Daddy, what are those little things in the fish tank?
The Little Lady was shading her eyes and peering in at the sides of her fish tank.
Those little things in your fish tank, my darling, are called fish.
My eyes rolled upward so hard that they almost struck the ISS.
No, silly. Not the fish. The little things at the side?
She said this a little snarkily, the way that 9-year-olds do to their oh so stupid parents.
I sighed and looked up from my Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle. What little things? I got up and walked over to her fish tank which she had had since she was seven and had been the bane of my life that entire time. When we first got it some little female fish had somehow sneaked in with all the male guppies and they had shagged her stupid until the tank was a seething bubbling mess of fish babies. But we solved that and apart from cleaning the bastard thing out every so often, we had settled into a nice easy rhythm of topping it up with new fish every six months or so to account for the random deaths that occurred with monotonous regularity. There, look. See? Little things. All over the place? She pointed at the side of the tank and indeed, she was correct. There were little dots stuck to the side of the tank. Hmm, that's weird. I took my glasses off and pressed my beautiful face to the side of the tank for a closer look. One of the little dots moved and I could see two little feelers on its tiny little curled translucent body. I fell back aghast. No. NO! This cannot be? I shook like a dog with no legs trying to coax out an irksome shit. What is it, Daddy? What's wrong? The Little Lady, looked at me with concern and then back at the tank, trying to see what I had seen. Snails. They are bloody snails?! How the hell did we get snails in the fish tank?! ALIENS!?
Snails! Oh goody! Can we keep them? Can we? Pleeeeeaaaaase!!!! The Little Lady jumped up and down with excitement. I slumped like an old tramp after five cans of Special Brew But we don't know anything about them? What if they grow into giant slavering monsters?! In my head, I could see them now. slithering slimily over my sleeping body (not in a good way) before eating me ALIVE?! In an attempt to channel some eighties machismo like a wrestler in a pink leotard with a moustache I waved weakly at the tank. What if they grow up and eat your fish? There, she loved her fish despite never paying them any attention or feeding them or cleaning out their tank. Surely she wouldn't risk losing such precious little gobbets of scaly flesh? What if they eat the fish? Who cares, Daddy!! Snails! I love snails! Can we keep them? Please? Please please please!!!!! She clasped her hands in a praying motion and fixed me with snails-are-all-I-have-ever-wanted eyes. I looked at her and then at the tank and shook my head. Ummm, alright. Till we see what happens. I wasn't sure what would happen bar me setting the tank on fire and screaming. But I was willing to wait. For now. I mean, I am not going nuts am I? They are baby snails? At least they look like they might become snails. How did they get in? We haven't bought new fish for ages! Should I kill them now whilst I still can? HELP!
yup, sometimes I kick back by eating utter fucking shite that isn't good for me.
hint: there is nothing fucking special about it
I, myself, am no stranger to snail-iness and slime. Even getting frequent passengers whenever I mount my metal steed.
Your little lady might've grown now and is now on her snail phase. Fret not, Boomdiggity, she will inevitably snap out of it. If not, and the snail population becomes out of control, give your old buddy a ring. Like I said, I have experience with snails.
P.S. I took a photo of that snail shell pile at the beginning of the pandemic. Now there's a patch in my garden that I fondly call The Snail Graveyard. No puns needed. Snails deserve no puns.
JDawg!!! Awesome to see you man!! And even more awesome for you to bring your bag of snail expertise!!
Imagine a snail hitching a ride on your steel chariot. How very dare it!?
The little lady has been on a snail phase for a long time. I am sure it will end... Tell me it will end!!
I do agree with you on the snail pit of dark death. I can think of nothing better!
If it hasn't ended by now, then by jove, it might never! A thousand years from now, if you ever decide to leave this mortal plane, I'm sure your little lass has already trained an armada of snails to carry your sarcophagus to its final resting place.
Now wouldn't that be a sight. In fact, my sarcophagus could be an ornately carved Snail shell of pearlescent umber, my resting form slightly visible through its iridescent sheen!
