Lettuce for catching pond snails in an aquarium... oops... catching more Armano Shrimp than snails

[Magnum Man]

so... I have one tank that is difficult to work on, because of the way it's built into the wall... it's heavily planted, & along with the plants came pond snails, which have been reproducing like crazy... I put a couple assassins' in the tank, but they are highly outnumbered & I have several juvenal fish in the tank, so I feed a little strongly, so I think the assassins, like the pond snails are racing with the Armano shrimp to get the left overs...

anyway, I heard you can put lettuce in the tank, & the pond snails will all go to that, then pull the lettuce out & say bye-bye to the snails... well I put a good sized piece of head lettuce leaf into the tank, & in 24 hours... no pond snails... albeit it's floating... do I need to clip it somehow so that it's against the glass to invite the guests, or would it be better, with a rock on it to hold it to the bottom, or is the lettuce an old aquarium keepers tale, & doesn't do any good in a tank that is already heavily planted???

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Stick the lettuce in the microwave for about five or ten seconds to wilt it. Then it will sink and the snails will be drawn to it.

 

[Essjay]

Or use the lettuce in a snail trap.

Take a jar with a screw top lid and punch holes in the lid from the outside so the spikes round the hole edges go inside the jar. The holes should be big enough for snails to get through but too small for the fish to get through. Put lettuce into the the jar, and submerge it in the tank last thing at night. The theory is that the snails will go through the holes into the jar to reach the lettuce but the spikes round the holes will stop them getting back out, so the jar will be full of snails in the morning.
Though it does depend on just how big the snails are and how small the juvenile fish.

 

[Magnum Man]

I haven’t pulled out the raw piece of lettuce yet… so far, the only thing attracted to it is Armano shrimp… I don’t want to be tossing them out, and assume “wilting” the lettuce may actually attract more of them

Wondering if a snail trap, will end up catching as many shrimp as snails???

 

[Magnum Man]

Which brings up an interesting point… I’ve been wondering who has been eating my Java ferns in this tank… they are starting to look like Madigascar Lace plants… looking at the lacy edges of the lettuce, I think I found the culprits
This tank is heavily planted in Java Ferns but there are about 20 Armano shrimp in this 45 gallon tank

 

[Magnum Man]

I know the pictures aren’t that great, but are the 2 females ( I’m assuming ) that are on the lettuce carrying embryos??? Thinking they need brackish to compete their cycle??? Got me wondering if I moved a couple to my rainbow tank, which is still using house softener water, so it’s got salt ions in the water, and our water has very high alkalinity… so I had to put in an RO unit for my tanks… ( this tank is right now neutral, working towards soft ) if that might be enough to develop some embryos???

The shrimp would be hard to catch in this tank, but baiting them with the lettuce would make it easy, as they are starting to gather on the lettuce

 

[sonofagun]

Well I must say you live and learn. I would never have thought Amano shrimps would eat plants. I did know they are partial to a bit of algae and dead matter.
I have three of them and have indeed seen them pecking on plant leaves but never shredding them, as in your picture, but I guess with 20 on the rampage it might be a different story.
Is it at all possible that particular java fern was on the melt, or is it more than one plant being shredded?
Or have I got the wrong end of the stick and the snails have shredded the plant and the Amano is doing a clean up job?

 

[sonofagun]

It does indeed look like she is carrying....they are indeed hard to catch and put up a good chase.
They are also good at jumping so look out.

 

[Magnum Man]

The Java’s are on the mend… as I switched them from my alkaline tap, to RO softer water… so there are a lot of brown leaves I figured they would munch on if anything… but tons of new babies in the plants, and they seem to be munching mature to babies

I rarely see the pond snails on the Java ferns… I’m sure there are some, but they are mainly on the polished rocks and glass sides of the tank, so looking at the lettuce… no snails, and a whole herd of shrimp right now

 

[Magnum Man]

There is driftwood in the tank, and the shrimp that are on the lettuce right now, would normally be here

 

[Magnum Man]

There are 4-5 shrimp on the lettuce right now, and they are totally shredding it up… at minimum I may have to start feeding them lettuce, so they aren’t so hard on the Java Ferns

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Weird. I've kept amanos for many years and I've never seen one eat a live plant. I suspect the plants are ailing and the shrimp are just eating out the dead spots. How is your nitrate level?

 

[Magnum Man]

zero...almost no bio load.. adding seachem plant additive every couple weeks, since I switched this tank over to RO

 

[sonofagun]

I sometimes give mine a bit of veg but never leave it in tank for long periods as it may go soft and melt.
My Amano's also spend time on the driftwood and I have often wondered if they actually eat the wood as some bits of wood seem to be getting smaller as the years pass or do they just nibble what grows on it?
I have also seen the shrimp carry off sinking wafer types of fish food.
Anyway glad the plants are on the mend and hope you beat the snail problems.

 

[Magnum Man]

yes... I use pretty big Zeiglers algae wafers ( recommended for my little Tilapia ) in several of my tanks... got another tank that has some baby silver dollars in... them & my Tin Foil barbs look like they play football with the algae wafers... when I add one in this tank... they gather around but I don't see them carry them off... the dwarf crays would carry them off, & hide them from the fish