Pipe Dream: Plants and an Apple Snail?

I know this is a silly, wildly unrealistic, question, but I have to ask
anyway...

Is there by any chance a plant I could put in my tank that the Apple
Snail wouldn't devour completely in a day?

I'm asking on the outside chance there's some pleasant plant that grows
in low light (Duckweed), inhibits algae (Hornwort), and tastes bad to
snails (????).

Oh yeah, and it has to wash the dishes and take out the trash too. :-)

Java fern and Anubias are both pretty tough, and might stand a chance. It
also depends on which exact species of snail, some are more prone to eat
live plants than others.

Quoting :
"Depends entirely upon the species, and how you feel about snails in
general. For example, take Pomacea bridgesii, which is commonly referred to
as a
mystery snail, and sometimes an apple snail. In my experience they eat
debris and dead leaves, but never harmed live plants. Pomacea
canaliculata, also sold as an apple snail, is a living lawnmower. In the
smaller realm, snails commonly knows as 'pond snails' are plant safe, as are
Malaysian trumpet snails. --Eric Schreiber"

Limnophile

"John Thomas" wrote in message ...
I know this is a silly, wildly unrealistic, question, but I have to ask
anyway...

Is there by any chance a plant I could put in my tank that the Apple Snail
wouldn't devour completely in a day?

I'm asking on the outside chance there's some pleasant plant that grows in
low light (Duckweed), inhibits algae (Hornwort), and tastes bad to snails
(????).

Oh yeah, and it has to wash the dishes and take out the trash too. :-)

Limnophile wrote:

Java fern and Anubias are both pretty tough, and might stand a
chance. It also depends on which exact species of snail, some are
more prone to eat live plants than others.

The one downside to those kinds of plants is their slow growth - if a
snail is only nibbling on them a small amount, it might still out-pace
the growth rate of the plant. Of course, I'm one of those unhappy folks
who has trouble keeping Java Fern alive - for all I know it isn't slow
growing at all.


Quoting :
[...]
safe, as are Malaysian trumpet snails. --Eric Schreiber"

Hehe, that may be the closest I ever come to fame



--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

"Eric Schreiber" eric at ericschreiber dot com wrote
The one downside to those kinds of plants is their slow growth - if a
snail is only nibbling on them a small amount, it might still out-pace
the growth rate of the plant. Of course, I'm one of those unhappy folks
who has trouble keeping Java Fern alive - for all I know it isn't slow
growing at all.


Quoting :
[...]
safe, as are Malaysian trumpet snails. --Eric Schreiber"

Hehe, that may be the closest I ever come to fame

Eric,
Glad to use you as an info source, since you've been here awhile and seem to
know what you're talking about. Once I make you famous, do I get 10 percent
like other agents ?
haha

Seriously though, I've noticed that people who can't seem to grow java fern
either have high hardness/pH or not enough potassium in the tank. Have you
tried adjusting pH or using fertilizer with potash?

Keith J.
aka Limnophile

Thusly John Thomas Spake Unto All:

I know this is a silly, wildly unrealistic, question, but I have to ask
anyway...

Is there by any chance a plant I could put in my tank that the Apple
Snail wouldn't devour completely in a day?

Get the right species of apple snail (Pomacea bridgesii instead of P.
canaliculata) and you can keep it with any plant you wish - it's safe
with plants.

If you've already got canaliculata... well, I don't know of any plant
they won't eat.

All you ever wanted to know about apple snails:
http://www.applesnail.net/content/main.htm

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 18:26:09 -0800, John Thomas wrote:

I know this is a silly, wildly unrealistic, question, but I have to ask
anyway...

Is there by any chance a plant I could put in my tank that the Apple
Snail wouldn't devour completely in a day?

I'm asking on the outside chance there's some pleasant plant that grows
in low light (Duckweed), inhibits algae (Hornwort), and tastes bad to
snails (????).

Oh yeah, and it has to wash the dishes and take out the trash too. :-)




I had 4 adult Apple snail included with a plant order. One of the 4
liked to eat plants. My Clown Loaches liked all of the Apples, but
somehow 3 babies survived and I moved them to two tanks that didn't
have CLs. The 3 are doing fine and have not eaten any plants so far I
as can see.

dick

Limnophile wrote:

Glad to use you as an info source, since you've been here awhile and
seem to know what you're talking about. Once I make you famous, do I
get 10 percent like other agents ?

Sure, so long as you promise to do 10% of my jail sentence, too

Seriously though, I've noticed that people who can't seem to grow
java fern either have high hardness/pH or not enough potassium in the
tank. Have you tried adjusting pH or using fertilizer with potash?

Hmmm, you may be on to something. My pH tends to range between 7.8 and
8.2, and my hardness is high - usually around 15.5. I hesitate to
tinker with either of those, since my other plants are doing generally
pretty well. However, the tank in which I have my Java fern certainly
could stand a better regimen of fertilizers. Especially since there
currently aren't any fish at all in it to provide nutrients.

--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com

"Limnophile" wrote in message
...

snip

Seriously though, I've noticed that people who can't seem to grow java
fern
either have high hardness/pH or not enough potassium in the tank. Have you
tried adjusting pH or using fertilizer with potash?

Keith J.
aka Limnophile


Interesting, since Java Fern is one of the few plants that are consistently
recommended for the hardness and high pH of Rift Lake Cichlid tanks.
*confused*

Susan

Thanks... this is definitely Pomacea bridgesii... and it's also a living
lawnmower. Realistically, I'm thinking of trying a bunch of cheap plants
and seeing what sticks around. The worst thing that could happen is I'm
out coffee money for a week.

Limnophile wrote:
Java fern and Anubias are both pretty tough, and might stand a chance. It
also depends on which exact species of snail, some are more prone to eat
live plants than others.

Quoting :
"Depends entirely upon the species, and how you feel about snails in
general. For example, take Pomacea bridgesii, which is commonly referred to
as a
mystery snail, and sometimes an apple snail. In my experience they eat
debris and dead leaves, but never harmed live plants. Pomacea
canaliculata, also sold as an apple snail, is a living lawnmower. In the
smaller realm, snails commonly knows as 'pond snails' are plant safe, as are
Malaysian trumpet snails. --Eric Schreiber"

My 'Apple Snail' is definitely Pomacea bridgesii. It's very aggressive
with respect to plants, plucking away at the plastic plants in the tank,
and chowing down on any green material instantly. (Peas, Algae Wafers,
Spinach, Brocolli, Zucchini, etc) Every time I do a water change in the
tank, Petunia is out there grinding away on the plastic just to make
sure nothing has changed. Petunia's favorite tactic is to park its foot
over the fishes' food, hold the food in its labia and box out the fish.
It'll hold algae tablets by the edge and rasp away with its radula while
spinning it with its foot, like it was a corn cob.

BTW, the AppleSnail site is great, isn't it?

Mean_Chlorine wrote:
Get the right species of apple snail (Pomacea bridgesii instead of P.
canaliculata) and you can keep it with any plant you wish - it's safe
with plants.

If you've already got canaliculata... well, I don't know of any plant
they won't eat.

All you ever wanted to know about apple snails:
http://www.applesnail.net/content/main.htm