Melody

I am finally remembering to update this thread. Since its a common problem, I wanted to let future searchers know that Rudy's silicone method worked like a charm. Its been going strong for almost a couple of months now and is bone dry. Thanks again for taking the time to give a mechanically challenged female a hand .

Yup, that's the only one in captivity that gets that large in aquatics, although I'd prefer to see a pic before confirming it. They're renaming them all sorts of things to avoid legal issues. They're perfectly legal in Canada and not a threat to our environment due to our climate, but they're banned in the US and other Countries. Voracious plant eaters that reach about the size of a baseball. The frequently used common name is 'Cana' and they are an Applesnail species. There are striped, brown and gold varieties, as well as a few with a dark moss green tinge. Don't let them breed unless you have a lot of tank space and a store who is willing to take them. Its much more difficult to move the plant-eaters in my experience, but I then I refuse to leave that information out so I suppose I ruin my own sales that way....lol. I can't imagine one of those beautiful planted tanks being mowed by a snail I sold. They are a great novelty for size alone, and are considered by their owners to be more of a 'pet' than other snails. The puppyish eyes somewhat endearing on their own..lol. If he's reached that size, you must be doing a fine job already . The only tips are the usual ones for snails - high calcium diet for a healthy shell and clean water with no metals. I think all of Alberta enjoys hard water so environmental calcium shouldn't be an issue unless you're having shell problems. Remember to allow a good 2G's of tank stocking space for them as they're somewhat messy creatures. Others recommend even more space. You should have him for 2+ years. Lots of info at Applesnail.net and they have a well-run forum as well. I just brought in a few Gold Canas to try out, but I've kept their more recently discovered 'Salton Sea Applesnail' cousins for a year or so. I also have another more rarely seen cousin, P. Haustrum, which I have to get a Classified up for, come to think of it. They lay green eggs :shock: . Both stay considerably smaller than Cana's but are larger than Brig's. I've avoided Cana's because they're common and plant eaters are hard enough to move when they're rare. However, they're getting more uncommon now that the States has started to enforce their ban and I wanted to try them for my own pleasure if nothing else. Thanks for telling us more about him, he sounds wonderful. I'll look forward to the pic's .

Have you tried contacting the U of S Native Law Centre? That's who the Gov't consults with half the time. They may be able to address your more specific and delicate questions. Good luck!

What's not to love? Tell me about this Peru Snail of yours, if you would please. Species? Aquatic? I'm curious . Terrestrials I'm a total novice at other than what I've read, but that will soon change. I can help you with aquatic snails though.

Are you sure the Trumpets are MTS? There are a lot of species that are a similar shape. I'm not nit-picking, I'm intrigued...lol. If you get any photos, I'd love to see them. In fact, bring some home and some sucker for snails like me will pay you outrageous amounts for them . I've never seen an MTS or a Viv (also cone shaped) eat plants, regardless of their size, so that would be interesting too. I'd also love to hear how the lesson plans go. I don't envy you the older classes - the questions get more and more difficult to answer. Have a statement prepared for those, like "Detailed documentation as it applies to specific fish is often elusive to non-existent...."

Exactly - the breathing tube is called a Siphon. The best description I've heard for it, is it is like a snorkel. Applesnails are capable of breathing both under water, through a gill, and atmospheric air with a lung. The siphon is used to fill the lung with air while the snail remains under water. If they're all at the surface a lot, your tank is low in oxygen. Otherwise, they'll go to the surface periodically to exchange the air in the lung - he should be doing a little dance with his head going in and out of his shell if that's the case. He's a very pretty Purple :-).

Ms. Lilwolfe produces beautiful snails. I have brought them in from well over a dozen breeders across the US & Canada, so it takes a lot to impress me.... then again, I think she got her pink/purple breeders from me so I SHOULD be impressed...lol. She has also been a great pleasure to deal with and is always reliable. Once your stock is up, keep me up on the colors you have available so I can refer Albertans to you or hand over the forum advertising for those colors. You're so much closer that they'll save a mint in shipping, and this is an Alberta forum so you're entitled to the market here, in my opinion. There's always my wierdo species anyway...lol. I enjoy working with several breeders across Canada, and its far more fun than competing. You'll definitly have to pick up some heatpacks and then you're good to go. If you can't find them there, I have a contact in Saskatchewan. Best of luck with your sales. I've had nothing but wonderful dealings with the members of this forum and I wish you the same .