Thats it, I am sold!
You just brought me back to a decade or three ago, back to the days when we had our own little fish tank with tiny fish and a bunch of snails chilling on the inside of the tank's walls.
By the way, if you ask me, I'd much rather have snails in my fish tank than outside, cracking undernearh my feet or shoes. Or - worst of all - eating my baby lettuce.
I have those kind of snails in abundance! We have terrible trouble with snails and slugs here. I never expected to find them in the fish tank though. In all honesty, I am not against the idea but I have no idea from where they came!
I see.
That
slugssucks.In all honesty, I am also not sure how the snails ended up in our fish tank, back in the days.
Perhaps snails and slugs know the secret behind teleportation?
Snails are the new dolphins perhaps! The secret overlords of the world.
Maybe they sneaked in on a new filter or something. It's baffling. I hope they are snails and not some weird predatory parasitical worm!
Time will tell!
I am a Hive dolphin. Will I turn into a snail next and, if so, would that make me an overlord?
I am pretty sure they are just snails. Is there sand in the fish tank. Perhaps there were some snail eggs in there?
They will have to overhaul the hive rankings to include snail!!
The substrate stuff at the bottom has been in for about two years. It's a just a flaming mystery!
Great idea.
Flaming mystery indeed.
Would Snail be above or below Whale? 🤣
Huh, snails just appearing, that would have me a bit puzzled too!
For some reason this story made me think of the scariest book I ever read. Well, I was five or six so that might be relative, but dammmnn did it ever haunt my little brain. It was about slugs, not snails, but close enough! I have the chills just thinking about it, those slugs got their revenge for the many offenses especially salt and it wasn't pretty!
I'm sure your little snails will be jusssstttt fine 😆
HEhe, I remember reading a horror book about Slugs, a James Herbert one. It was totally nasty as far as Ican remember but also a little hokey. I think he was my favourite teen author!
Funk em. If they cross me, they are getting binned :OD
Okay, I'm going to act bleeding serious for once and I apologize up front...
Snails can get into an aquarium when a new fish or waterplant is being dropped in.
They come as an (unwanted) extra when bringing home those newly bought watery treasures.
Therefor, that clean and clear drinking water is safe to drink. It is the store thag sells them watery things which is to blame.
Them few snails can become a plague though. As they are very easy to keep happy with fish food that sinks to the bottom, they can also produce masses of eggs. Eggs which cannot, or hardly, be seen.
Getting rid of them is possible. Put a large plate in the aquarium, with some fishfood on it. Turn off the light for about an hour. After a while the snails will have gathered on the plate. Easy to get them out.
Also there are snail traps. Same basics as the plate trick. Only they won't be able to get out off the trap. You can probably buy one at a pet store.
And then, a survivsl of the fittest solution: a snail eating a snail.
You'll need the Anatome Helena snail for that job.
But won't that infest your aquarium with another snaily family?
No, that is the best thing. After the Anatoma Helena did its dirty job and no more fish food eating ones are left, it will make itself scarce.
Good luck, hope it will get resolved soon!
Aw man, cheers for this mate.
I can see this being another trial. I will give the plate thing a try and see if I can get a few of them at least. There are about 9 by my count and I can imagine it is much like my fear of when the Little Lady wanted an African snail and I learned that youhad to kill at least 200 of the young uns every month or two.
Ugh. I wasn't thinking about it becoming an infestation. My fears on the tank becoming a big giant boiling mass of muscle and flesh are coming true!
Maybe I should run away :OD
You're welcome. :-)
That would be a horror if the whole thing would be filled with an orgy of wrestling snails. Once I saw one standing up, for as far as one can speak of such a thing to exist. And it had its mouth open. Now that looked really creepy! You do not want to have a whole bunch of those and not live in France, where they seem to have a purpose.
And of course, always have a plan R; When everything goes wrong, run away. 😄
I am quite fond of a plan R!!
