<< So....I'm wondering what's the best way to rid my aquariums of the
planaria.
Any solutions out there? Thanks in advance for any insights & suggestions.
>>
Bruce,
In my old aquarium book I got from my mom and dad (written by Innes) it
states "Placed in clean water they presently starve. In an immaculate
aquarium they do not last long. ...their exit can be hurried by the
permanganate treatment for disinfecting plants. Fishes should be temporarily
removed, but may be returned in about 12 hours without changing the water.
...they may be trapped overnight on a piece of raw meat, but of course it is
necessary to in some way shield this bait from the fishes. Repeat until all
are gone. Some small fishes eat planarians. Certainly guppies and dwarf
gouramies do."
I'm guessing that you could substitute the gamnbusia for guppies since they
are so similar (but then again the Heterandrias look at least superfically
similar in their basic body shape and you stated that they wouldn't eat the
planarians). Of course you would probably want to temporarily remove the
Heterandrias from the tank as the gamnbusias would make their life a living
hell I imagine (don't know if you have the space or inclination to do that).
You were correct in your observation that they appear to be carnivorous. The
Innes book says as much, and also states that they live on microscopic
organisms.
Hope this helps,
Richard Hopper
Burt, Michigan
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