Officially there are two zebra nerites in our tank (Ant and Dec*). They have been there about three weeks. They are a chunky pair, each about the size of my thumbnail.
A week go, a small snail was spotted, gliding over the glass. Husband tried to grab it, but he dropped it in the gravel and it disappeared . . . Today, it was spotted again, but it saw it was being watched and ran to hide where I couldn't whip it out without disturbing the entire set up (they can move remarkably fast)
It seemed to be a ramshorn, but I can't be certain. Now there have been no plants put in since the tank was set up at the beginning of March.
I know it can't be the offspring of the nerites because they can't breed in fresh water, but would any stray eggs hidden in the plants have taken so long to hatch and get to size (about 1/16th inch) to be noticable? And more to the point - are there likely to be any more of them? I washed the plants when I got them, and didn't notice any clutches of snail egg jelly - are there varieties of aquatic snail which lays single eggs? Might we have got away with just the one? The tank contains tetras - glowlights (my favourites!) and neons - would these have eaten any little snail-lets?
Is there any way I can lure the little beggars out to get them out of the tank when they are so little? I don't want to risk getting over-run by greedy little gastropods.
*Yes, yes, I know - they used to be called Jeremy and Corbyn. They have also been Wheeltapper and Shunter, Heckle and Jeckle, Dietrich and Sonntag, Rene and Renata and several other "paired" names. Don't judge me - it keeps me out of mischief.
A week go, a small snail was spotted, gliding over the glass. Husband tried to grab it, but he dropped it in the gravel and it disappeared . . . Today, it was spotted again, but it saw it was being watched and ran to hide where I couldn't whip it out without disturbing the entire set up (they can move remarkably fast)
It seemed to be a ramshorn, but I can't be certain. Now there have been no plants put in since the tank was set up at the beginning of March.
I know it can't be the offspring of the nerites because they can't breed in fresh water, but would any stray eggs hidden in the plants have taken so long to hatch and get to size (about 1/16th inch) to be noticable? And more to the point - are there likely to be any more of them? I washed the plants when I got them, and didn't notice any clutches of snail egg jelly - are there varieties of aquatic snail which lays single eggs? Might we have got away with just the one? The tank contains tetras - glowlights (my favourites!) and neons - would these have eaten any little snail-lets?
Is there any way I can lure the little beggars out to get them out of the tank when they are so little? I don't want to risk getting over-run by greedy little gastropods.
*Yes, yes, I know - they used to be called Jeremy and Corbyn. They have also been Wheeltapper and Shunter, Heckle and Jeckle, Dietrich and Sonntag, Rene and Renata and several other "paired" names. Don't judge me - it keeps me out of mischief.