I don't even like to imagine them having mouths although I know they eat all the good bits in my garden do they have them. Yuk. The more I talk about them the less I think of them. Except for the French ones, they are rather tasty!!
A hundred years ago, it was thought to be good if you had an aquarium, to have some snails as they liked eating the slime off of everything and kept the tank cleaner.
I don't know if snails have evolved from that though. I haven't kept up with.... snail things.
How dare you not keep up to date with the very latest in Snail things. What am I supposed to do now? Ask the local shopkeeper?! :OD
I think I might try and convince her that hamsters are the way forward!
I know ! I had the audacity to comment even though I had no idea what I was talking about. Some people !
I think you might want to go back to fish and snails after you clean the hamster cage a time or two. I don't know though, at least you could claim a hamster ran away after a little bit. You can't use that one with fish.
I thought you sounded like a professional in the area. I am like, dang, she knows her shelled creatures!
I used to have pet rats. I don't remember too many issues with cleaning other than weekly skoof out the rubbish and fresh shavings in! Much better than slimy nonsense!
Keep an eye on t he size and the number, they're fine as long as they're just eating your algae, but they can become an infestation and when they hit that they're nigh on impossible to get rid of and then you basically have to scrap everything and start again.
If you're adding new fish by acclimatising and then pouring the lot in, they probably came in as microscopic things from wherever you got the new fish from and took a while to find conditions amenable for growing. If you bought any new plants recently they might have come in on the plants too.
You know, if they could take a while to find conditions amenable for growing they could have came in on the last couple of plants. Iremember the Little Lady going on about an air bubble on one of the leaves for ages and me kinda doing that parent thing going Oh yeah, like air bubbles. Fancy that
I guess my fears of becoming some kind of hell-bound snail killer are finally going to come to pass! :OD
If they were tiny, transparent and not actually air bubbles they may have been snail eggs XD
That sounds like them. I am now cursing myself for not pouring bleach and alkaseltzer into the tank!
Oh my that's a bit excessive?! XD
For future reference depending on the plant, you can give them a gentle wipedown to get rid of any eggs before adding them to your tank :)
I am an excessive expressive man!! :0D
I shall remember that. I genuinely had no idea that things could hitch a lift but of course, it makes perfect sense
It's all fun and games until there's a snail trail in the living room..
Haha, oh the rude things that keep coming to mind!!
heh heh
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I think the snail must have come through a change of water. I wonder how long they can survive in a fish tank. Snails usually grow so big though, so if that happens the little lady would be the one tired of seeing a huge entity like that floating in her fish tank.
LOL! Can you imagine. Just one big giant thing slowly rotating around and around in her tank. I would find it entertaining! :OD
Hi @meesterboom ,Well I would get that out of there , then I would tell the girl that the fish ate the snails , yes , I know I 'm bad haaaaaaaa but get that out of there , it 's not normal , and do not blame the aliens , well yes , that way you have another excuse to take them out , in any case your daughter will look at you as if you were a fool , that 's how children now look at older people , well , even at those of us who are 20 years old .
get those fucking snails out of there
Hey, thats not a bad idea. The fish did it!!
I am blaming it on the fish and I will take the looks of scorn! :OD
Hmm, I'm with you and would get rid of the snails. Thoughts of their not-good-slimy-slithering would be enough for me I think. They'd have to go. You should get on your 1980's pink leotard, take some pictures and post them, and then remove those snails once and for all.
Becca 🐌
I have decided that yes, this is right and the option to take. The only thing I have to do is now convince my daughter that such a thing is necessary. She has always loved snails. I can see some tears a coming!
Tears are better than slimy slithering I think.
I think so but I bet she disagrees!
You usually will get them on the plants. They lay eggs on the plants. Yikes, if you have tiny specks of black, you have fertilized babies and they will probably grow up and eat you. It only takes 2-4 weeks for them to hatch.
Darn.
