A Nice surprise

[ladynaoko]

My mum bought me some more plants for my tank yesterday... and a few "extras" came with it. I woke up this morning to find twenty or so snails in my tank and because my fish won't eat them (we had snails before and the fish just looked at them) I started the annoying task of catching them all.
During this catching I happened to look at one of my large, bushy plants. I don't look at this plant much... but I was plesantly suprised. About 7 or 8 of my platie fry that were born on Sunday had survived and had been living in this corner of the tank for the past few days. They're looking well.

Since they've survived since Sunday do you think they have a good chance?

 

[gadazobe]

Congrats on the plants and fry. If the fry have found a good hiding place there's a chance that they'll survive. What else is in the tank with them?

Now that you have one lot of fry, you can expect more and more and more and more.......... Unless you have somewhere to take them, you will most probably get overrun with them. Best maybe to let them take their chances with the rest of the tankmates - survival of the fittest. I know it sounds cruel, but sometimes that's the best way.

Regarding the snails, is your tank big enough for 3-4 clown loaches? They love snails.

Edit: I just read your signature and I don't think that you have the room for the clowns, just carry on picking them out.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Snails are good!

No need to waste time picking out snails. Lay a piece of lettuce on the ground and turn the lights off. Come back in a couple of hours and most of the adult snails will have converged on the lettuce so you can pull them all out at once. Do this every once in a while to control population.

 

[ladynaoko]

at the moment its just danios & platies in the tank - my pleco is being added this week (hopefully).

I intend to just let the fry be, survival of the fittest as you guys said. If I do get overrun there are a lot of people I know who'd be willing to take them off my hands (my neighbour has a tank that fills his living room and the college I go to has 4 large aquariums in the Animal House where I study)

Would the pleco eat the snails once he's in there?

 

[Figure-8]

I doubt he will.

 

[G_Sharky]

Get a clown loach if you want a fish that would eat snails. Although they might get too big for your tank eventually...

 

[freshwatergal]

There are other loaches out there that will eat snails that won't get too big.

BTW, what type of pleco are you getting? If it's a common pleco, ane you probably know this already, they get pretty big and are big waste producers. If you are looking for something to scavage the bottom, go with cory cats. They stay small and are fun to watch. Just make sure you get a school of them as they like to be in groups.

Sorry if you already knew this, but just like to let people know what they might be getting into.

Oh, and the lettuce thing will work as well with getting rid of the snails. If you lived closer I would take them off your hands for my puffs!

Tiff

 

[ladynaoko]

The pleco is a scribbled pleco, I've had him a while in a borrowed 15G while I've gradually been adding fish to the tank.

he'll be around 6" when fully grown.

 

[scott1000]

I wish I could keep snails alive in my tank. I have 2 dwarf puffers who eat them by the bucket full. I'm constantly going to petsmart and taking their snails. I actually have an understanding with them that I can go in whenever I want and fish out my own snails (that way they don't have to ).