some elodea mixed with duckweed sitting on my desk here waiting for pickup by a relative for her bettas, when I noticed tons of little black bugs in the bag(first thought: how am I going to explain these away when she comes to get the plants…). Apparently the duckweed in the bag had died and the aphids were looking for a new place to go.

Rhopalosiphum nymphaeae(waterlily or plum aphid) is almost certainly the species. I know some dart frog hobbyists culture pea aphids(seem to be lots of trouble since they need at least weekly attention when cultured on pea sprouts)…I wonder if these would also be appropriate. They unfortunately do not get as large. But all they would need would be smatterings of duckweed in a damp container to culture them. I’ve seen them in fishtanks with duckweed but to my knowledge no fish ate them much(they can survive underwater for quite a while). you could probably culture duckweed in seperate tanks, scoop it out and put it in a margarine container or similar with the aphids. To harvest, tap the aphids out of the container.

After some reading the aphids really do not damage duckweed much with their feeding(though they do transmit plant viruses to some other aquatic plants)…so theoretically you could culture them in shallow water on the duckweed but I think they wouldn’t reach high enough densities to be harvested easily. Perhaps for backup cultures.

Thoughts?
~Joseph