document updated 17 years ago, on May 13, 2007
Definitely buy:
- one plecostomus (a 24-inch swamp-eating machine.... there's REALLY a lot of decayed plant matter down there)
- a floating thermometer, just to have some sort of idea of what temperature ranges we're dealing with
More possibilities:
- trapdoor snails (Viviparis malleatus)
- grow to ~2"
- survive to near freezing
- don't bother living plants
- sexual, live bearing, reproduce more slowly than other snails
- ramshorn snails (many species in Planorbidae, attributes vary among them)
- grow to ~1" (it's claimed that the smaller ones are hardier)
- some species survive to near freezing
- some species love plants, others leave them alone
- species:
- red ramshorn (Planorbis corneus/rubrum), 1" long, eats a lot of algae
- spike-topped apple snail (Pomacea bridgesii)
- have lungs as well as gills, eggs are laid out of water (therefore, it's much easier to control their reproduction)
- may begin to die below 65 F
- grow to ~2"
- Plecostomus
- are a tropical fish, don't like cold water, and won't survive winter
- they can grow to be very long in ponds (7"-24") and are said to be interesting to watch
- they love algae
- they can be territorial, so maybe don't buy more than one Pleco (though more might be okay in a larger pond?)