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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #713
On Wed, 16 Dec 1998, Steven Friedman wrote:
>
> Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 11:01:10 -0800
> From: "Steven G. Friedman, M.D." <sfried at nshs_edu>
> Subject: snail-eating plants
Really? None of my plants are snail-eating! Where do you get them? :-)
[snip]
> Little has been written about the effect of snails in planted aquariums, =
> until the past few days. I too agree that chemical eradication should =
> be a last resort. I also wonder how many poople consider snails to be a =
> problem.
Aeshetically, I don't like heavy snail infestations.
> I have a 20 gal. planted aquarium with many (80-100) snails (I =
> believe they are ramshorn) and they cause no harm to plants or fish. =
> What exactly do snails do in a planted tank (are they scavengers?) and =
> are they a cause for concern or intervention? It seems to me they are =
> harmless.
Some snails are algivores, some larger snails will eat plants and some are
detritivores - they eat whatever they find laying on (or in) the bottom
or on leaves. Except for the few that will damage plants, snails are
mostly beneficial additions to a tank. Their populations tend to
expand beyond what I call reasonable bounds.
Roger Miller