Some fun "goodies"

I went fishing today, of course that meant also plant collecting.

Got the plants in quarantine and will be bleach dipped...

But I decided to take a look at the critters found in the plants. All of these are encountered in the aquarium hobby one way or another. So I took some photos of some of the things found.

(Then disposed of the unwanted/unpleasant critters)

Disposed of these


Cool and good for environment, but definitely did not keep!

Added to a culture jar


Not pleasant for shrimp keepers, but theyre fascinating in their own way. Apparently if you cut them up they just clone themselves. Strange creatures. They did not like being trapped in their water droplets.


Added to culture jars. These are fantastic.


added to my snail jar. Limpets are neat! Flat snails


Didn't keep.


Didn't keep


Anacharis



Lymnea stagnalis snail. Had these a long time ago, finally got a couple more. Added to snail jar. Love these guys.



I have NO identification on these snails. This one in the photo I have had for well over a year and that's as big as he grew. Tiny. Has a door on the shell. He was a tiny baby when I first got him. I found two more today so he's got buddies now lol. But I've asked on inaturalist and other local nature people, no one can name this wild snail.
Doesn't multiply, doesn't bug anyone. Good snail.

One of the newbies


Just thought I'd share these critters.

Good pics but your plants are covered in crap they shouldn't have. No wonder you bleach them. Insect larvae, worms and snails, damn. Your plant suppliers are either collecting them from rivers and lakes or have snails in their ponds.

Colin_T said:

Good pics but your plants are covered in crap they shouldn't have. No wonder you bleach them. Insect larvae, worms and snails, damn. Your plant suppliers are either collecting them from rivers and lakes or have snails in their ponds.

Click to expand...

Er...

"I went fishing today, of course that meant also plant collecting."

While fishing.

I rinse in tap water, let soak for a bit. Shake anything loose, pick what i can see off, rinse again, and place in a holding container in a sunny window until I get around to bleach dipping. After bleach, I sit it in a fresh container of water for a bit longer just to be sure the bleach worked.

Oh god. technically your plant is their world. I never found any Scud / Damselfly before. Anywhere and why people hate bladder snail ?

KevinZ said:

Oh god. technically your plant is their world. I never found any Scud / Damselfly before. Anywhere and why people hate bladder snail ?

Click to expand...

Start with ONE bladder snail. Just one.

End of the month you will have 50.

They breed super rapidly so many people find them an eyesore.

I dont mind them personally, but they do get into my filters and that drives me nuts lol

Nice post, yea I have worms still, despite many water changes, tank is now bare except for two small plants and snails.

In plant quarantine... check this out.

A colony of bryozoa (singular for one is bryozoan).

Watch very close, that fuzzball is actually a cluster of microscopic invertebrates who have a fan like head that catches tiny things in the water. They move. If disturbed, the bryozoa will retract into a shell made of minerals that they create and live inside.


Ignore the midge larvae in the background lol




These are actually one of my favourite aquatic invertebrates out there. Completely harmless, they don't sting you or fish or shrimp. They come in many forms but over time can grow into huge bizarre masses. They feed on microscopic algae and cyanobacteria floating in the water.

I've had different species of them pop up in my tanks many times. These guys I think I am going to move into their own jar and keep them, they're really interesting creatures.

If you Google "Moss Animals" you will see more information on these things.

I had lots of scuds in my shrimp tank, I put George and Martha (platy)in the shrimp tank for QT and they seemed to like the scuds. After a couple of days I did not see as many scuds. I just took them out and transferred them to another tank . They left behind 13 fry.