sand substrate
- Thread starter cyertiger
- Start date
In freshwater few people use a sand substrata. I do not clean my sand substrata. Just suck out stuff on top of it. I do use Mylassian live bear snails in them.
I have read some things about the benefits of having deep sand beds in SW tanks, many people think that the same holds true for FW. most of the "crawlies" that live in SW sand do have FW counterparts but most of these tend to have a flying stage of there development. There are some FW snails but they have a tendency to breed unchecked and can cause problems. If you live in the coastal south east there is a snail, (ill look up the name and post it later) that is a brackish water snail, it lives in FW just fine but its eggs will not develop with out salt, there was a report of someone keeping these snails 7 years or more. ill look up the name of the snail and post later.
my 2 cents
my 2 cents
When FW snails multiply into huge numbers, it's because the tank is'nt being properly taken care of. I keep them in all my tanks, all of them are properly maintained, and I've never had a problem with large numbers of snails.
hmt321, keeping brackish animals in fresh is cruel, regardless if it's a snail or a fish. You are killing the animals, although slowly, by keeping them in freshwater.
hmt321, keeping brackish animals in fresh is cruel, regardless if it's a snail or a fish. You are killing the animals, although slowly, by keeping them in freshwater.
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dorkfish said:
I see your point, and I do not think that in general it is a good idea to keep marine fish or brackish fish (or snails) in fresh water or vice versa. I enjoy keeping fish that come from the area local to where i live. The Mobile river delta is a strange place because it swings between very salty and very fresh during different times of the year. The snail I was referring to Olive Nerites (Nertia Reclivata) are known to be very hardy snail and long lived, they do lay eggs in Fw tanks but the eggs do not develop. Chris Barnhart, Biology Department Missouri State University, wrote an article in American Currents (the North American Native Fish Association journal) Vol. 32 no. 2 I will quote him " They are also long-lived. Individuals that I collected as adults have survived for over six years in aquaria. They are very active, and as few as a half-dozen adults are able to keep a 20-gallon stream tank free of algae, including Oscillatoria."
Now don't misunderstand me, i was sold a Colombian shark several years ago only to find out that it was a brackish water fish after it died on me. With any fish do all the research you can before you get one. These snails are known to do very well in Fw aquariums and in my opinion if they cant breed in fresh water than there is no chance that they will be introduced to some where that they are not native.
my 2 cents
dorkfish said:
Do I have to quote myself? does'nt matter how good they do in FW aquaria, if there brackish you keep them in brackish, not fresh, and these are wild caught, how would you like it if our were taken from where you are now to live in a glass box where even the air you breathe is different? Now dont get me wrong if they can't be bred in aquaria, I am not against them being wild caught for hobyists, as long as the people who are selling them and the hobyists themselves are properly keeping the animals, with conditions similar to what they would have in nature, with room to grow, all or almost all of the food is NOT flake or pellet, and anything else it would need/want to live comfortably.