Apistogramma catching and eating snails

[fart]

Hi

I have had experiences with this in my aquariums with two different apistogramma.

The first observation was with a young male Apistogramma bitaeniata. He was not very success full, but never the less did not give up.

The second and still occurring "snail hunter" is a Apistogramma cf. eunotus "Orangeschwanz"

My question is does anybody else observed this behavior?
and is this something apistogramma does in the wild? and not only a aquarium circumstance because an unnatural environment.

Both occasions the snail that is been targeted is malaysian sand snails.

With regards
RHD

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes, snail eating has been written about for decades. Macmasteri-group species are known to pick up small snails and ram the shells against the glass or other hard surfaces to break the shell and then eat the soft parts. I don't recall snails being reported in gut examinations of wild fish, but I guess they do it in the wild. I know I've collected snails with apistos in the wild.

 

[fart]

ok thank you, thats what my Apistogramma cf. eunotus "Orangeschwanz" does. Rams them at the glass.
Got a photo of it catching the snail. but hard to get a good one when its smashing it


With regards
RHD

 

[Jmty]

video will help ,love to see that.

 

[fart]

Will try to take video Jmty.

 

[Jmty]

thanks be waiting for it.

 

[fart]

This took some, not easy to get the fish do what you want them to do when you want them to do it.
But finally, i was on the right spot on the right time to at least get some of the action.

I heard the male Apistogramma was hitting the snail against the glass. hurried to find the camera.
What i got is the male has the snail in his mouth, spits it out and shake some of the snail out.
And something i never has seen before the female get the spoils. You can also see empty snail shells on the bottom.

Hope you enjoy the film.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Nice video.

What are the roots from? is it a terrestrial plant above the tank?

Makes sense that Apistogramma eunotus shows this behaviour, mainly because it comes from harder water where snails may be present naturally.

cheers Darrel

 

[jumpmaster]

Awesome video

 

[Jmty]

hey man thanks for the video ,that was good.

 

[fart]

Thanks guys.

Darrel: the roots you see in the movie is a really huge Ceratopteris thalictroides that I use as a floating plant.
It thrives as a floating plant and a perfect place for nannostomus fry.

With regards
RHD

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Darrel: the roots you see in the movie is a really huge Ceratopteris thalictroides that I use as a floating plant.
It thrives as a floating plant and a perfect place for nannostomus fry.

I'm a Ceratopteris fan as well, but mine never get very large before producing new adventitious plants and falling apart. Does it have emersed leaves?

cheers Darrel

 

[fart]

Since its in at tank with with full cover on top not many of the leaves are emersed, most of the leaves are submerged but the water surface are full of leaves that are semi emersed.

The "mother plant" has lots of saplings (is that the correct word) but the mostly end up around the "mother plant"

 

[Robert]

Glad you shared this one! I've only seen this once before with my A. panduro-male (Rio Tahuayo). But ram the snail against the glass is far out... Nemo's trying to get back home

 

[ThorinOakenshield]

Awesome behavior! very cool video