# decaying plant matter?



## lookimawave (Feb 27, 2012)

I bought some live plants for my tank (yay) but they're shedding everywhere (boo). I got fluffy ones on purpose for fry to hide in without thinking about all the impossible to catch hairlike fibers floating everywhere. 

I think I'll buy some snails, they only eat decaying plant matter, not live plants right? Its a new tank so no algae, an I just feed them zucchini? Should I buy some algae tablets?

The thing is...I don't really WANT snails. I hear they poop a lot and aren't that interesting to me. Is there anything else that eats decaying plant matter? I know I want kuhli loaches, would they? Algae eaters? Would algae eaters do OK with just tablets and live veggies?


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## dmuddle (Nov 14, 2011)

Get some bristlenose/ plecos they will eat the matter they thrive on it


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## Inga (Jun 8, 2010)

I am assuming you got hornwort and it is now shedding all over. What I have done in the past is to take my aquarium net and very slowly and carefully so as not to upset the fish, drag it through the water and catch most of that. 

If you do not like snails, don't get one. You shouldn't get other creatures for clean up duty if you don't like the creature itself. That said, if your only experience with snails was as pests (as mine had been year ago) you might be surprised at how fascinating they can be. 








A mystery snail for instance is rather fascinating to watch in it's movements. It does eat decaying plant matter and if you only have one, you won't have babies. So population isn't an issue. They get about the size of a gulf ball.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

By the same token, never buy a fish just to do some task. It may or may not do it adequately, plus it adds to the bioload, and esp in smaller tanks this limits your option on fish.

If this is hornwort, I never use it primarily for this reason. It tends to keep "shedding" particularly if you have the cooler water species in a warmer tank. Pennywort is a better stem plant, but if you are looking for fry hiding places, floating plants like Water Sprite are ideal. Wisteria also works, and cabomba. All these are in our plant profiles.

On snails, the small common ones are a great benefit in any aquarium. They can get into places you will never be able to, and they eat everything, breaking down waste so the bacteria can better deal with it. Malaysian livebearing or trumpet snails are ideal as they burrow through the substrate. Pond snails are also good. Neither of these will eat live plants, but they will eat decaying leaves, etc. You don't need to feed these snails, they will find food, and you would be amazed at how much natural food there is in any aquarium.

Byron.


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## Deadstroke174 (Jan 16, 2012)

Byron said:


> On snails, the small common ones are a great benefit in any aquarium. They can get into places you will never be able to, and they eat everything, breaking down waste so the bacteria can better deal with it. Malaysian livebearing or trumpet snails are ideal as they burrow through the substrate. Pond snails are also good. Neither of these will eat live plants, but they will eat decaying leaves, etc. You don't need to feed these snails, they will find food, and you would be amazed at how much natural food there is in any aquarium.
> 
> Byron.


quick question on the snails how hard is it to keep the population under control? I think they are really cool looking at was thinking of getting some myself.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Deadstroke174 said:


> quick question on the snails how hard is it to keep the population under control? I think they are really cool looking at was thinking of getting some myself.


The small ones we use primarily for clean-up will reproduce according to the amount of food they have. And while overfeeding will encourage this, remember that "food" to the snail is any decomposing fish or plant matter, waste, algae, etc. I have hundreds of Malaysian Livebearing snails in my tanks, i couldn't begin to count them, but I am happy to see them. I feed very sparingly, so there obviusly is just a lot of natural food that they are handling. They break waste down into smaller bits that the bacteria can more easily handle. The MLS burrow through the substrate performing several important tasks that we would not otherwise manage.


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## Deadstroke174 (Jan 16, 2012)

Byron said:


> The small ones we use primarily for clean-up will reproduce according to the amount of food they have. And while overfeeding will encourage this, remember that "food" to the snail is any decomposing fish or plant matter, waste, algae, etc. I have hundreds of Malaysian Livebearing snails in my tanks, i couldn't begin to count them, but I am happy to see them. I feed very sparingly, so there obviusly is just a lot of natural food that they are handling. They break waste down into smaller bits that the bacteria can more easily handle. The MLS burrow through the substrate performing several important tasks that we would not otherwise manage.


Thank you, i think i will pick some up this weekend. I at least assume i can find some at my LFS.


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## lookimawave (Feb 27, 2012)

Inga said:


> I am assuming you got hornwort and it is now shedding all over. What I have done in the past is to take my aquarium net and very slowly and carefully so as not to upset the fish, drag it through the water and catch most of that.
> 
> If you do not like snails, don't get one. You shouldn't get other creatures for clean up duty if you don't like the creature itself. That said, if your only experience with snails was as pests (as mine had been year ago) you might be surprised at how fascinating they can be.
> 
> ...


I did have a tank with HUGE population of trumpet snails along with a couple mystery snails. The shells of the mystery snails got thinner and thinner and they eventually died, even though I kept feeding them kale and spinach and other high calcium greens  Maybe because there were so many trumpet snails they hogged all the calcium?


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## lookimawave (Feb 27, 2012)

Byron said:


> By the same token, never buy a fish just to do some task. It may or may not do it adequately, plus it adds to the bioload, and esp in smaller tanks this limits your option on fish.
> 
> If this is hornwort, I never use it primarily for this reason. It tends to keep "shedding" particularly if you have the cooler water species in a warmer tank. Pennywort is a better stem plant, but if you are looking for fry hiding places, floating plants like Water Sprite are ideal. Wisteria also works, and cabomba. All these are in our plant profiles.
> 
> ...


I had a trumpet snail plague once :shock: Pennywort and water sprite look really nice! I'll go see if they have them at LFS  I think hornwort is getting dumped :evil:


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## lookimawave (Feb 27, 2012)

Deadstroke174 said:


> quick question on the snails how hard is it to keep the population under control? I think they are really cool looking at was thinking of getting some myself.


I've heard Assassin Snails love to eat trumpet snails. At my LFS there was an empty tank labeled assassin snails with lots of empty trumpet snail shells so I think I believe it!


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