Apple snail population control in Eclipse tank

In our 29 gallon tank, we have a freshwater puffer that eats pond
snails too quickly for us to establish a snail population there. Once
upon a time, we placed an Apple snail in the tank, but the puffer ate
pieces of it so slowly that it was too painful to watch.

So, we picked up a 6 gallon Eclipse tank from a friend and are using
it to grow feeder pond snails. To add some color to the tank, we've
added two Apple snails that evidently are male and female. Because the
Eclipse tank has a large lid that closes the tank off, we thought that
the Apple snails wouldn't have enough room to lay eggs out of the
water.

This week, we noticed hundreds of Apple snail babies in the water with
our pond snails, but we had not ever noticed an egg sac. After some
investigation, we found that at night when the light turns off, the
female apple snail has been crawling into the DOME-SHAPED LID and
laying her eggs up ABOVE and BESIDE the light. So, we now have two
large egg sacs that will hatch any day now.

DOES ANYONE have a suggestion about HOW to control the Apple snail
population in this Eclipse tank? The problem is the convex and hollow
lid.

Thoughts? --
Ted

On Jun 4, 9:56*am, Ted Pavlic wrote:
In our 29 gallon tank, we have a freshwater puffer that eats pond
snails too quickly for us to establish a snail population there. Once
upon a time, we placed an Apple snail in the tank, but the puffer ate
pieces of it so slowly that it was too painful to watch.

So, we picked up a 6 gallon Eclipse tank from a friend and are using
it to grow feeder pond snails. To add some color to the tank, we've
added two Apple snails that evidently are male and female. Because the
Eclipse tank has a large lid that closes the tank off, we thought that
the Apple snails wouldn't have enough room to lay eggs out of the
water.

This week, we noticed hundreds of Apple snail babies in the water with
our pond snails, but we had not ever noticed an egg sac. After some
investigation, we found that at night when the light turns off, the
female apple snail has been crawling into the DOME-SHAPED LID and
laying her eggs up ABOVE and BESIDE the light. So, we now have two
large egg sacs that will hatch any day now.

DOES ANYONE have a suggestion about HOW to control the Apple snail
population in this Eclipse tank? The problem is the convex and hollow
lid.

Thoughts? --
Ted

Yep, a freshwater puffer is a misnomer, and they are only freshwater
for a short period of their lives. YOu would be better off and be
better for the puffer as well to acclimate it over a period of time to
sal****er of at least 1.021 SG or better yet 1.023. You can basically
go right past the brackish water stage and go from freshwater to 1.023
in a period of approx 1 month or so. Just add a bit of synthetic
marine salt(not aquarium type salt) each day (about 1 TSP of it)
until the corect SG is achieved. If you have the typical figure 8 or
spotted or leopard or green puffers they do so much better and live so
much longer in sal****er than they do fresh or brackish water. It will
be like a totally different fish. Then you can feed it the proper
foods, and have a piece of liverock in there to help keep its teeth
trimed down. YOu can feed all kinds of marine foods as well. Those
puffers are actually a sal****er species that is sold in the LFS as
freshwater types.

Yep, a freshwater puffer is a misnomer, and they are only freshwater
....
freshwater types.

Thanks for your response, but my question had nothing whatsoever to do
with the puffer. The puffer is fine in the 29 gallon freshwater tank,
and it has been for years.

My question is about the Apple snails (also known as "(colored)
mystery snails") in my SECOND 6 gallon Eclipse tank that I use for
raising feeder pond snails.

Because the Eclipse tank comes with everything built into the lid, the
lid has a HUGE CONVEX HOLLOW DOME shape that EVIDENTLY is a great
substrate for Apple snail egg sacs.

If the silly Eclipse tank was like my 29 gallon tank, with a flat
cover just above the water's surface, the Apple snail population would
be self controlled because the snails would have no place to attach
the eggs.

I'm looking for suggestions about how to control the Apple snail
population. The pond snails reproduce quickly enough to satisfy my
puffer feeding needs, and so I don't need hundreds of small Apple
snails too.

Thanks --
TEd

much longer in sal****er than they do fresh or brackish water. It will
be like a totally different fish. Then you can feed it the proper
foods, and have a piece of liverock in there to help keep its teeth
trimed down. YOu can feed all kinds of marine foods as well. * Those
puffers are actually a sal****er species that is sold in the LFS as
freshwater types.

Also note that we've never had a problem feeding the puffer. It eats
snails, worms, and about everything else that we've heard is normal
for a (freshwater) puffer.

--Ted

On Jun 4, 2:41*pm, Ted Pavlic wrote:
much longer in sal****er than they do fresh or brackish water. It will
be like a totally different fish. Then you can feed it the proper
foods, and have a piece of liverock in there to help keep its teeth
trimed down. YOu can feed all kinds of marine foods as well. * Those
puffers are actually a sal****er species that is sold in the LFS as
freshwater types.

