Snail Tales

Once I had my quaint five gallon tank set up, Gigi and Artemis were almost instantly on the move. They were crawling around my simple, yet elegant landscape exploring the open road, and occasionally bumping into each other. Once in a while one would hop on the other for a quick piggyback ride, it was hysterical. I could spend hours watching them cruise, and eventually felt that it was important for them to have some other textures to explore – not to mention that more plants equals more detritus, which ultimately means a self supporting habitat where the snails eat the dead plants, they poop, and their excrement turns into food for the plants. What a beautiful cycle for a tiny space!

I quickly began researching various plants to add to my mini landscape, and of course, was enamored with every aquatic plant species I came across. Mosses, lilies, floating plants, flowering plants, underwater grasses. Seemingly every plant you can find on on line you can also find under water. How cool is that?

I settled on the following:

Ceratophyllum Demersum/ Hornwort

Christmas Moss / Vesicularia Montagnei

Dwarf Aquarium Lily / Nymphaea Stellata

Dwarf Hair Grass

Eriocaulon Cinereum

Java Fern / Microsorium Pteropus v. Windelov

So far, the most abundant and fast growing plant has been the lily, while the most obnoxious plant has been the hornwort. Don’t get me wrong, the hornwort has lovely delicate leaves and grows very quickly which is extremely satisfying as an underwater gardener. However, it sheds like a husky which is great for my snails, but not so great for the bio load in my tank.

Hornwort, Image Credit