Mystery snail eggs & inverts journal

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

This news is a couple days old, but I forgot to say my friend got super excited when her clam “slightly opened”. 🤣

BEHOLD THE CLAM! (Sheldon)

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I dropped a snail pellet in this morning and it landed on this plant and slid down it just like a spiral slide. 😆

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

WARNING about the video. It contains an incident where a snail gets hurt.

So I’m feeding bloodworms and I think it’s so cute that Woodstock caught one mid-level, so I started taping it. A tetra comes and tries to get the worm. Missed. A second attempt but the tetra miscued and got her feeler. She’s ok I think. She immediately started eating worms off the bottom, but she curled her antennae to protect them. I guess just monitor..?

 

@Guppysnail
 

Also here’s some of the new kids:

Kid with extra new kid:

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

I’ve seen this happen before. My zebra danios had to be rehomed because they notoriously hunted the antenna and I moved my mysteries out of my honey gourami tank for the same reason. 
While I do not doubt it causes pain it does not cause any further health issues for the snails. 
Snails learn very fast. They will travel with the antennae curled around their eyestalks for quite awhile. In time they will try flying them again as long as no further mishaps occur. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/8/2023 at 7:57 AM, Guppysnail said:

I’ve seen this happen before. My zebra danios had to be rehomed because they notoriously hunted the antenna and I moved my mysteries out of my honey gourami tank for the same reason. 
While I do not doubt it causes pain it does not cause any further health issues for the snails. 
Snails learn very fast. They will travel with the antennae curled around their eyestalks for quite awhile. In time they will try flying them again as long as no further mishaps occur. 

It seems to be a one-off as there were bloodworms everywhere in the tank at this time.  I’ve never seen this in the past. I believe it was an accident.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Erin’s turtle Lucy got an Easter basket of goodies!

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 4/8/2023 at 7:57 AM, Guppysnail said:

In time they will try flying them again as long as no further mishaps occur. 

So in 20 minutes all antennae were flying again ☺️

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Happy Easter ✝️ to all who celebrate. 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Ridiculous (and adorable)

@Lennie

Edited April 11, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Lennie]

On 4/11/2023 at 2:53 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Ridiculous (and adorable)

@Lennie

Eating hamburger outside on your first date.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

York still has not shown improvement with her operculum but she is getting around ok and eating well. She found a Repashy that the others don’t know about.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hey! Look who it is! 
 

 

@Katherine that spirally thing is coming back - see in the background?  I just chucked in in the back and ignored it.  Heck, I didn't even plant it - it was so fussy it made me mad and I just put it in the corner and left it there.  What a brat plant!  I care for it lovingly and it tries to die!  I neglect it and it thrives. (?)  This is NOT the spiralis like you have, this one is called crinum.

Edited April 13, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Katherine]

On 4/12/2023 at 6:25 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

This is NOT the spiralis like you have, this one is called crinum.

I have this one as well. Doing very well in the front corner of my tank. Crinum Calamistratum, I believe. They don't want to be planted all the way. Here's how mine is.

My spiralis does not seem to be coming back and I plan to remove it and put my PSO in that corner next water change.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

The wild shrimp was out and about in the 29g. Even took a ride on a snail.

It was not a good time on day for photo taking (glare) but here’s what I could get. The shrimp is comfortable and free swimming. Also it noticed the hornwort I added and likes to be up at the top of the tank enjoying it.

On 4/13/2023 at 5:23 PM, Katherine said:

Crinum Calamistratum, I believe

Yes, that’s the one!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Mama T Rex is berried again

And.. ever wonder what the back of the shrimp tank looks like? Yeah. This.

So that’s on my to do list for today. 

Last night I went touring around with Cyndi. First we went to a farmers market/craft fair. She bought a necklace and I was allowed to choose a free small item out of a bin when we paid for the necklace. I chose this snake and he travelled around with us and then returned back home with me and made friends with Pothead.

Also she bought me this mocktail. No alcohol and it sure is pretty!

