What the fuplie can I do about these?

[LostBear]

Awww, sorry for your loss...he was a pretty fella, and a good boy, I'm betting...

He was, Slap. Sweetest-natured boy. Would lie on the settee (having edged us off) covered with cats (we have 2) and spaniels (3). There was also a bull terrier at one point - his foster mammy - but she died 3 years ago, and it took a lot of the heart out of him. He loved her so much. The two of them were inseparable.

 

[Slaphppy7]

It's so sad when our pups lose their best buddy...been there, done that, more than once

I bet his food bill was something to behold, plus with the other pups, lol

 

[LostBear]

It's so sad when our pups lose their best buddy...been there, done that, more than once

I bet his food bill was something to behold, plus with the other pups, lol

Oddly enough, no - he didn't cost as much to feed as you might think.

He wasn't an active dog, and he didn't often eat a breakfast. The spaniels are working type and VERY active - they are on the go all day (we walk them in shifts ) and they get about 4 - 5 hours free-running a day. They each get a can of meat plus and equal quantity of biscuits on a morning and the same on an evening, plus treats (and whatever they can steal !) and they are always on the look-out for anything going - plus they occasionally catch and eat rabbits and mice when we are out. When we are on holiday we walk all day, and they usually need a third meal, though not as much as they get morning and evening. So Loki (the Dane) actually ate much less then them for his body size because he had one meal a day, about 50% more than the spanners got on their evening meal, and nowhere near as many treats because while they were out "working", and being constantly trained and rewarded, he was lying on the settee under a blanket of elderly cats. If anything he was overweight and we should have been giving him less (he was just under 14 stones, though he lost weight as he aged, as dogs often do).

But yes. My dog food bill is bigger than my husband has any idea. I work on the theory that what he doesn't know won't hurt him ?, but it does cost more to feed the dogs than it does to feed us.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Oddly enough, no - he didn't cost as much to feed as you might think.

He wasn't an active dog, and he didn't often eat a breakfast. The spaniels are working type and VERY active - they are on the go all day (we walk them in shifts ) and they get about 4 - 5 hours free-running a day. They each get a can of meat plus and equal quantity of biscuits on a morning and the same on an evening, plus treats (and whatever they can steal !) and they are always on the look-out for anything going - plus they occasionally catch and eat rabbits and mice when we are out. When we are on holiday we walk all day, and they usually need a third meal, though not as much as they get morning and evening. So Loki (the Dane) actually ate much less then them for his body size because he had one meal a day, about 50% more than the spanners got on their evening meal, and nowhere near as many treats because while they were out "working", and being constantly trained and rewarded, he was lying on the settee under a blanket of elderly cats. If anything he was overweight and we should have been giving him less (he was just under 14 stones, though he lost weight as he aged, as dogs often do).

But yes. My dog food bill is bigger than my husband has any idea. I work on the theory that what he doesn't know won't hurt him ?, but it does cost more to feed the dogs than it does to feed us.

Wow...those spaniels eat better than I do, lol

 

[ArmchairAquariest]

Won't fish just gobble up all of them in a few moments? Can't you just use them as fish food? I guess that does require interacting with them which I understand you are not interested in doing, but I think there are only two possible solutions for dealing with any crustacean that far down the food chain: you either load the whole tank into an autoclave and start again from scratch, or you somehow involve their numerous predators to thin out their ranks. I am fairly certain there aren't many other solutions.

 

[LostBear]

Won't fish just gobble up all of them in a few moments? Can't you just use them as fish food? I guess that does require interacting with them which I understand you are not interested in doing, but I think there are only two possible solutions for dealing with any crustacean that far down the food chain: you either load the whole tank into an autoclave and start again from scratch, or you somehow involve their numerous predators to thin out their ranks. I am fairly certain there aren't many other solutions.

Sadly my fish are too small - I have a tank full of tiny tetras. I suppose of each of them grabbed a leg they could incapacitate the little creepies and leave them limbless on the gravel.

