4 Random Q's From A Newbie

[jnw1981]

Hi there,
Tank is cycled and has had 6 mollies swimming happily for 10 days.
I have 4 random questions that anybody's help on would be much appreciated...

1) Can I add shells picked up from Thailand to my tank or will they contain trace particles that could pollute the tank?

2) I've a number of small snails crawling around. Is this a problem? Should they be removed? Will they rapidly multiply if i dont?

3) I'm feeding the mollies regular flake food. Is there anything in the fridge I can supplement this with or do I need to be buying proper aquarium prepared stuff?

4) Ive a large airstone and a small airstone hidding within a plant. The tank is 90ltr. What are the disadvantages of airstones and do they frighten the fish?

Many thanks for any help or tips!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

OK

1 - best not too, generally shells will give off calcium into the tank, this can raise the KH and pH. Now mollies will actually like a high pH but it needs to be controlled, just sticking some shells in can be a recipie for disaster!

2 - depends what sort of snails they are, do you have a pic of them? they will multiply however the main reason people have snail problems is if they overfeed, if there's lots of leftover food then the snail population will multiply to eat it, if there's not much then you'll have a few snails but not a lot.

3 - there's a few things the mollies might take, they would happily munch on some finley chopped prawn, also try clipping a bit of lettuce to the side of the tank as they will like veggies in their diet. however this should only be a supplement not their regular diet so stick to aquarium prepared stuff for their staple diet.

4 - airstones are basically decorative, they won't harm or scare the fish, some fish seem to enjoy playing in the bubbles. They don't really do much for oygenation so not a lot of benefit, but no harm either. So it's totaly a cosmetic choice, if you like the looks of them then leave them in, if you don't then take them out!

 

[hollanda88]

Hi there,
Tank is cycled and has had 6 mollies swimming happily for 10 days.
I have 4 random questions that anybody's help on would be much appreciated...

1) Can I add shells picked up from Thailand to my tank or will they contain trace particles that could pollute the tank?

2) I've a number of small snails crawling around. Is this a problem? Should they be removed? Will they rapidly multiply if i dont?

3) I'm feeding the mollies regular flake food. Is there anything in the fridge I can supplement this with or do I need to be buying proper aquarium prepared stuff?

4) Ive a large airstone and a small airstone hidding within a plant. The tank is 90ltr. What are the disadvantages of airstones and do they frighten the fish?

Many thanks for any help or tips!

Shells - Depends on the type, are they real and not plastic? You can do a quick test using vinigar to see if its suitable look around threads for other ways to tell

Snails - Won't reproduce massively unless you overfeed you fish

Fish food - I don;t know much about mollies but you can get loads of different frozen food that you can feed to fish from your LFS or get the clips so you can hang veg into the tank but you have to be careful with veg as you could introduce toxins into the tank with badly washed ones

airstones - Dissadvantages, I spose they use electricity and may agitate water for things like anabantids which 'prefer' a stiller watter but other than that there pretty much just a good thing as far as gas exchange goes


Hope i helped
Andrew

 

[jnw1981]

Thanks to both of you for help and suggestions.

I dont have a pic of the snails. Wish my camera was that good! Basically they range from 2-3mm brown ugly lookin snail types! they're on the plants, the glass, the substrate, the ornaments, everywhere I look!
I'm reluctant to keep dunking my arm in the tank but will give it a go shortly to clear as many as I can.

Yes - the shells are real, although based on your feedback I think i'll find another home for them. no need to risk it.

Thanks again,

James

 

[hollanda88]

Thanks to both of you for help and suggestions.

I dont have a pic of the snails. Wish my camera was that good! Basically they range from 2-3mm brown ugly lookin snail types! they're on the plants, the glass, the substrate, the ornaments, everywhere I look!
I'm reluctant to keep dunking my arm in the tank but will give it a go shortly to clear as many as I can.

Yes - the shells are real, although based on your feedback I think i'll find another home for them. no need to risk it.

Thanks again,

James

Snails arn't that much or a bad thing, they will just indicate when your overfeeding your fish. You can get loads of different snail eating fish such as plecs and some loachs. If you want you could ask in the catfish section about a suitable snail eater for your 90L. I have a gibbicep plec in mine atm but I will have to upgrade to a massive tank eventually to home him but he eats snails when i get them on plants I buy.

Hope this helps, Andrew

 

[jnw1981]

i'd not thought of that.

I was going to wait a few weeks and let the Mollies settle before adding a pleco. Didnt realise they eat snails as well as algae.

Although with the amount of snails in there currently he'd have a feast and outgrow the tank within a week!

good plan tho! thanks

 

[hollanda88]

You can also get snailicides but there not that useful as you still have to get the things out using a gravel cleaner or something but if your going to get a plec then i would just wait and not overfeed in the mean time.
Good luck

 

[minxfishy]

Add some cucumber or lettuce to the tank overnight and in the morning you will have snails over it, just take them out, crush them and bin them if you dont like them, they can however be good for a tank in the right amounts as they will clean up leftover food, eat some algae and keep the substrate turned over.

They sound like ramshorn snails which do multiply fairly rapidly if there is enough leftovers for them to eat.

You can also get something called an assasin snail, which will eat the snails for you and do not multiply very quickly.