Posted: 2009.07.20(Mon)13:09 Post subject: Re: hey
macika wrote:
that's not true. I have Pseudotropheus Lombardoi and Melanochromis Auratus and they hate the snails. They don't eat them. I feed them with veggie based fishfood and they didn't/don't even touch the plants.
I didn't mean to say that YOUR mbuna would eat snails, but instead was saying that MINE do. Are you sure they're not chewing on the plant, though? I never actually SEE mine chew on the plant, but it's all haggard and eaten looking and I don't have any snails in there.
macika wrote:
I am because I give them 1 or 2 times just a small amount of food wich they consume really fast. But I won't give food for them and we'll see how they like snails.
I wouldn't go as far as to recommend that you not feed your fish and expect them to eat the snails, especially considering the fact that the mbuna tend to be herbivorious (the lombordoi is a herbivore and I believe the auratus is a omnivore). I was merely stating that my mbuna kill snails, and suggesting the possibility that the snail population in your tank might be due to overfeeding, since that is a common cause of snail issues.
Are you feeding a flake food or a pelleted food? I've found snail populations to be less of a problem in pellet fed tanks vs. flake fed tanks. _________________ Dumpster Tank Nano Fish Mbuna
Posted: 2009.07.20(Mon)19:38 Post subject: Re: hey
nikelodeon79 wrote:
macika wrote:
that's not true. I have Pseudotropheus Lombardoi and Melanochromis Auratus and they hate the snails. They don't eat them. I feed them with veggie based fishfood and they didn't/don't even touch the plants.
I didn't mean to say that YOUR mbuna would eat snails, but instead was saying that MINE do. Are you sure they're not chewing on the plant, though? I never actually SEE mine chew on the plant, but it's all haggard and eaten looking and I don't have any snails in there.
macika wrote:
I am because I give them 1 or 2 times just a small amount of food wich they consume really fast. But I won't give food for them and we'll see how they like snails.
I wouldn't go as far as to recommend that you not feed your fish and expect them to eat the snails, especially considering the fact that the mbuna tend to be herbivorious (the lombordoi is a herbivore and I believe the auratus is a omnivore). I was merely stating that my mbuna kill snails, and suggesting the possibility that the snail population in your tank might be due to overfeeding, since that is a common cause of snail issues.
Are you feeding a flake food or a pelleted food? I've found snail populations to be less of a problem in pellet fed tanks vs. flake fed tanks.
I am feeding them with pellets. The snails ate my plants I know that for sure. Because I feed my fish with Omega 8 veggie pellets 2 times a day and I don't think they would chew on the plants. Even if they did I still hate these snails. _________________ 50G
planted
low light 1 WPG (now)
I've noticed that in your siggy, you stated that you had only 1WPG of lighting. Does it refer to your Mbuna tank?
Most plants generally do not thrive with such lighting and probably barely survive through the lack of sufficient light. I think it is likely that your plants is slowly dying and this is, in turn, a food source for your snails. Are you able to identify your plants? It would be better if you could provide pictures of the plants as of now.
If you are certain that you are not overfeeding, and no excess food is left ignored and is currently rotting away in your substrate, you may want to try reducing the amount of food you're giving to your fish for each feeding. You may want to even halve each feeding. If you're afraid that your fish might not have enough to eat, feed them more often. It is better to feed less but more frequently. Continue this regime for at least a month or so. If you're really overfeeding before the change in amount of food per feeding, the snail population would decline.
Avoid adding chemicals into your tank. Also, avoid getting fish/invertebrates that have a reputation for eating snails just to eliminate this problem because there are compatibility issues and issues of whether you truly want this animal.
Lastly, having a small population of snails is all right. Snails are not necessarily bad.
Yes it is 1W/g and they thriving like crazy but the snails eat my plants. I added CO2 as well and they love it and some minerals to plants I think I have more watt/gallon. _________________ 50G
planted
low light 1 WPG (now)
Yes it is 1W/g and they thriving like crazy but the snails eat my plants.
Are you sure that it is thriving? What did you mean by "thriving"? Rapid growth?