And here’s the courthouse and the theater.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I see snails piled around a piece of food and I think, ok, I KNOW I put more food in there. And then I look up and I see this.

@Lennie

Edited April 15, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Lennie]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:22 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I see snails piled around a piece of food and I think, ok, I KNOW I put more food in there. And then I look up and I see this.

@Lennie

She grew up with siblings. She knows

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Alright I got tired doing other stuff with water changes in the 29 and the jar, and I moved 10 shrimps so the hair algae is gonna wait for another day… zzzzz…

Plus there are a bunch of shrimps and a nerite actively eating it right now so whatever LOL

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hampshire is blazing the trail, antennae on full display! (Had no idea his antennae were this long)

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hubby went to a guy’s night out at a restaurant to celebrate a dude’s freedom before his wife has the second kid. 😅 so How come I get like 10 min notice in a text at 8:30pm- tidy up! We’re getting company! 

Fortunately it was already pretty tidy. Just a quick swipe of the bathroom, and take the laundry baskets of clothes I was intending to fold out of the living room. Turned the tank lights all to white light; they are actually in the sitting area just off my kitchen, where everyone hangs out. Dropped In a cabbage leaf for the snails and a Repashy for the shrimp.

The guests were mesmerized by the tanks and asked lots of questions- the shrimp were swarming the Repashy and got the most attention. Chairs were turned away from the table and toward the fish tanks. 😍❤️🙏

The questions-

“what are you feeding them?”

“Are you raising them to feed to fish?” 

“Wow, I see some little micro shrimp? They must not have been born too long ago.”

Me: “Yep! Just this week!”

“What size is the bigger tank?” (At this point he’s seriously considering getting into the hobby)

“What temperature are the tanks?” (Thanks ACO heaters - they figured it out quickly) 

Dialogue amongst themselves-

“that jar is cool. “

”Yeah that’s my favorite.”

And then, “why are some shrimp in the jar and some in this tank?” (I explain wild type)

More dialogue amongst themselves-

“Ok I see the snails but what’s that giant slug thing on the cabbage leaf? It has no shell!”

”Oh yeah dude, I see it! That thing is huge! What is that?! It’s like a big worm or something!”

I’m across the room at this point, and really amused. But, Knowing there’s no slug but still curious about what it is they’re talking about. Ultimately they ask me to come over and identify the mysterious creature on the cabbage leaf. It was…. a plant weight! 🤣

Then, “what’s this empty tank here?”(Recently elevated with cinderblocks so I can vac it, and made fancy with 2 cloth napkins)

(Explain instant qt setup for sick fish)

This really impressed the one guy.

“Wow, everything is on timers.”

And then, an outburst. “OMG THE CABLE MANAGEMENT!” 

Me: “Yeah, it was getting out of control. I used bread tags as labels.“ (credit: some life hack video)

Guy (gets out of chair to read labeling of bread tags): 🤯 “This is quite the operation you got goin on here!”

(since this photo was taken I have raised the power strip up on a piece of wood (in case I spill a bucket or something - actually had not one, but 2 buckets break on me fairly recently)

Anyway, this was quite the unexpected yet pleasant visit. Usually some people come over, and they might disregard tanks completely, or they might look at them for 2 seconds and that’s it. 😢

But the curious ones are so much fun. I thought I’d share it with you. I’m sure you guys have similar stories (?)

Also- my husband was watching some kind of wonders of nature show the other day. And it was showing underwater scenes and presenting fun facts.

The narrator: “Have you ever seen a snail eat a carrot?”

My husband (loudly, and pointing at TV): “Yes!  Yes I have seen that!” 🤣 (And here I thought he didn’t watch snails.. he must watch them in secret and not tell me so that he doesn’t have to participate in a snail discussion)

 

What kind of discussions have you had with non-NERMS about your fish tanks?

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/15/2023 at 7:40 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Chairs were turned away from the table and toward the fish tanks. 😍❤️🙏

That's the best. 🙂

On 4/15/2023 at 7:40 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

What kind of discussions have you had with non-NERMS about your fish tanks?