 

[ArmchairAquariest]

You could tip your entire snail bowl contents into like a new 38L and buy a single pea puffer for it turning it into your new pea-puffer carnage tank.

*EDIT* : as scavengers you could try to out compete them by introducing some shrimp into the tank. They won't go away completely but if you aren't adding food their numbers should thin a bit as they and the shrimp compete for whatever nutrients there is to be had there.

 

[Sgooosh]

I've had to post a youtube thingy because I can't do photos, but these little horrors have appeared in my "delinquent snail bowl" (I have an unheated bowl that I tip extra "stowaway" snails into as they appear in the tank, just to keep the numbers down. I squash the tiny ones, but anything bigger goes in there because . . .

Anyway - I'd been wondering what had happened to all the snails - there should have been about 30,000 in there by now and there are only three (not complaining - just curious) when what looked like an underwater woodlouse shot across my field of vision. There are at least two of them. They are dis-GUSTING!

I googled "freshwater crustaceans/ isopods" and this the above came up. This is what they are. It appears that they are harmless and are purely scavengers.

I don't care.

They make my skin crawl.

I can only think that they hitch-hiked in on plants. The snailarium has been up and running for about 8 months, though I must admit I don't check it very often - it is mostly a conscience-salver for me as I don't want karma to hit me too hard next time around. There don't appear to be any in my tank - but would I know? They are very fast and dart about, and they bury themselves under the gravel. I've moved the bowl outside (in case they can fly ) and my whole instinct is to invest in a flamethrower.

However I'm wondering why they aren't in the main tank. Are they coldwater only - is it too warm for them (in which case, Thank you, Jesus!). Could they just be hiding? It's only a small, two-foot tank and we spend a lot of time watching what goes on in it (especially the shrimps, which are a comical bunch) so I would have thought we would have seen at least some sign of them. Could the fish be eating them as they are born? Is seems that some people actually pay for them, both as fish food and as tank scavengers. To me they are only slightly less repulsive than cockroaches and I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would want them.

The plants in the snailarium are a few broken off pieces from those in the main tank - they don't have anything different, except there is a lot of that thick green blanket algae in the snail thing. The main tank is kept neat and clean by three nerites and a busy little troupe of armano shrimp.

maybe the ones in a fish y tank got killed by the fish when they were bebies

 

[LostBear]

maybe the ones in a fish y tank got killed by the fish when they were bebies

Oh! I hadn't thought of that - good point!

 

[LostBear]

You could tip your entire snail bowl contents into like a new 38L and buy a single pea puffer for it turning it into your new pea-puffer carnage tank.

*EDIT* : as scavengers you could try to out compete them by introducing some shrimp into the tank. They won't go away completely but if you aren't adding food their numbers should thin a bit as they and the shrimp compete for whatever nutrients there is to be had there.

I like pea puffers when they are tiny, but when they get big they are sinister . . .

I've got shrimp in my main tank - I'm not really bothered what happens in my snail atrium except that I think these look creepy. I've put the whole kit 'n' caboodle outside because I just don't want the little horrors under my roof.

 

[Sgooosh]

I like pea puffers when they are tiny, but when they get big they are sinister . . .

I've got shrimp in my main tank - I'm not really bothered what happens in my snail atrium except that I think these look creepy. I've put the whole kit 'n' caboodle outside because I just don't want the little horrors under my roof.

i do NOT want those in my tank, i am shuddering whenever i look at that video ? maybe try a different plant supplier if you dont want these eating your snails... or mostly not be in your tank

 

[LostBear]

i do NOT want those in my tank, i am shuddering whenever i look at that video ? maybe try a different plant supplier if you dont want these eating your snails... or mostly not be in your tank

Apparently they are totally harmless, Sgooosh. Just scavengers, but they are so disgusting I don't want them indoors.

 

[Sgooosh]

Apparently they are totally harmless, Sgooosh. Just scavengers, but they are so disgusting I don't want them indoors.

alright... its like finding a huge coconut worm crawling about... harmless, but you still dont want them in your property...