[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Unknown snails



> Date: Tue, 07 Oct 1997 22:19:37 -0500
> From: Cynthia S Powers <cyn at metronet_com>
> Subject: Snail ID
> 
> I was thinking MTS until he said "low fecundity."  -Cynthia
> 
> FORWARDED MESSAGE:
> 
> >From: "Kenneth James O'Brien" <kobrien at westsound_com>
> >To: <Aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
> >Subject: Unknown snails
> >Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 01:02:23 -0700
> >
> >while living in Okinawa, Japan, I found the local aquarium stores keeping a
> >peculiar species of snail in their planted aquariums.  One of these snails
> >of ca. 1.5-2cm in diameter could scour the algae off of every leaf, of
> >every plant, from every square mm of  rock, form every grain of gravel and
> >from every square cm of glass in a 50 liter aquarium.  This snail did not
> >have a high fecundity and so did not become a pest, and in addition, it
> >never damaged one plant; only algae.  At one time I had both the genus and
> >species name of this wonderful critter--but no longer.  In all my years of
> >keeping aquariums I've never seen anything like it in the United States. 
> >Do you have any idea if this wonderful gastropod (or one with similar
> >merit) is available to aquarists here in the states?  Sincerely, Ken

What did they look like?  Ramshorns are about that size and similar in
action except for the low fecundity part.  On the other hand, if the water
there is very soft, few baby snails would survive, especially the varieties
with transparent shells, which are thinner than normal ones.  Does Planorbis
corneus ring a bell?