I've never really thought about these little critters much until a couple weeks ago. I found a couple on my new stinkpots I caught while fishing. They're short(1/2") and have 3-4 little circles on their backs in a straight line. I just wanted to know how to take care of them, because I find them to be pretty interesting. Have leaches ever been bred in captivity?
Getting Into The Leach Hobby...
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, Jul 20 2007 06:11 PM
14 replies to this topic
#2
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Posted 20 July 2007 - 06:29 PM
They can take care of themselves. Your fish may not like it, thoughI've never really thought about these little critters much until a couple weeks ago. I found a couple on my new stinkpots I caught while fishing. They're short(1/2") and have 3-4 little circles on their backs in a straight line. I just wanted to know how to take care of them, because I find them to be pretty interesting. Have leaches ever been bred in captivity?
#3
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Posted 20 July 2007 - 07:02 PM
They can take care of themselves. Your fish may not like it, though
Fish eat them and if What I think they are...Turtle leeches...they do not feed on fish either.... Birds and turtles sure, Fish nope.....
That said....WELCOME !!!!!!!!! I've been feeling lonely in the leech hobby...
Seeing as they where found on a stinkpot (musk turtle) I'm going to guess right away that you have a Placobdella species, often called a Turtle leech..(Appropriate huh?). First thing in keeping them is you will need a small container of which size is not a huge deal or you could just keep them on and with the host turtle.. If keeping them separate make sure water quality is pretty good. This is easy to accomplish by just switching out the water once a week or so..Feeding is simple and actually does not need to be frequent. Just place the leech in with turtle and remove from turtle after a day or so. These animals (species dependent) really only need feeding four or five times their entire life. Early stage feeding is more important than later stage as they need to build up weight when young..Typically once they reach maturity feeding can and will slow to once or twice per year.
These can be captive bred just by keeping them and it is very interesting to do so..Turtle leech reproduction depends on species but most will lay 20 to 80 'cocoons' during reproductive stage..these young need food and need it fast. Typically in the wild the parent will either carry the eggs with them on a host animal or deposit them on the host animal.
Below is a pic of one of my usual Placobdella tanks..
Turtle_leech.jpg 157.82KB
0 downloadsAs you can see it is nothing but a 7 inch plastic tube...Really easy animal to keep.
#4
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Posted 20 July 2007 - 07:30 PM
Thanks. I'll post a pic later. I just looked at one of them and it has more like 6-8 circles on its back. How big do they get at full size?
#5
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Posted 20 July 2007 - 07:47 PM
Thanks. I'll post a pic later. I just looked at one of them and it has more like 6-8 circles on its back. How big do they get at full size?
Pic will help a lot to answer that question...
#6
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 21 July 2007 - 07:59 AM
I posted regarding one of these a few months back... and I also searched through the internet for information... there was at least one article that I ran across that indicated that Turtle leeches will feed on snails as well. So I added the one that we had found to a tank of bluefin killies that was heavily planted and had lots of snails. The leech did fine. This tank was at work and I don't work there anymore, so I can't give a long term update, but is seemed to work and as mentioned by others, the leech did not try to attack fish, so an interesting tank mate in my opinion.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#7
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Posted 21 July 2007 - 08:07 AM
I also searched through the internet for information... there was at least one article that I ran across that indicated that Turtle leeches will feed on snails as well.
This is indeed true but a good ID would help on that as some do and some do not. If I remember correctly Micheal yours was one that did...They can be kept with fish..just make sure the leech can not fit in the fishes mouth
#8
Michael Wolfe
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Posted 21 July 2007 - 08:18 AM
Yeah, you remember right... and that was the point of keeping the leech with bluefin killies... he was actuially twice as long and nearly four time the mass of any of the fish in the tank... he was in no danger from those fish... was the most interesting inhabitant of the desktop aquarium!This is indeed true but a good ID would help on that as some do and some do not. If I remember correctly Micheal yours was one that did...They can be kept with fish..just make sure the leech can not fit in the fishes mouth
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#9
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Posted 21 July 2007 - 08:24 AM
Here is a picture of the leach. This was the closest I could get without the camera going out of focus. It's about 1/2" long.
P.S. the date on my camera is wrong.
P.S. the date on my camera is wrong.
#10
Guest_Irate Mormon_*
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Posted 21 July 2007 - 03:18 PM
I wonder if chicken liver would be a good leech bait?
#11
Guest_wegl2001_*
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Posted 24 July 2007 - 02:03 PM
This is a leach we collected 2 years ago just north of Huntsville. Any guesses on the ID?
DSCN1474.JPG 50.39KB
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DSCN1474.JPG 50.39KB
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#12
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Posted 24 July 2007 - 09:14 PM
Here is a picture of the leach. This was the closest I could get without the camera going out of focus. It's about 1/2" long.
P.S. the date on my camera is wrong.
Maybe Placobdella ornata but I'm not sure going by pics alone.. P. ornata can be variable a couple other species can have similar coloration and pattern.
#13
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Posted 24 July 2007 - 09:31 PM
This is a leach we collected 2 years ago just north of Huntsville. Any guesses on the ID?
What type habitat was it associated with?? Hard to say on this one as well as a few different genera and species can look like this and without close examination it can be difficult to pin down an ID..A very obvious maybe on this one is Placobdella multilineata but I'm not so sure of that... too many others have defined striped patterns. Habitat type (host association) might narrow this a bit.
#14
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Posted 26 July 2007 - 03:05 PM
Maybe Placobdella ornata but I'm not sure going by pics alone.. P. ornata can be variable a couple other species can have similar coloration and pattern.
If it is P. ornata, what would its max size be?
#15
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Posted 26 July 2007 - 03:46 PM
If it is P. ornata, what would its max size be?
Inch and a half to two inches average.
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