Pipe Dream: Plants and an Apple Snail?

On Sat, 11 Dec 2004 19:43:01 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:

"John Thomas" wrote in message
...
Mean_Chlorine wrote:
Thusly John Thomas Spake Unto All:


Thanks... this is definitely Pomacea bridgesii... and it's also a
living lawnmower.


Sorry, I doubt, very strongly, you've got bridgesii if it eats living
plants. Very, very, strongly indeed.


No reason to be sorry, its not like anyone died here, but I'm starting
to wonder if it really is canaliculata myself.

Aside from being a lawnmower-
1) It has yellow spots on the siphon, but not as many on the mouth as
some of the shots of Pomacea bridgesii I've seen on the web.

However-
1) I've never seen it devouring plants. It's currently in an all
plastic tank. (Which is why I posed my original question) I've only
oberved it hogging all the fish food. It's more like a composter than a
lawnmower.
2) It recently laid eggs, which looked like the bridgesii moreso than
the canaliculata egg masses. (At least by the pictures on
applesnail.net)

This sort of thing is what makes keeping fish interesting for me. The
surprising part is that so far, the inverts (snails and shrimp) have
been a lot more interesting than the fish. :-) After 3 months, none of
the roughly 4 dozen fish I've purchased have died, gotten sick, or made
babies. OTOH, I've had shrimp get sick, croak, make babies, watched
snails kill each other and lay eggs. The snails are without question
the most aggressive things in the tank.


I used to have a customer who would come in to buy the occasional live
plant as a treat for her snail (which was the size of her fist). The
tropical fish had long died, but the single remaining snail was a great
source of entertainment with all its antics. The customer had no
interest in adding more fish or anything else. The snail had its routine
and they didn't want to mess with that. Its usual diet was a leaf of
Romaine lettuce (yes, an entire leaf). There can be a lot of
entertainment in shrimps, snails, frogs and plants.

I agree Netmax, I enjoy looking at my live plants almost as much as
the fish. Each plant in each tank seems to have its own growth
pattern. I am amazed how various plants seem to become communities.
Thinning risks pulling more than the plant I want to remove, so I know
the roots are intertwined. When I first plant a tank I think I am
being creative, but the plants growth shows even more creativity.

I have only "low light" plants. I thought I was being limited by
this factor, but after over a year, I am more than happy.

Viva the plants!

dick

NetMax wrote:

Your Bluegills might be quite interesting.

They are, but I rather regret getting them. Or more correctly, I regret
putting a dozen unknown fish in a 30 gallon tank at the onset of
Winter. Three or four would have been a much better number since I
don't know how fast they will outgrow the tank. I suspect my wife will
be somewhat less than amused if, come February, I need more tanks to
keep them healthy.

Once Spring arrives I can release some/most of them back into the same
pond where I got them.


--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com