pica_nuttalli
don't be a twit
i have only trimmed my SAP's teeth once in the last 6 months since i upgraded him to the 20g. he still does not need trimming. his teeth are still no longer than they were when this picture was taken. as can be seen in this picture, he regularly eats Wardley's Shrimp Pellets. he can easily take an entire pellet in his mouth and bite it into little chunks.
there are several potential reasons for this lack of growth:
-- i have a breeding colony of small ramshorn snails in that tank
-- i have a large chunk of limestone in there (pH of 7.2) that provides additional hardness for growing strong snail shells
-- i have only been feeding him hard, sinking foods such as the shrimp pellets, Hikari bottom feeder wafers and algae wafers.
-- the brown substrate in that tank is actually a ceramic pond soil made by Schultz. its very hard, very lightweight and very small in diameter. i regularly see my SAP bite down on pieces when he is hunting. on more than one occassion, he's picked up chunks and tossed them as soon as he realizes they aren't edible.
as you may have inferred, i attribute much of the retardation of tooth-growth to using this ceramic soil. before i swapped substrates, i was having to trim teeth about every six weeks once he could no longer suck in flake food. i have yet to reach that point of overgrowth since i changed the substrate and starting exclusively using sinking foods.
i thought that with SAP posts growing a bit more common recently and with my experience having been continuous for many months, i should share this development. i would like to invite other SAP keepers to share their experience on growth rates. i also think that it would be of interest if another SAP keeper was to swap to a ceramic substrate and see if a decrease in tooth growth rate accompanied the change.
there are several potential reasons for this lack of growth:
-- i have a breeding colony of small ramshorn snails in that tank
-- i have a large chunk of limestone in there (pH of 7.2) that provides additional hardness for growing strong snail shells
-- i have only been feeding him hard, sinking foods such as the shrimp pellets, Hikari bottom feeder wafers and algae wafers.
-- the brown substrate in that tank is actually a ceramic pond soil made by Schultz. its very hard, very lightweight and very small in diameter. i regularly see my SAP bite down on pieces when he is hunting. on more than one occassion, he's picked up chunks and tossed them as soon as he realizes they aren't edible.
as you may have inferred, i attribute much of the retardation of tooth-growth to using this ceramic soil. before i swapped substrates, i was having to trim teeth about every six weeks once he could no longer suck in flake food. i have yet to reach that point of overgrowth since i changed the substrate and starting exclusively using sinking foods.
i thought that with SAP posts growing a bit more common recently and with my experience having been continuous for many months, i should share this development. i would like to invite other SAP keepers to share their experience on growth rates. i also think that it would be of interest if another SAP keeper was to swap to a ceramic substrate and see if a decrease in tooth growth rate accompanied the change.
