Proliferation; Procreation

Well Gary and Snail Chihuly had babies.  Which leads me to believe, (obviously), that one of them is not as male as I thought.  My tank is CRAWLING with snail babies (pix l8r), and Gary and Snail Chihuly seem to have a penchant for "doing it."  It's really something.

In other news, my miracle fish are growing up.  Yes, I said miracle fish.  What happened was, I purchased 3 rainbow platys.  They look like tequila sunrises with fins.  Within 5 hours of getting them home, they all croaked.  I couldn't believe it.  I was going to fish them out and take them back to the pet store to demand more, but lo and behold, Gary and SC ATE THEM!  Carniverous little buggers!

As a matter of fact, here is a shot of SC in the act.  Bastard.

Snail Chihuly grubs on some rotting platy flesh.  Zombie snail?  We can only hope.

So after my fish died, and were consumed, I was a little sad; not to mention guilt ridden for being a cold, vicious murderer.  One day I was lying on the bed with my Kitteh, the Inestimable Huey, when I noticed his eyes zipping back and forth, tracing something in the fish tank.  I of COURSE scolded him for his lunacy, insisting that "there's nothing in there, what the hell are you looking at, you crazy cat?"  But what do you know, his razor-sharp feline eyes DID detect very minute traces of movement, and when I could pick out what it was with my feeble, myopic eyes, I saw that it was teeeeny, tiny, purt-near microscopic little fishes!   I KNEW I was just imagining things, but no, here we are a few months later, and they are about an inch long, nice and fat, zooming around and nibbling on Gary and SC here and there, eating their tropical flakes, and just seeming content.  Turns out they ARE live-bearing fish, so one of those dead fishes musta had a belly full'o'babies.  So I started out with 3, which turned into 4 and I am quite content.

And that is where I shall end this entry.  Until I find a better video.

My Place is Teeming with Life!

...and that's not a bad thing.  Recently I added guppies and snails to the existing fauna.  I'm up to about 1/2 dozen houseplants, a buttload of porch fauna, 1 cat, roughly 20 guppies, 4 baby platys and 4 (now 5) snails.  Snails are what prompted me to write the blog, as they are an endless source of fascination and interest for me.


First Story: Setup of a 10-Gallon Tank in the Bedroom

Ain't she a beaut?  Well this little oasis of calm was designed to lull me to sleep.  I would get some pretty fish, a bubble wall, and watch them swim every night until I drifted off into dreams of mermaids.  


So I went to the pet store and picked up some platys, which look like a tequila sunrise with fins.  Gorgeous.  My eye was caught by the mystery snails, so I got 2 goldens, a white and a black.  When I got home, I thought I acclimated everyone well to their new environment, but was saddened to see that the platys died within hours.  Disheartened, I decided to leave them be until the next day, when I would bury them <ahem> at sea.  


I got home, however, and this was what I witnessed:





Oh the unbridled carnage! So I left the vicious little cephalopods alone, and they had those fish picked clean in a matter of days.  There was one pristine skeleton left.  I would have gotten a picture but by the time I thought of it, even THAT was gone.










Another day I came home to find one of the snails surfing the bubble wall.  At first I thought it was dead when I saw it floating at the top.  Then I saw the sucker drop to the bottom, crawl up to the bubble rock, let go, and surf the wave!  Who knew snails were thrill seekers?






So this began my complete fascination with the mystery snail. 


What I have learned so far is:

• they can grow to 15 cm, or 5 - 6 inches!
• they mate
• they are carnivorous
• they tolerate a broad range of temperatures 
• they like to surface for air, breathing with their huge siphons
• they are thrill seekers (dropping from the top of the tank, surfing the bubble wall, spinning in the bubbles)
• they haul snail BOO-TAY!  Those suckers can cruise
• they have complex eyes
• you can eat them

And that my friends, is my intro to the incredible mystery of the Mystery Snail.  Today I learned that my snails have already bred, leaving a perfect little, teeny, tiny, eensy, weensy, iiiiitty biiiiiitty perfect little snail baby.  The joy increases.