RE: NANFA-- Hogsucker
Crail, Todd (tcrail_at_northshores.com)
Sun, 15 Sep 2002 18:24:22 -0400
Very sorry to hear of your loss Moon. :(
I definately think you guys are on to something here. Noting that hogsucker usually come from less turbid unaffected streams, I think a food source that occurs in those streams is missing. For example, mayfly larvae don't do as well in turbid waters as they do in clearer waters. Perhaps it's suggestable that an element in the exoskeleton (iodine or silica for example) is essential to the hogsucker's *whole* health and they're not getting it from the usual battery of foods we have available? As well, it may be that algae is overwhelmingly abundant in the home aquarium, but you have to remember that in the wild, there are many types of microfauna that munch on that stuff that the hogsuckers would be eating as a biproduct. And from that, it's again, suggestable that they're missing some element of wholesome diet they'd get in the wild.
A human can live very well and <ahem> grow from eating McDonalds for *every* meal... But that doesn't essentially mean they're very healthy or will have long sustained lifetimes :)
My next system I'm going to play with live sand, as I have a schlode of it left over from my reef experiences. I plan on working with native mussels and hogsuckers as I figure out the bumps and bruises of potentially having things fly out of the tank ;) Hopefully, others are doing this as well, as it's very nice to compare notes *before* there's stoneflies everywhere in your wife's kitchen :)
Todd
-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Zarlinga
Sent: Mon 9/9/2002 9:21 PM
To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
Cc:
Subject: Re: NANFA-- Hogsucker
> he is resting, other times he is busy grazing on the algae and micro
critters
> living in the old shag carpet that covers the pool bottom.
You may have found the ticket right there.... algae, hmmmmm. I presume
that this is your outdoor pond? Sunlight, algae and all..... Sounds like a
good recipe. Anyone try feeding nori to their hog suckers?
Nick Zarlinga
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