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Beneficial Inverts?
#1
Guest_jakemyster44_*
Posted 26 February 2011 - 02:18 PM
-Jake
#2
Guest_FirstChAoS_*
Posted 26 February 2011 - 02:37 PM
#3
Guest_MrCatfish_*
Posted 26 February 2011 - 03:06 PM
#4
Guest_jakemyster44_*
Posted 26 February 2011 - 03:23 PM
#5
Guest_MrCatfish_*
Posted 26 February 2011 - 06:34 PM
#6
Guest_schambers_*
Posted 26 February 2011 - 11:01 PM
#7
Guest_FirstChAoS_*
Posted 26 February 2011 - 11:53 PM
Any of the common aquarium pest snails are great, in my tanks they get eaten before they can do any cleaning though.
I added plants to my 55 while cycling, about a month before I added fish. The plants had BB style nuisance snails who bred quickly. Until I added my shiners who made quick work of them. People say darters are the big snail eaters but my shiners ate them more than the darters when I had them.
#8
Guest_gzeiger_*
Posted 27 February 2011 - 09:44 AM
Blackworms can certainly be added any time, but unless you have only a few very small fish they won't last long.
If your fish are small enough for them to survive, I really like periwinkles (caddisfly larvae). I wouldn't call them beneficial to the system, and they may eat small amounts of plants, but they are very interesting to watch. The major downside is metamorphosis into a flying insect which some may find objectionable.
#9
Guest_mikez_*
Posted 27 February 2011 - 12:36 PM
For the most part benifits include supplemental food for the fish and breaking down solid waste to speed the nitrification cycle.
I do consider snails beneficial and encourage them to the point of harvesting surplus snails from some tanks to add to others where the fish keep the population down. I don't pay much attention to what species they are. I use a lot of locally collected plants and the 3 or 4 different species that show up on their own work for me.
In heavily planted tanks they seem to eat mostly dead or dying foilage which is why I like them. Most of my tanks have plants as the primary filtration so dead leaves, uneaten food etc needs to be quickly broken down into mulm which turns around the nutrients and gives it back to new growth.
I don't keep too many fragile or valuable plants so if they nibble a leaf here or there, I forgive them.
#10
Guest_dafrimpster_*
Posted 01 March 2011 - 09:12 AM
Edited by dafrimpster, 01 March 2011 - 09:13 AM.
#11
Guest_rickwrench_*
Posted 02 March 2011 - 02:36 AM
I like to get a colony of blackworms (lumbriculus variegatus, not tubifex) going in all my aquariums (heavily planted, capped dirt substrate).
Snails are great, they eat dead leaves, excess fish food. I have mixed populations of pond and ramshorn snails, plus one ancient nerite (7+ years old).
Grass shrimp are nice additions. They graze on algae, excess fish food (they love frozen bloodworms).
All are preyed upon by one or another of the fish you plan to keep.
Grass shrimp probably won't have a chance.
Some snails always seem to survive.
Blackworms, in my tanks anyway, also always seem to survive.
Crayfish will shred a planted tank.
Rick
#12
Guest_schambers_*
Posted 02 March 2011 - 07:26 PM
I'd sure add an inch of backyard dirt under that substrate...
Rick
Good idea, that will help plant growth. Just make sure it hasn't been exposed to any lawn chemicals.
#13
Guest_dafrimpster_*
Posted 03 March 2011 - 09:43 AM
Crayfish will shred a planted tank.
Rick
Not true of Cambarellus Shufeldtii (dwarf cajun crayfish). I have been keeping them in planted tanks for a long time. They don't eat live plants.
#14
Guest_smbass_*
Posted 03 March 2011 - 09:57 AM
Not true of Cambarellus Shufeldtii (dwarf cajun crayfish). I have been keeping them in planted tanks for a long time. They don't eat live plants.
I'll second that. These little crayfish are great occupants for the planted aquarium. They are North Americas answer to all the little exotic shrimp people frequently keep and pay a lot of money for.
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