snails

It is true what people told me on forums- once the malaysian trumpet snail population stabilizes, you hardly notice them. I have to look close to find them during the day- but still can easily count two dozen or more. After dark there's always ten or so climbing the glass. Every now and then notice a bit of gravel moving as one sifts its way downwards.

I had a momentary fright the other day when saw Mavis on the underside of the cover skirt on my tenner!

My first thought was- bad water parameters? But then I saw her little mouth scraping- she'd found a patch of algae I neglected to clean off the skirt.

I kept an eye on her and sure enough, a little while later she was back down in the tank. Here's Oliver eyeing her from below: