Post by Admin on Feb 23, 2019 15:00:24 GMT -6
Came across this video on YouTube.
Planaria can be a real pain in the butt in our breeding and fry tanks. They are predatory towards Rainbowfish eggs; so if you see these in your breeding tanks or hatching containers/tanks, you definitely want to get rid of them.
I haven't dealt with planaria for a long time, and don't have personal video proof to share, but they seem to also negatively impact neocardina shrimp. In tanks I had an infestation of planaria, I've seen them go after newly released shrimplets. Interestingly enough, I use shrimp in my fry tanks to help prevent issues with planaria, detritus worms/nematodes, and hydra.... I add shrimplets to the fry tanks --- after the fry have hatched; because neo shrimp can eat Rainbowfish eggs. I add only young shrimplets-- 1/4" or smaller because over zealous feeding by juvie or adult shrimp can lead to them unintentionally grabbing tiny Rainbowfish fry. I've never seen shrimp target the fry as food. It's more of an accidental ingestion when the shrimp go to the surface of the water to fill up on the floating foods meant for the fry(foods like 5-50 micron golden pearls, sera micron and the like). As the shrimp feed upside down at the water's surface, any fry that get in the way, end up being scooped up by the shrimp.
The shrimplets clean up any extra food the fry missed as well as consume biofilm and algae growing on the plants and glass. While mature hydra can and will go after shrimplets, it has been my experience that adding shrimp and allowing them the opportunity to establish themselves early on in the fry tank, helps keep away hydra. The activity of the shrimp quite literally deters hydra from gaining a foot hold, and establishing themselves. Also interesting, is witnessing shrimp eat hydra rather than vise versa.
Shrimp grow at a decent pace so that by the time the shrimp begin reproducing, the fry are big enough to eat the shrimplets.(over a 6-12 week timeframe). You then end up with a nicely balanced fry rearing tank, that also provides a fresh supply of live foods, which helps boost growth and vitality in the fry/juvies. In a few months, you'll also have a nice colony of shrimp....that is until the fish grow big enough to start picking off the adult size shrimp
Ok. Back to planaria. Whatever you do-- DO NOT quish/squash planaria!! As you can see in the video--within 4 days time, there are TWO fairly well formed planaria!! And after a week, they are fully formed. Hydra also reproduce in this way, so make sure to remove each of these critters whole.
Tip: If you have planaria or hydra in your breeding tanks; it is best to pick the eggs and move them to a clean tank to avoid transferring the pests on spawning mops or plants.
