Re: NANFA-L-- Is it ethical to keep Olive Nerites (Nerita

njz (njz-in-clevelandmetroparks.com)
Fri, 2 Jun 2006 22:55:15 -0400

I personally do not know the husbandry of these snails to say whether or not
they will live for any length of time in freshwater. If it is indeed true
that they are normally found in brackish water, that would indicate to me
that they would be relatively flexible in the various salinities that they
can survive, and thrive, in. What I would like to comment on is the
interesting point that you bring up. If you are not going to breed these
snails, is it unethical to keep them? If this is the question, I'd ask what
the status of these animals are in the wild. If they are imperiled in any
way, then I would consider it wrong to keep them, unless you are trying to
*legally* work out some husbandry/breeding information for them. If there
is no consideration as to their conservation status, then I do not feel that
keeping an animal such as you describe is unethical, as long as you are
making every effort to provide for its needs to survive with a healthy and
happy life. I applaude people who work to breed their animals (responsibly
of course), but it has never been an interest of mine personally.

Lot's of "if's" in that editorial, but I hope the point came across.

Nick Zarlinga
Aquarium Biologist
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
216-661-6500

----- Original Message -----
From: "Harry Thames" <thames_h-in-msn.com>
To: <nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org>
Sent: Friday, June 02, 2006 10:10 PM
Subject: NANFA-L-- Is it ethical to keep Olive Nerites (Nerita Reclivata) in
a Fw tank?

> I am referring to the article on these snails in the latest publication, I
> have a few of these snails in my 40 gal tank and I mentioned on a forum
that
> they would not reproduce in the tank because they are a brackish water
> snail, I had one reply that stated that it is cruel to keep these snails
in
> fresh water and that I am slowly killing them. I started thinking about
it,
> I do see advantages to keeping these snails, but is it unethical??
>
>
>
> Lake Shelby in Gulf State Park, AL. after Hurricane Fredrick (1979) had a
> large numbers of Redfish caught out of it for years after. I was about 7
or
> 8-in-the time but I can remember a conversation my father had with a guy
who
> was electro-shocking in the lake the man told us that the redfish had been
> washed into the lake by the hurricane and the fish would live just fine
but
> they could not reproduce in fresh water. Is this the same sort of thing
> with these snails?
>
>
>
> thanks
> /-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
> / Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
> / reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
> / visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
> / consistent with the guidelines as per
> / http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get
> / help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at
> / http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
/ visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get
/ help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at
/ http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml