a visitor in the tank???

Bottom posted.


"Annie" wrote in message
...

"himegeoff" wrote in message
.. .

hello all you uk pond experts
my kids have decided set up a coldwater tank in the shed !!
they are 11 and 12 .
so we got neat 3ft 2nd hand tank n well scrubbed blah blah
anyways we went pond dipping the weekend lots fun
and in the catch we got half a dozen snails
one being a ramshorn cos its shape and the others the common spiral
!!
well watching them has been real neat the big spiral guys are 1 1/2
inch and happily eat lettuce, but there this lil spiral guy 1/2 inch
long body half inch shell and my question is : why does he insist in
coming out of the water and sitting on the glass ?? i watched him today
he is fascinating he went all way down 12 inch glass tank side and
messed on the gravel for 5 mins then straight back up and sat on glass
1/2 inch out the water ??? he is still there 4 hours later !!
any chat welcomed lol
cheers geoff


--
himegeoff

I once had two big snails in my tank -- they were quite big with yellow
colouring on the shells. About 2 weeks after I bought them, they wouldn't
stick onto the side of the tank anymore so after about 2 weeks of them
floating around, I thought they were dead so I ditched them. The other
day
in the lfs I noticed a couple were floating in one of their tanks and when
I
asked about them, the attendant said she had just been in there arranging
the plants so thought perhaps she had disturbed them?

Anybody heard of this before? I have seen them in the fish shop out of
water, but not floating before.
A



I have read here that often apple snails will float at the surface for long
lengths of time and I have read some user(s) now feel bad after throwing out
the floating snail(s) because they could have been easily still alive and
well now that this behavior is known. Good luck and later!

On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 17:00:55 -0700, "Daniel Morrow"
wrote:

Bottom posted.


"Annie" wrote in message
...

"himegeoff" wrote in message
.. .

hello all you uk pond experts
my kids have decided set up a coldwater tank in the shed !!
they are 11 and 12 .
so we got neat 3ft 2nd hand tank n well scrubbed blah blah
anyways we went pond dipping the weekend lots fun
and in the catch we got half a dozen snails
one being a ramshorn cos its shape and the others the common spiral
!!
well watching them has been real neat the big spiral guys are 1 1/2
inch and happily eat lettuce, but there this lil spiral guy 1/2 inch
long body half inch shell and my question is : why does he insist in
coming out of the water and sitting on the glass ?? i watched him today
he is fascinating he went all way down 12 inch glass tank side and
messed on the gravel for 5 mins then straight back up and sat on glass
1/2 inch out the water ??? he is still there 4 hours later !!
any chat welcomed lol
cheers geoff


--
himegeoff

I once had two big snails in my tank -- they were quite big with yellow
colouring on the shells. About 2 weeks after I bought them, they wouldn't
stick onto the side of the tank anymore so after about 2 weeks of them
floating around, I thought they were dead so I ditched them. The other
day
in the lfs I noticed a couple were floating in one of their tanks and when
I
asked about them, the attendant said she had just been in there arranging
the plants so thought perhaps she had disturbed them?

Anybody heard of this before? I have seen them in the fish shop out of
water, but not floating before.
A



I have read here that often apple snails will float at the surface for long
lengths of time and I have read some user(s) now feel bad after throwing out
the floating snail(s) because they could have been easily still alive and
well now that this behavior is known. Good luck and later!

Apple snails have a "trapdoor" (I think the correct term for it is
"operculum") to close themselves safely in their shells. If you need
to determine if the snail is alive, check to see if the "trapdoor" is
opened at all ... if it isn't, then the snail is alive, because it
takes living muscle to keep the thing closed. If the trapdoor is open
and you can see the body of the snail, gently touch it. If the snail
is alive, it will retract into its shell and close the "trapdoor".


--
Patricia
Proud Citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia