Saturday 2 March 2013

Baby Assassins!

Shortly after I got the Roma 240, I sold off my other tanks and sadly I had to find a new home for several fish, including Mrs Krib :( When I broke down the tank I found that, sadly and without obvious reason, four of my six assassin snails were but mere shells. The two survivors were moved into the Superfish betta tank. I also sold the wood I had in these tanks, with the exception of one piece wood with a plant attached, which I put in my 20l Arcadia Arc quarantine tank. About 4-6 weeks later I noticed that Viv, my light-coloured angel, had a gammy fin. He or she has always had one deformed fin which means she can't swim fast, even for an angel, and she may have been nipped. I was however concerned it was finrot of whitespot or something else bad. I moved the platy babies inhabiting the tank into the 200l to fend for themselves and then moved Viv into my qt tank (which is far too small for her but as I said, I sold the rest of my tanks off! Just my luck...). I whacked the temperature up and medicated the tank. Anyway... One week later, I noticed baby assassin snails crawling round the tank! Not just one or two; about 9 or 10 at last count! I guess the increase in temperature caused eggs, which must have been on the wood already, to hatch out.... how odd is that?? I never had any babies at all when the wood was in situ - no shells at all when the tank was broken down except those I put in myself. Perhaps it was the temperature that caused them to hatch, I just don't know. All I know is that the eggs must have been at least 6 weeks old at time of hatching, if not much, much longer. Am hoping these baby snails survive long enough to be photographed easily, and looking forward to a new breeding challenge!