It's only been set up for a few days, but I'm in love, and I can't stop watching Caius swim and explore the tank.
He's such a curious little man and often investigates the snails when they move quickly or float to the surface. He also likes to watch me when I'm near the tank!
Caius is also a good little eater, having tried and eaten everything I've given him. Here he is after having a meal of bloodworms.
The ramshorns in here are doing well also. I thought this one was cute trying to stretch to another buce leaf!
Last time I bought plants from a fish shop I got an unexpected surprise - tiny snails had hitched a ride to my tank! I wasn't sure what kind they were as they were so small (I thought they might be bladder snails but their shells were a bit different) so I just left them to grow for a few weeks... it turns out they are blue ramshorn snails! Their shells are now 1.5-2cm wide and are a very pretty dappled pastel blue with hints of pink, some are plain and others have a gorgeous leopard spot pattern. I have about 10 and they seem to be laying eggs, so I will have more baby snails in no time! I have noticed there are some small bites out of my plants, so I will have to make sure they have enough algae wafers and calcium blocks to munch on!
the way people fear pest snails is so unwarranted man. they're literally the cutest snails, easy as shit to keep alive, and they're live food for lots of different animals.
like I keep an assassin snail in my 20 gal guppy tank and he's been keeping my snail populations in check. they aren't really able to reproduce in my guppy tank because the assassin snail eats their eggs. but what I do is I just move any excess snails from other aquariums into that tank to feed the assassin snail.
their population never exploded for me after a couple months and they just steadily make food for the assassin snail and clean my tanks. they're great for my goldfish and Betta tank since shrimp would get absolutely fucked in there but snails do perfectly fine.
just if you're scared of keeping ramshorns because people tell you do please don't worry too much. just don't overfeed so they aren't able to explode in population and keep something like a pea puffer or an assassin snail to keep them in check. I find they're a great alternative to shrimp because of their resilience.
I might even use them as food for the goldfish once they're big enough because it should be good for them. I'll do a good amount of research before hand to know if this is a good idea
My OC Clara participating in a football tournament for her school, Geckens Technical Institute. GTI is a world created by my friend Frogaloo! You can join the Discord server Here