Also note that we've never had a problem feeding the puffer. It eats
snails, worms, and about everything else that we've heard is normal
for a (freshwater) puffer.

--Ted

Well in a way my reply had to do with care and feeding of the puffer
without the need to fiddle with apple snails or any other snail that
can get our of control fairly easily. A few large nassarus snails that
have young in a marine environement would be all that puffer ever
needed...but evidently the "correct and propper" way to care for those
puffers is not a concern of yours.

Also note that we've never had a problem feeding the puffer. It eats
snails, worms, and about everything else that we've heard is normal
for a (freshwater) puffer.

Well in a way my reply had to do with care and feeding of *the puffer
without the need to fiddle with apple snails or any other snail that
can get our of control fairly easily. A few large nassarus snails that
have young in a marine environement would be all that puffer ever
needed...but evidently the "correct and propper" way to care for those
puffers is not a concern of yours.

I am giving the proper care of that puffer. It is a freshwater puffer.
It isn't a brackish puffer. You're correct that many fish stores
market brackish buffers as freshwater puffers, but this fish *IS* a
FRESHWATER species. I'm sure this puffer would TOLERATE brackish
water, but PROPER care would be to put it in a freshwater environment
(like mine). I'm not having a problem with the puffer. It's a
freshwater puffer, and it's a freshwater tank.

The Apple snails are *NOT* meant to be feeder snails. I *LIKE*
invertebrates. I especially like invertebrates like Apple snails that
have very different characteristics. I CHOSE Apple snails BECAUSE of
their amphibious characteristics -- that was what was going to control
their population. In fact, apple snails are preferred for aquariums
SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE they lay their eggs out of the water -- it makes
it easy to control their population provided that you don't have some
silly Eclipse tank.

I appreciate your help with the puffer. I just don't need it. I'm
looking for some novel advice on what to do with a crappy Eclipse
tank.

Thanks --
Ted

On Jun 4, 3:34*pm, Ted Pavlic wrote:
snip

. I'm
looking for some novel advice on what to do with a crappy Eclipse
tank.

Thanks --
Ted


Toss it in the freaking trash then! Buy a decent tank they are
cheap.problem solved!

DOES ANYONE have a suggestion about HOW to control the Apple snail
population in this Eclipse tank? The problem is the convex and hollow
lid.

FYI, here are two pictures of the female laying an egg sacs on the
inside of the Eclipse lid:

http://phaseportrait.blogspot.com/20...n-mystery.html

I've never seen a picture of apple snails laying eggs. I've found
plenty of pictures of their egg sacs (and them mating), but I've not
found any of them actually laying the eggs.

Perhaps those pictures will help illustrate the problem. It seems like
we need to modify the lid to prevent access to its internals. I don't
want to throw away the tank -- it was given to us by someone who was
too busy to manage it but didn't want to throw it out. Additionally,
because it's an Eclipse tank, throwing it away means throwing away its
filter, pump, bio-wheel, and light (all incorporated into the lid).

"Ted Pavlic" wrote in message
...
FYI, here are two pictures of the female laying an egg sacs on the
inside of the Eclipse lid:

http://phaseportrait.blogspot.com/20...n-mystery.html

====================
What are you feeding them? Mine never lived more than a week.
--

RM....
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

FYI, here are two pictures of the female laying an egg sacs on the
inside of the Eclipse lid:

http://phaseportrait.blogspot.com/20...pple-snail-gol...

====================
What are you feeding them? Mine never lived more than a week.

We drop several algae wafers into the tank every other day. Otherwise,
the tank has a few healthy plants (e.g., java ferns) and a small piece
of driftwood draped with java moss. We watch the apple snails crawl
all over these, but I don't think they're eating them. In particular,
we don't notice any holes in the plant leaves. Additionally, we've
watched each of the apple snails *devour* a single algae wafer.

When the snails aren't eating the wafers (or mating or laying eggs),
they crawl all over the tank.

We also use the small tank for feeder pond snails (for a freshwater
puffer in a different tank). So, there are lots of pond snails in the
tank. The apple snails *can* eat dead pond snails, and so that's
another possibility.

It's worth noting that now that we have the population problem, the pH
of the tank is way off. We're working on that. Additionally, because
the Eclipse tank is so small and the light is so warm and directly
over the surface of the water, the tank is usually at the upper end of
the acceptable range for tropical fish. In fact, even at night when
the light is off, the temperature seems to hover around 80 degrees
Fahrenheit. I can think of no reason why these conditions would be
*GOOD* for these snails. In the past, in a larger tank with neutral pH
and comfortable temperature, we had no trouble keeping an apple snail
alive.

[ Additionally, we sprinkle some fish flakes and occasionally some
shrimp pellets, but that's mainly for some freshwater shrimp that are
also in the tank. I can't imagine the snails are eating those. ]

My guess is that the algae thins are the thing that's keeping them
alive now.

--Ted