Habitat - Indoor :: poop cleaners

[jeggy]

what type of aquatic animal eats poop? i want something in my tank that can help keep the tank fairly clean or just help extend the time between water changes. in particular im looking for an animal that will eat or somehow clean up my turtle and cichlid poop.

[daredevilgirl013]

ghost shrimp. They'll eat anything.

In my tank I have
Ghost Shrimp
Snails
Pleco
Guppies

They do a great job at keeping things clean.

[kneecole]

Your turts don't eat the shrimp and snails?

[daredevilgirl013]

He does, but I always keep it well stocked so that if he does it doesn't bother the cleaning cycle too much. Like last week he ate two of my snails so I went to the store, got three snails at 88 cents a piece and put them in. Plus I have a huge apple snail in there and he can't eat him..too big. The shrimp he'll eat a few of those a week so I go and get at least two more for every one he eats.

[Buslady]

I found out I got snails in my f ilter!! LOTS of them. No idea where they came from either. and of course, fine with me. Let them break down the crud

[marisa]

I've got lots of snails in my XP3, too. The last time I went to clean it, I found it to be unusually clean--I could have waited longer before cleanings.

[kneecole]

Hmmm that makes me want to go out and buy snails JUST to put them in my XP3..... haha

[marisa]

These are lots of very small snails (I think they came in on anachris.)

[doomsdaybob]

I bought two "golden mystery" snails at petsmart. Problem is that they blend in to much w/ my river rock and I have a hard time finding them. I'll have to get black ones next time. Bob has been trying to eat them since minute one so they're spending alot of time in their shells. You'd think I never feed her!

kneecole, someone here at work is supposed to send me a link to some sort of free classified site were someone is advertising free snails in Jax because they are multiplying fast then she can use them. I'll fwd it when I get it.

[daredevilgirl013]

Mystery snails aka apple snails can come in every color of the rainbow! I think they cost more but they even have blue snails! So you can kinda get them to match your tank or contrast with it, though I have never seen any of the blue snails in person. I think they even have red.

[kneecole]

kneecole, someone here at work is supposed to send me a link to some sort of free classified site were someone is advertising free snails in Jax because they are multiplying fast then she can use them. I'll fwd it when I get it.

oooo that would be awesome! thanks!

[RESCHIU]

I'm just curious since I saw many people putting fish and snail in the tank in order to keep it clean, I do know that some turtle might eat it, however, I've wanting to put some fish in it(like guppies or pleco), but I'm just afraid of what I will see....how do turtle eat fish, do they eat the whole thing including the fish bone? is it very messy when they do? they won't eat anything that's bigger than them right?

[mikedpirone]

well when mine eat guppies they usually wind up tearing their heads off and then proceede to eat them. they eat the whole fish bone and all. its not too messy because whatever they miss they wind up finding later.

[daredevilgirl013]

Mine will not eat the snail shells, so when he does kill a snail he eats the total inside and leaves the shell, which I then use in the tank to decorate it and give my shrimp a place to hide in. As for fish, I have found no traces of the red guppy he eat so I am guessing they eat the whole thing. As for my Pleco, he hasn't even touched him.

[kneecole]

I think it's kinda exciting to hand feed the big guppies or rosey reds.... sometimes some weird things happen and it's amazing that they are able to eat the whole thing. Like if the turtle grabs the tail end first and the fish is trying to swim away. The trutle knows he can't let go to get a better grasp cause it will swim away.... so he just sits there w/ the tail in his mouth and waits patiently until he stops moving for a sec and then goes for a better bite....

haha just the little things that amuse me. lol