Aquarium question

The_Conductor

I posted a while back querying how to deal with water snails, and someone suggested putting lettuce into the tank, that the snails would somehow prefer the lettuce to the other vegetation and I could simply lift the leaf out in the morning and dispose of it.
Unfortunately it didn't work. A few snails were on the lettuce ok- but most of them showed disdain for it.

Any other ideas (apart from chemical warfare)?

Also- an idiot fish shop appears to have mistakenly given me a pair of goldfish along with a batch of platties. Obviously goldfish are not tropical fish. They seem to be getting on fine nonetheless, apart from displaying markedly territorial behaviour, and darkening rapidly in colour- they are now a deep red colour.
Any advice on what to do with them- I mean will the trop water kill them (I hope not)?

As an aside- the platties seem to be remarkably interested in mating with the goldfish- its very amusing watching the races around the tank......

S.

FranknFurter

S,
As far as the goldfish in tropical tanks go, opinion is divided, personally, I think if they seem ok, then they will be ok, *BUT* they do not come from a warm climate, the heat, in all likelyhood speed up their mating want (as you are seeing), and this in turn will make them aggressive.

They are a remarkably adaptable fish, my mother for instance, has one in her pond (semi-natural pond) this last 7 years, grew huge, and each winter, when the pond would freeze for a week or so, it would bury itself in the mud and be fine till it melted!
(the pond would be 3/4 frozen!)

To be honest, I myself wouldnt keep them in a trop tank, mainly because of the potential for agression. But it comes down to personal choice really.
And yes, there are some who say they need to be within a few degrees of blah and blah, but I think my mom pond disproves that lolol.

B

(PS- re the snails, bugger to get rid of, alltho never had the problem, its the reason I dont use real planting,.... but I remember somwhere, reading that there are some fish that will eat them, might be worth looking into.)

whiteshadow

clown loach will eat them,
but only if they are near adult size,
can be expensive at this size and need a bigish tank.
http://www.users.bigpond.com/rjeb/clown.html

CathyMoran

They sound great - but would they eat the platty young?

APM

more than likely the water snails came in on live plants if u have them?

I have them myself and have been using a product I got in kinsealy pet store called Molluzin 'For destruction of aquarium snails', so far its halved the population of snails and thats just in under a week of putting it in the tank

The_Conductor

CathyMoran wrote:

They sound great - but would they eat the platty young?

Yes.....
Mind, the adult platties seem to be doing a pretty good job of eating their own young!
Also- I'd have a bit of a problem if they were 1foot after a year. I don't think they'd survive for long in the wild- even if my fish in the pond are monstrosities.....

S.

The_Conductor

APM wrote:

more than likely the water snails came in on live plants if u have them?

I have them myself and have been using a product I got in kinsealy pet store called Molluzin 'For destruction of aquarium snails', so far its halved the population of snails and thats just in under a week of putting it in the tank

Nice one, thanks for the tip.
Any reprecussions with plant life or on the fish?
Yes- they certainly did come in on plants!

Thanks,

Shane

whiteshadow

they shouldn't do.
they are mostly bottom feeders
but if you have plants in the fry should be fine.

whiteshadow

there are reprocusions,
if you use the snail treatment,
it kills the snails but not the eggs/spores
also because the snails die your ammonia levels
will increase if you don't take the dying snails out.
you may need to use activated filter carbon after the
treatment.

when you have to use chemicals, which isn't the best solution,
you have to be very careful with the water quality, and some fish,
(like clown loach) and shrimp/crabs will die with this treatment also.