I do not think your plants are "thriving". I've not heard or came across any plant that thrive with 1WPG;even the most hardy and low-light plants grow slow in 1WPG, almost to the point whereby they do not seem to grow at all!
Snails, especially those belonging to the smaller species, usually do not eat plants. Smaller as in those that probably get to less than 3cm in length. They would eat detritus (dead plant material) and, of course, fish food. However, when starving, snails do look for alternatives and these include soft-bodied plants.
As said before, can you provide us with a picture of your plants?
macika wrote:
I added CO2 as well and they love it and some minerals to plants I think I have more watt/gallon.
If your tank has only 1WPG, it is redundant to add CO2 and minerals, which I reckon are fertilisers. 1WPG only provides this amount of light and this limits your plants' intake of CO2 gas and nutrients.
I'm assuming that you're using a fluorescent light and not an incandescent one. It is very easy to calculate the WPG of your tank. First off, calculate the volume of your tank in gallons. Use the conversion tool at the bottom of this page to convert litres to gallons. Secondly, look around your light - there should be a label indicating the watts of your light. Then. do the division. Now, the problematic part comes in. Determine your light's diameter. If it is a T12 light, meaning to say that its diameter is 12 eighths of an inch, the WPG obtained earlier should be accurate. However, if it is a T8 or T5 light, your WPG should be higher. I'm not sure how much higher though.
Yes it is 1W/g and they thriving like crazy but the snails eat my plants.
Are you sure that it is thriving? What did you mean by "thriving"? Rapid growth?
I do not think your plants are "thriving". I've not heard or came across any plant that thrive with 1WPG;even the most hardy and low-light plants grow slow in 1WPG, almost to the point whereby they do not seem to grow at all!
Snails, especially those belonging to the smaller species, usually do not eat plants. Smaller as in those that probably get to less than 3cm in length. They would eat detritus (dead plant material) and, of course, fish food. However, when starving, snails do look for alternatives and these include soft-bodied plants.
As said before, can you provide us with a picture of your plants?
macika wrote:
I added CO2 as well and they love it and some minerals to plants I think I have more watt/gallon.
If your tank has only 1WPG, it is redundant to add CO2 and minerals, which I reckon are fertilisers. 1WPG only provides this amount of light and this limits your plants' intake of CO2 gas and nutrients.
I'm assuming that you're using a fluorescent light and not an incandescent one. It is very easy to calculate the WPG of your tank. First off, calculate the volume of your tank in gallons. Use the conversion tool at the bottom of this page to convert litres to gallons. Secondly, look around your light - there should be a label indicating the watts of your light. Then. do the division. Now, the problematic part comes in. Determine your light's diameter. If it is a T12 light, meaning to say that its diameter is 12 eighths of an inch, the WPG obtained earlier should be accurate. However, if it is a T8 or T5 light, your WPG should be higher. I'm not sure how much higher though.
Regards,
shinio
LMAO I know how to count it and I also know that I can convert some english units to metric one at the bottom of the page. LOL. Well I always have to trim my plants because it grows fast. The only thing I don't know is to upload pictures here. I think you were not exactly specific meaning by
"If it is a T12 light, meaning to say that its diameter is 12 eighths of an inch". 12 what? or u meant 12/8 of an inch? (or 3/2) I am using fluorescent lights and their diameters are T8 15W (3 of them wich are life-glo, sun-glow, power-glo) and how do you count it by the diameter the WPG? It's not clear for me what you said. I believe my tank is 50G (US)
approx.: 80 cm high and 40 cm wide and 55 cm diameter hexagon. Timing is like 12-13 hours. 3-4% algae. (Thank god:) ) _________________ 50G
planted
low light 1 WPG (now)
That is 150 litres or 40 US gallons but the height is why you have problems.
80cm (31"0 tall means ythe light can't reach down through the water column and IME the only way to get plants growing is to start with tall plants like jungle vallis., aponogetons or even floaters or go for low light plants. Forget any sort of watts pre gallon calculations as they won't apply.
I would ditch the CO2 and to be honest I wouldn't dream of putting mbuna in a tank of these dimensions.
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Continue this regime for at least a month or so. If you're really overfeeding before the change in amount of food per feeding, the snail population would decline.
However, when starving, snails 
