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Anita

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  1. Anita
    I am going through age-related presbyopia. Even with my reading glasses, it is sometimes hard to compare the test strips to the color chart. So I came up with my geek girl solution. 🤓I took a photo of the test strip and the color chart together. This ensures that any color variations created by my monitor are the same for both the test strip and color chart. Then I use Photoshop to determine where the test strip color falls in the color chart spectrum. Below is an example of test results for my snail tank: Yes, it was time consuming to construct the first comparison photo. But after that, I just duplicated the comparison boxes into a new file for new test results. I labeled the color boxes with chemistry and number values because these photos were part of my Pagoda Snails journal and I wanted to make it easy for people to interpret the test strip results. (The numbers on the color chart are too blurry to read.) Does my explanation make sense? And now that I have a few photos for reference, I am more confident about eyeballing subsequent results. Because the light green gradations were hard for me to pick out, I used Photoshop for the API Ammonia test too. Tada! No doubt about it 😁:
  2. Anita
    @H20CultureLabs I love your fish collecting adventures. Looking forward to when show us your native fry! 😎
  3. Anita
    @FishMonger From the posted description, I can tell you got Shogun from Aquatic Arts. Me too! 😅
  4. Anita
    @GardenStateGoldfish Sweet, thanks!
  5. Anita
    Hooray for Hugo!
  6. Anita
    Bravo you three! 🎉 Be sure to show us what you get!
  7. Anita
    I like using clear bendy straws. 😎
  8. Anita
    You can also use a straight connector to join the two tubing ends, https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/5-pack-straight-airline-connector.
  9. Anita
    The way Igor keeps looking up at you... Haha! Well, if my dog was doing this, I would call it attention-seeking behavior. In fact, he does. He starts gnawing on the living room armchair. Then he stops to see if I am paying attention. Dumb dog. 😒 It would be a lot cheaper if he chewed on a plant!
  10. Anita
    ORD 💜
  11. Anita
    ORD 😄 ORD 😄
  12. Anita
    The Aquarium Architecture page shows vintage European/American aquariums made of iron and glass. The Chinese raised fish for food, but they also kept them as pets in ceramic bowls. @Daniel started a thread, 1930s historically accurate planted aquarium, about restoring a vintage tank and recreating a aquarium using only historically available equipment, plants, and animals. @RovingGinger shared a YouTube video of another vintage fish aquarium that closely resembles the decorative styles shown on Aquarium Architecture.
  13. Anita
    No worries. Please do not make your life more difficult. I am simply excited to find a successful Pagoda Snail herder! And if you haven't noticed, I am a full-on science geek. 🤓Pre-Veterinary Medicine degree, former genetics laboratory technician, former public health research assistant, currently freelance science/technology writer & editor, new media whiz-kid (well, granny in physical years). I am so grateful for your willingness to take the time to post. Whatever you are able to share is valuable and rare information! This snail care guide cites an academic paper that confirms Brotia spp. snails have separate genders, male and female. Also, they are viviparous (live bearers) and use a brood pouch to house juvenile snails for an undetermined amount of time before releasing them into the water.
  14. Anita
    Haha, the former lab tech and research assistant says, "Me too!" I was gratified to find an article with references cited. Although, I cannot read French, so I must take the author's word about the validity of the reference list. 😉
  15. Anita
    Seems I have become a collector of odd snails! This is my Snail Tank, with the Pagoda Snails being the centerpiece critters. I prefer mixed communities that combine plants, fish, and inverts over inverts-/fish-only communities. Mixed communities make for a healthier tank and cut down on maintenance chores. The tank contains 2 Pagoda Snails, 1 male/3 female Blonde Cobra Guppies, 1 Stenomelania coarctata (with the confusing trade name, Dwarf Rabbit Snail), some Bladder Snails, an occasional Ramshorn Snail (I am trying to eliminate these to reduce the competition for algae), and some mutt Neocaridina Shrimp (mostly red). The plants are Water Sprite, Java Fern, Vallisneria, and Anubias nana 'Petite'. Some future considerations... I want to increase the plant density to provide more biofilm and bio-filtering. So, I may swap some of the Vallisneria with Ludwigia ovalis because I think stem plants will grow better than rooted plants in the under-gravel filter (UGF) set up. Also, I believe Ludwigia has a (slightly) faster growth rate and (as a stem plant) absorbs more nutrients from the water, both of which translate into increased bio-filtering efficiency. I do not want to remove the Vallisneria because I think the Pagodas are dining on them. I may transplant the Vallisneria into pots so I can feed root tabs without the UGF flushing the nitrates into solution. I would like to get more S. coarctata snails at some point down the road. But I want to make sure the Pagodas are doing well before adding any more tank mates. I am so glad you found us! Thank you so-o-o much for the photos and info. Please keep sharing Shogun's adventures! 🐌 Perhaps together, we can create an online Pagoda Snail database of real-time experiences! 💖