I'm with you. Let's get rid of them.
If I had known this about plants I would have stuck with the fancy coloured plastic ones that we used to have!
I am cobbling together some massive bladed weapon in my garage designed specifically for killing gigantic attacking night snails. They will be in for a shock when they slither up to my room!
There you go, trying to make life comfortable for all... Real plants, fish food... Next thing you know, you be buying them their own pets.
Ewww. All I can think of is slugs, you know, snails without the shell. I think that is what happens when they grow out of their shells. They turn into slugs.
I just grossed myself out.
Eeewww. My true pretty hate are slugs. I was horrified last summer when one night I went to the attic to fetch something and noticed these long word shapes on the window. I went to look and they were slugs. About three of them, all stretched out to their fullest. Yuk. Is nowhere safe!
They are a spoiled bunch. I don't even know what they will demand and receive next!!
I am pretty sure we raised our kids in the manner that we thought we deserved! Of course, we had no idea what demanding little dictators they'd become! Trust me on this one, I will bet that every single one of them will raise their children like we were raised because they thought that they were spoiled just a little bit too much. Full circle wait and see! LOL
Is there anything more gross than a slug? I think not.
Haha, you know I have a feeling that you are bang on the money there!
I almost said I can't wait to see but feck, I need to steady myself on!!
There is nothing else than a slug. Except a slug in your veggies. Buggers
Now, that is grosser than ever. Where do you think this up? Shhhh! Keep it to yourself. I always miss your posts when they are fresh. I need to pay attention to what time.
I am always the last one here.
Oh, I can wait! :) If they get older, pretty sure I won't be any younger.
"said this a little snarkily, the way that 9-year-olds do to their oh so stupid parents."
9-year olds are the worst hahaha
!LOL
They totally are. I repeatedly get eye-rolls and sarcasm which I find quite funny but I imagine by the time she is a teen and doing it with more oomph that it might become a little trying!
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Dogs, cats , snails. Potatos Patatos.
Love a good rub under their antennas but whatever you do, don't bring them for a walk even if they beg you. You will be gone for a fortnight!
Funk me, can you imagine holding one and tickling it like that. YEECH??! I would rather burn the house down
ah you get over all that once you put it into the underpants.
There may be some positives after all!
Those male guppies obviously got bored shagging that little female all the time and started humping eachother. Seems to me the fish tank has MonkeyPox.
Monkey pox!! I have isolated it! Now if I destroy it I can save the world!! ;OD
But what would your daughter do to you? 😂
True enough, she rules the roost really!
When you get the new fish ... the person at the pet store scoops water into the bag. That water must have had some bonus features.
I'd swing back to the store and see what type of snails they have. Most likely, they'll be beneficial to the environment ... possibly less cleaning required.
Then again, they might be mutant killer snails that can grow to 1000X their current size in a single evening.... you never know.
Both thoughts have equal weight in my mind. Although on saying that we haven't been to the fish shop since last year, I was just thinking how well the current crop were doing. All I have done lately is change the filter.
There mus have been some cross contamination somewhere. I have my fingers crossed for beneficial and tank cleaning. Rather than gigantinator man eating things!
Snails are fairly common in fish tanks and they are good for cleaning the algae and gunk in them. It's weird that they just appeared though. I had to buy them when I had a tank. They were much much larger though, like full size snails. So I'm not sure if there are different varieties of them 🤷♂️
There must have been eggs on something but I just can't guess what. It's quite amazing that they are alive because I asked about getting them last year and in the shop they only had salt water ones. If they eat the algae and help keep it clean that's a bonus!
Yeah that's strange. Maybe they were in the soil? Not sure how long you had the tank but it sounds like it's been a while - so that's probably unlikely. Maybe a new fish ate a bunch of snail eggs and regurgitated them into your tank upon arrival.
We haven't even had new fish for months. The only thing that happens in the last few days was a cleaning and a new filter. Unless someone in the house is playing a cunning trick!
