Beano Posted April 25, 2007 Report Posted April 25, 2007 I got a new snail yesterday - he's since parked himself on my anubia which has spent 12 months recovering from what the silver dollars did to it. He's not eating it is he?
Callatya Posted April 25, 2007 Report Posted April 25, 2007 yes they do, little ratbags! I think that Anubias would be their last choice though, its not the most delicious of aquatic plants.
Beano Posted April 25, 2007 Author Report Posted April 25, 2007 Tell that to the silver dollars! They ate it down to the stem - it's taken a year to grow back, but then it has gotten more leaves on it since. They don't seem to like java fern, maybe I should toss some of that in with the snail...
Celeste84 Posted April 25, 2007 Report Posted April 25, 2007 they eat plants like they're going out of fashion, i should know T_T HOWEVER they are very selective about what plants they eat. their teeth are soft, so they can only eat decaying or soft plants. i've found they leave my anubia alone UNLESS there's a dying leaf (or part thereof) which they clean up, but otherwise leave the rest of the plant alone i've found elodea is OK, so is riccia and some of the twirly leafed things, but the soft grass type ones i got and all the other soft ferny type plants were eaten in no time, so were the banana lillies unfortunatly! i came back from my month holiday only to find my newly planted tank had been stripped almost completely bare after only a day or two since i left T_T now i make sure to get "hard" plants only and it's been all good. BTW, one snail won't clean out a 3ft tank so fast, i had several hundred snails at that point.
Guest merry78 Posted July 9, 2007 Report Posted July 9, 2007 If you put a slice of cucumber or zucchini in they will go for that by preference and leave your plants alone. You will have to weight the slice or pin it down, i pin mine to the gravel with a plant anchor shaped into a hook and shoved into the gravel. My apple snail demolishes a 1cm thick slice in two days! Your fish will also usually pick at it, and it's quite good for them, works a bit like shelled peas (good for digestion etc.) :lol:
Callatya Posted July 9, 2007 Report Posted July 9, 2007 I strap mine to rocks with elastic bands I've only ever had the one snail, and although he did like that, if he was up the top of the tank he'd choose to eat the floating plants instead of climbing down I think he was a bit of a lazy boy!
Stuart Elflett Posted July 10, 2007 Report Posted July 10, 2007 It's worth going to the applesnail website, and verifying exactly which apple/mystery snail you have... there is one variety the definitely only eats dying/rotting plant matter, even though we may not realise it's decaying at the time, and another variety that eats live plants, and can decimate a tank... If you get the right one, they're a perfect tank partner - stopping anything from rotting (including any fish corpses or leftover food), keeping the glass and leaves clean, not fertilising their own eggs (unable to change sex, whereas many common snails do), AND generating infusoria for any fry... The shape of the shell is a giveaway, once you know which is which... one has a decidedly flat side to it's shell, where the whorl is... that's the one to get...
Robbies Betta Posted July 10, 2007 Report Posted July 10, 2007 the apple snails I've had have never eaten any of my live plants, only the decaying stuff and algae on the tank sides. I just wish I had a few more, as a month or so back, I had all my snails die off on me (sum were a yr or more old ) but luckily there are now sum baby apple snails moving around inside the tank :thumbs:
Ned Posted July 10, 2007 Report Posted July 10, 2007 ohhh poor little snails, how did they die? YOU KILLED THEM! gee i never would have thought there is a snail website lmao... that server must be slow as!
Daniel Posted July 12, 2007 Report Posted July 12, 2007 Robbie did you use warm water form the tap? could have been copper.. of course there are snail forums just like their are shrimp, crab, yabbie forums. Aquagreen sells native water house snails if you want a change from Apple snails.
Robbies Betta Posted July 13, 2007 Report Posted July 13, 2007 yeah I used warm water from the tap, but had been doing that for bout 2 years before they started dying. It was my oldest ones first who started the die off :photo:
Bettarazzi Posted July 13, 2007 Report Posted July 13, 2007 Maybe copper has only just started to leach in those hot water pipes. I never use hot water from the tap. If I need warm water I just boil a kettle and add that to a bucket of cold tap water.
Callatya Posted July 13, 2007 Report Posted July 13, 2007 I tend to have a similar effect on snails. They live for about 9 months and then expire. Still haven't been able to sort out the cause :photo:
Daniel Posted July 14, 2007 Report Posted July 14, 2007 would it have anything to do with lifespan? there is a seachem product that removes copper if that is the problem. Is the water hard? lots of calcium for shell development?
bluebetta Posted July 27, 2007 Report Posted July 27, 2007 I killed mine. Although when I think about it i didn't really spoil them. That might be why. I never done water checks or anything like that.
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