Last conversation I had was cleaning up the egg casings from the corydoras. I showed them the fry and stuff "oh cool" and there's always this sense of awe when there's fry or just a lot of interesting things going on. I showed them the egg casings first and there was a good amount in the container. They were confused at first at what it could be, but once I explained they were fascinated. 🙂

...always funny when you talk to someone and you can tell the first thought on someone's mind is that they want some massive fish. 😂

Nah, these are plenty big enough, I'm sure!.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Looks worse that it was. It all came out in one grab. And then I got some little wispy things off of the wood with a toothbrush. That was my Sunday task. It kicked up a bunch of stuff, as you can see. I thought it was kind of hypnotic the way it moved.

I inspected it for shrimp after removal but fortunately there were none. They do eat it, but it was growing way faster than it could be consumed. There are still some little bits in there for the shrimps to snack on.

Edited April 18, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I made some adjustments and I am getting more enjoyment out of my shrimp tank. And I believe the shrimp are too. Recently a video from Mark’s Shrimp Tanks was shared with me about shrimp feeding.

Basically, if the shrimp are not all swimmy-swimmy, they are not hungry. I fasted the tank for 2 days with the exception of a pinch of Repashy powder since there are babies. On day 3 I saw the shrimp swimming around and utilizing the space. Hence, it became feeding day.

Then I weighed the food on the pocket scale. I figure I have about 40 shrimp. Mark calculated food needs based on body weight of a shrimp and then % of body weight, multiplied by number of shrimp in the tank. I used shrimp cuisine, which is micro pellets. I found I was not feeding enough shrimp cuisine for the number of shrimp I have (this explains the pushing and shoving).

The next day, today, shrimp are active again. Normally they would be sitting around (as you can see, some are sitting around, and some are not). Bear with me, still getting the hang of what to look for..

Yes.. my water sprite is dying.
 

Since I saw a fair number of swimmers, I decided to feed Repashy. This is the amount I fed the other day (when I unexpectedly got company and didn’t have time to thaw or split food). This was the day before the 2 day fast also.

And this is the amount I should have fed.

I was WAY WAY OFF! (The next morning I did remove the excess). 

Anyway. It’s super cute when shrimps are swimming all around the tank, and I am enjoying that more now. Feeding is such a basic, routine task and I always figured, if it doesn’t sit in the tank forever, and parameters are fine, then it’s all good. But getting it right allows them to go about their normal foraging and traveling behaviors in between meals instead of just sitting in the same spot waiting for the next room service.

Also good to note: the babies will get the dust that flies off the food as adult shrimps are picking at it. But I do supplement with powders when I see babies.

Thanks @nabokovfan87 for sharing the video.  Which is here:

I will continue to observe and measure, and eventually I won’t have to measure because I will get used to the amount. Unless more breeding occurs, of course. It takes practice.

Edited April 20, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 4/15/2023 at 7:40 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

My husband (loudly, and pointing at TV): “Yes!  Yes I have seen that!” 🤣 (And here I thought he didn’t watch snails.. he must watch them in secret and not tell me so that he doesn’t have to participate in a snail discussion)

That's lovely! I think it's even more satisfying when a friend, family or partner notices when you thought maybe they weren't paying attention or had no interest. 

His friends conversation was super nice too, I love that they paid so much attention to it. 

 

I don't have a lot of people over to my house but the Angry Man always gets the most attention/questions. Intrepid Partner keeps surprising me with his interest in my hobby having recently walked right up to the counter at the LFS while I was getting my new Mysteries with the staff and asked them what they recommended for LARGE custom tanks. He constantly pops off random questions that make me believe he spends a lot of time thinking about my tanks, fish, the biological workings of keeping fish in the hobby. He doesn't have interest in the maintenance part as far as I can tell but he seems to greatly appreciate my tanks and is super supportive. 

[nabokovfan87]

Reminded me.... I fed shrimp food, was supposed to feed powdered today. I need to crush some up!