That's really strange.🧐
Maybe the store sold you a used filter in a new box lol 😂
That's my last idea explanation
I like that one because that was literally the last thing that I did that introduced anything new!
Do aquatic snails have a flying stage and flew into your tank? With all the weird shit I've seen on TV I'd believe almost anything about nature. I blame Attenborough. He and the Queen are probably both vampires.
My son kept some garden snails as pets for a while, but we've not had a fish tank. They seem like a lot of work. I've actually just been out in the garden hunting the snails in my strawberry patch. I'd rather eat the sweet red fruit myself and preferably without big holes in it.
We have millions of snails outside. I don't think it is possible to keep on top of them. I tried beer traps before but they quickly became stinking pits of snails/slug death with no sign of affecting their numbers!
I am genuinely not sure how the buggers got in. If they are cool water snails it will be quite good. If something else they are getting gone.
I don't think fish are worth it, no one tells you about all the cleaning and madness that is associated with keeping them healthy!
We have enough to do with chickens and cats. Both give more back than fish.
I heartily agree. I love my cats but feel absolutely zilch for the fish. When the first lot died I suggested getting something else furry instead but oh no, more damn fish
And we in Scotland pride ourselves on how fucking wonderful our water is.
What utter shite, if it is not jobbies in the water it is snail eggs or larvae or whatever it is.
Can only have come fae the water🤣🤣🤣 god knows what else is in there!
Have fun but I would be keeping an eye, so now I know what you meant about your comment yesterday on your Hive engagement .... going at a snails pace, perhaps you are the bloody grown-up snail and you have put your spawn in the tank to fool us into thinking you are not an alien!
I waggled my depositer in the water and that's where the wee buggers have came from :OD
Soon I will have an army!
haha an army of you, god help us 🤣🤣🤣
We'd all be doomed!
We're doomed Captain Mainwaring!
Need to get my wooden gun!
haha yes
It sure looks like a snail 🤣🤣🤣 Does the tank have a lid? I wasn't aware that land snails would choose an aquatic environment, but it's possible that they crawled in. Another possibility is that the eggs were in the water.
They must have been in the water which gives me the heebies because that the water we drink! Unless they were in the weird biomix stuff I put in. Who knows, I look forward to seeing what they become!
Have you thought about boiling your tap water before you drink it from now on, lol?
!ALIVE
Our tap water is meant to be pure as crystal. Everyone always goes on about it. When we are abroad in other countries we always combination about the rubbish water. I hope to god it's not that!!!
I laughed at the ALIVE tag, it was very apt!! 😀
🤣🤣💩
Snails in a fish tank!!? The fuck... that's mad... could they be little crustaceans? Did you add anything to the tank recently, maybe eggs came in on another fish?
Nothing added except for a new filter and it was all sealed and dry in a plastic wrapper. I did ask the little lady if she had sneaked something in but nada!
Bizarre 🤔
My friend Gregory Oogle says: "The most common ways unwanted snails enter our aquariums accidentally are via eggs or juveniles hitchhiking on plants or decorations, or in gravel cultures transferred from one tank to another. Many snail eggs are transparent and are often attached to the undersides of plant leaves, making them difficult to see."
Sneaky little bastardlings
Funnily enough, there is a plant which isn't that he but the little lady did say that she thought there was an air bubble under one of the owners for ages. Maybe they were in it? Like a cyst!!!! Aargh!
No, too predictable.... Inter dimensional shape shifters from a parallel universe where the Snails rule... It has to be.
Aye, thats my preferred option. Never doubt that it was aliens!
Once upon a time I had a tank and except Japanese fish, all the fish died. Perhaps, Japanese ones ate them like a snake :)
It it's an ancient proverb, never trust a Japanese fish! I think we are on our third or fourth incarnation of guppis. Now it looks like they are going to be sharing a tank!
Did they disappear, or die?!?!
I couldn't find some of them.
Sounds carnivorous😲
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