  16. Anita
    Haha, awesome! Both of my snails do the same thing! It's like they have narcolepsy and fall asleep mid-crawl or mid-chew, often with their bodies just dangling out of their shells. 😂 Like you, I had no idea what was happening the first time I saw this. The snail that didn't make it stayed tucked up deep inside his shell. So I concluded that they "let it all hang out" when they are relaxed, not stressed or ill. Such goofballs. 😜
  17. Anita
    For now, I want them to live for many years! Yes, it would be awesome if they reproduced. What little information available out there about Pagoda Snails is not well referenced, so I have no idea how reliable it is. The consensus seems to be they are monoecious—have separate male and female genders. From what I understand about identifying gender in Mystery Snails, you hold them out of the water until they try to escape. As they stretch their bodies out of the shell, you can spot the male reproductive organ. I doubt this method would work with Pagoda Snails. Unlike Mystery Snails, which are fast moving and active during the day, Pagoda Snails are slow moving, timid, and most active at night. During the day, they usually rest on the glass or substrate. When they are active, sudden movements or strong shadows are enough to spook them and they duck inside their shells. I suspect that if held out of the water, the Pagoda Snails will stay tight inside their shells until they expire. So, the last thing I want to do is mess with these shy critters unless I need to. Even if the Mystery Snail method worked, there is no guarantee the sexual organs of the Pagoda Snails will even resemble those of Mystery Snails. These gastropods come from two different genera, meaning it would be like comparing a bull to a stallion. As an Animal Science major, I can tell you the reproductive anatomy of these two placental mammals are quite different. For now, I am happy with keeping them happy! I could be lucky and have one of each. If I have two of the same gender, that's OK too. I agree, they are really cool.
  18. Anita
    Two of the original three are alive and doing well. 🥰In the latest video, the small snail is on the glass. The large snail is on the gravel. The medium-sized snail did not make it.
  19. Anita
    A self-taught marine biologist, this gal invented the modern aquarium to study aquatic organisms. https://shethoughtit.ilcml.com/biography/jeanne-villepreux-power/ 👩‍🦱 March is Women's History Month!👩
  20. Anita
    Wow, I am thrilled to hear about Shogun! 🐌 Welcome! They are definitely shy critters. I would love to compare notes. What is your tank set up? What is his favorite food? How big is Shogun? What little information I found indicates these snails are monoecious, having separate male and female genders. But I have no idea how you can identify their gender short of dissection. At any rate, thanks for visiting! Please share photos and details, if you are able to. 🥰
  21. Anita
    You mean like... I would have preferred a wider base, such as that from a Small sponge filter. But, the slotted tube for the Nano is a slightly smaller in diameter than the slotted tube for the Small. So I cannot mix-n-match an Small base with a Nano slotted tube. Bummer. 😑
  22. Anita
    @OceanTruth wondered as well, so I decided to measure them. I have no idea if the larger snail will keep growing or even how old they get, so I guess we will just wait and see if they get even bigger! 😄
  23. Anita
    Breakfast time in the snail tank. 🍽️
  24. Anita
    Question: How big are these snails? Answer: About this big ↓ ↓ ↓ 🤓
  25. Anita
    You must be so stressed. 😨 It's an awful feeling when you can't figure out what's wrong. Topsoil from your yard? Hmmm... I think I agree with @Brandy. How long have you been allowing the yard to "go natural?" When was the last time you used weedkiller or bug killer? Some herbicides are very slow to break down. Also, some insecticides are harmless to mammals but lethal for birds, fish, and aquatic inverts. What do you know about the history of the topsoil? How long have you lived at the house? Could a previous owner have dumped chemicals/motor oil/paint thinner/rat poison/etc. in that spot? Any chance weed or bug killer drifted over from someone else's yard? Did the previous owners have livestock? I am thinking of dewormer or other meds that would be excreted in the feces. Have you done any construction/remodeling projects that might have left construction materials (tar paper, siding, insulation, sealant, stains, paint, glue, etc.) in the topsoil? I wonder if low concentrations of chemicals could be slowly poisoning your fish? Seeing as your water parameters are not showing the usual culprits, that would be my next guess. If it were me, I would remove all the topsoil and see what happens with just gravel substrate. Your gravel might also be suspect, although the long time frame before fish started getting sick seems to point to some sort of slow-release mechanism.
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