Always The Way

[CoolWater]

A few days ago i came across this fantastic bargain at a boot sale, a little 2.5 gallon tank with lid (*cough* 50p *cough*) that matched my 15 gallon perfectly; same make and style etc, just smaller. So it looks great just above the 15 gallon.

Now i knew i was going to be housing a dojo/weather loach in the 15 gallon for some time until the big tank comes back into service. So i thought, why not set this tank up really cheap (a type of challenge) and breed some little snails as a treat for the dojo loach.

So i took some sand from a surplus bag (so that cost nothing), found an old plastic plant and two aquarium safe rocks that were not being used down the shed. Made it look all nice and added un-chlorinated water.

So overall the whole set up cost me 50p, seeing everything else was surplus doing nothing

And then when i went to the petstore today to get my dojo loach, i asked if they had any pest snails they wanted to dispose of. Sadly their puffers and loaches had done a good job of getting rid of most a few days ago. But i managed to sweet talk the lady into searching every tank for every snail possible.
*i had to keep hinting about having to return next week to restock on stuff*

So i leave with 7/8 *free* Malaysian trumpet snails. Perfect as they don’t need a heater and breed like crazy.

Funny thing is, i have actually become really attached to them in just a few hours, and finding this 50p setup more fun than the £75 setup

The snails are leaving little pathways where they have travelled, and are digging in and out of the sand. In-fact I’d say they are being more active than the loach.

I've got to get into snails and smaller cheaper setups from here on

Anyway that’s my little story, sorry for the length but hey, i bet it killed some time while your suppose to be doing something your Mum or Mrs is moaning about

 

[BigIan]

towards the end of the cycle on my tank i added some MTS and i loved watching them leave their trails.

now however with my corys stiring the sand constantly i never see the snail trails any more, rarely see them at all acctualy

 

[CoolWater]

Well if these MTSnails are in your 48"x24"x15", i would be supprised if your angels have snacked on most of them. But they naff dig and burrow and move underground though.
You should sneek up on your tank with a torch one night and see if there are any left

 

[BigIan]

i know they are they i see odd glimpses of them, and can`t see my angels snacking on them most of them are an inch or so long....

 

[CoolWater]

I've seen first hand, you'd be supprised what fish can suck up

Maybe though, if you keep your fish all very well fed, they don't have the incentive to work for food and wait about until real feeding time lol.

Biggest MTsnail i have out the group is probably half a inch, then theres one about a quater of a inch, then all the rest are tiny

Might keep the biggest one permanently, his very active and would probably give the most offspring out of them all