That sounds good on paper, but most Swordtails are already Platy hybrids, including every single red and redwag Swordtail, for starters. The female does the choosing and she'll prefer her own kind. You can't rely on that, especially since they're probably both sporting the other species' blood in their veins, but its a bit of reassurance. Generally the male doesn't bother with females smaller than him, so if the female Platy is much smaller, he'll go after the larger Swordtail female. That's why its very difficult to initiate a cross between the two using a Platy female and a Swordtail male. The Swordtails will spit out whatever they were hit with 6 months ago, so if you just bought the female, Heaven only knows who Daddy is. Platy's will usually take the last insemination. Basically, it could happen, but it really doesn't matter if it does unless they're a clean strain. A clean strain at the commercial level would be very rare indeed. They slap 'Helleri' on anything with a Sword.

Congrat's! Seems a shame to have Albinos eaten. How about a tank divider until they get some size on them? They're not expensive and always good to have on hand anyway. Otherwise, any ol' container will do for a bit. I have several 4-10G tanks empty but you're a tad far away...lol...maybe someone else has one they could lend you?

My Son spoke about those for a weather project. His teacher had no clue about them. As for speaking, I get the most response out of babies to be sure. I also get a good response from Cory's. They like seeing algae eaters stick to the glass too. There are zillions of worksheets & coloring sheets online. I also made bookmarks for them, and raided the dollar store for fish stuff - there's lots of it. I told them there would be questions & prizes after so they listened more carefully. The best way to get them to shut up & sit still? Feed them. I did up snack bags of what else? Fish crackers. I usually cover threatened species issues and wild release, both of which could serve them and the environment well if they retain it.

If the tanks are all well established, I wouldn't worry about it. The beneficial bacteria sticks to everything in the tank - gravel, ornaments, etc. While it is concentrated in the filter, the tank can compensate easily if it is not overstocked. I have cycled tanks with a handful of established gravel, so I think sometimes we obsess a tad too much about the filter bacteria. If you can avoid it, great, but if you can't, just keep an eye on things. If you do see a spike, it shouldn't be a huge one. You can squeeze the 'juice' from the Aquaclear sponge into the new filter for a boost if you like, or cut the sponge up and put a piece in the new filter. You can also cut back on your feeding for a few weeks. Plants can also help compensate for fluctuations. I change the media in my tanks with one filter all the time without issues. I use several filters with filter pads and they caught on to them being reused I suspect, because for the past year they practically fall apart if you try to rinse them. If I have a choice, as in tanks with more than one filter, then I alternate.

She's not here, but her spies are <mmmoooooaaawwhahahaha *cough*splutter*>. I'm trying to finish a site for a fish store, so its kept me busy. To be perfectly honest, Mr. Dunl, the shipping wouldn't be worth while, supposing you can get feeders locally. I used to breed them as a higher quality feeder snail, but I ran out of space. I sometimes offer 'scratchie' applesnails who have cosmetic shell damage for a song, so I can let you know when I have those again if you like. I do know someone who breeds some nice Ramshorn feeders if you want to ship them in, but they're not cheap, especially with shipping. The best way to do it is to breed your own, as explained in the classifieds, but I can get more into it if you want a plan. Its easy to keep shells nice in Alberta water (supposing its hard in all locations), so the rest is just diet and general health. Its acidic, low Ph that really erodes a shell. They enjoy much the same parameters as African Cichlids. I'll have to go look to get a name, but you have a local Marisa (Giant Columbian Ramshorn Snail) breeder there - they have thick shells and can be fed when they're small. If you're not fussy about looks, you can also get gold and 'wild' Applesnails from most chain stores for a couple of bucks. Niether breeds as constantly as pests, but with a variety of species you'd be all set. Watch the store Applesnails if you have plants, and make sure you're getting the P. Bridgesii. The other one is a Cana and it will mow your plants. They're not as common now though because they're banned in the States. All that is assuming you don't want saltwater snails, which I don't deal in. However, you can get hundreds of them on eBay for very little if that is what you need. And once again she rolls her eyes at herself and mumbles "I will NEVER get rich if I keep this up"...lol...but I don't want you to go to the expense of shipping if you have an alternative. I'd be more than happy to take your money if you want me too though. Rudy, believe it or not, I used to hate them too - they were pests in my tanks and ate my flowers in the garden. I was talked into them by an evil woman who told me they were good for fry tanks, what with the cleaning and infusoria factor. Then someone said "Hey, I'll give you ten bucks for that pink snail", and I fell in love :heart: . Now they've grown on me and I like playing with the color genetics, but I still don't like them enough to let them crawl all over me like some do. YUCK!

Awesome! Now you can write an article sharing your experience to help people here if they find them.

My female Yellow Lab holds on a regular basis, even though she has no male with her. The first time she did it, I thought she was ill. She hides and is definitly more skittish and aggressive... not so much in a protective way but more irritable, or that's how it appears. Her whole neck and cheeks have a swollen look, and her mouth is partially open enough so you can see her teeth. She seems to get more pale too, but I dont' know if that's typical.

Yes, beating you for the smell in the house will be quite enough for any man I'm thinkin'...lol...good luck with it!