Some pictures of my planted tanks

omg omg may i please see some more applesnail photos.

OK, OK. Here is another pic of one of my Chestnut applesnails. I am working on getting pics of some of my other color varieties. It's hard to get the snails to smile for the camera ! By the way there are many other pictures and information on http/www.applesnail.net. The apples that I have are Pomecea bridgesii. They do not eat aquatic plants.

--Tim

1 x nomination for small tank of the month > thats the blue platy tank the nice planted one!!

Wow! Thanks for the nomination.

Here is my 5.5 gallon after some pruning. This one has been set up since July 13, 2003. The crypts at the bottom have grown some. They are slow growers however. I bought them as one of those potted plants in the gray fiber stuff. I always remove it, and noticed that it was several little plantlets, so I individually planted them. I think it looks cool.

This tank has the tiny livebearer - Heterandria formosa . They are quite small and hard to get a good picture of them . They have a black stripe that runs down the center of the body.

--Tim

Here's the Heterandria formosa:

i have always wonder this what do snails do for planted tanks? how do i get my plants to stay in the ground(gravel)?

I do sometimes have problems with the stem type plants being uprooted by the applesnails because they are so large. They climb on them not to eat them, but to clean the algae off of them.I have mostly soil/gravel substrate tanks. In the tanks with the soil, the plant roots get a little better hold. If your gravel is too large or smooth, the roots don't have much to hang on to, and up they'll come.

As far as what do snails do for planted tanks? Well, the opinions on this vary. Some see them as a pest. I believe they add life to the whole ecosystem of the tank. They clean algae off the sides and off the plants. The eat left over fish food off the bottom and off the plants. I have lots of snails in all my tanks. You can look all over the plants, and in every corner of the tank and see activity going on. When I set up new tanks, the plants and the snails are the first inhabitants. Snails also produce poop just like fish. So they add to the fertilizer that the plants need. You could have a tank with just plants and snails, and everything would grow just fine.

I have of course the large applesnails (Pomecea bridgesii), common pond, tadpole, small ramshorn, and malaysian trumpet snails - these snails burrow down into the substrate and keep it aereated, another benefit.

--Tim

Nice! I love the 5.5 gallon too...is that an all gravel tank? Oh, ToTm nomination for the 14 gallon high...what do you mean no aquascaping? I love how it looks, natural!

(Is this how you nominate? better read the rules....)

And oh, the rockwool(The black thing around them, I think), I don't remove those on my crypts, so they have a better chance of not melting . But anyway, is it advisable to remove it? I have an all gravel tank and I feel that the plant will get established in a shorter time than when I dont remove the rockwool...

yout tank looks awesome...i want to get some plants but i dont know anything about it...i hope mine turns out as nice as yours...nice work!!!

Second nomination for the blue platty tank. The Plants are awsome, and teh fish, they are so beautiful! Great job, allnatural!!!!!!
Ron

Thanks you guys and gals this is really nice of you! But really, I just threw them in there!

On the rockwool (the gray fiber stuff - thank you!), yea it probably would be a good idea to keep it there if you have gravel only. I would imagine that the fish poop/food could penetrate through it. That would be my concern ( in a natural enviroment ).

On the 5.5 gallon, it has top soil with gravel on top.

--Tim