"K30a" wrote in message
news:20030528020226.27409.00000611@mb-

~ Clean up debris from the bottom of the pond and
stock snails to chew up the debris - less decaying stuff for algae food.

Really! In freshwater aquariums, snails are a nusciance, so I just assumed
that they would be rapidly multiplying little pests in the wild too.


A

Hi A,
You wrote
Really! In freshwater aquariums, snails are a nusciance, so I just assumed
that they would be rapidly multiplying little pests in the wild too.

You know that phrase might have to be amended...
snails don't survive *in* my pond. The koi eat them up. They live in the filter
and mulitply in there.
They also live in the fishless frog bog and there are a lot of them, but there
is a lot of debris in the bog to eat.

Land snails who are hapless enough to come under my gaze are tossed into the
pond and are snarfed up by the fish. The goldfish nip at them and the koi
swallow them and crunch them up.

(Which reminds me, rec.ponds - where *exactly* are koi teeth?)


k30a

k30a,

Koi teeth are located in the back of the mouth and grind against a bony
structure in the roof of the mouth. They look like molars. My BIL has a
whole medicine jar full. I have never found one in my ponds.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"K30a" wrote in message
...
Hi A,
You wrote
Really! In freshwater aquariums, snails are a nusciance, so I just
assumed
that they would be rapidly multiplying little pests in the wild too.

You know that phrase might have to be amended...
snails don't survive *in* my pond. The koi eat them up. They live in the
filter
and mulitply in there.
They also live in the fishless frog bog and there are a lot of them, but
there
is a lot of debris in the bog to eat.

Land snails who are hapless enough to come under my gaze are tossed into
the
pond and are snarfed up by the fish. The goldfish nip at them and the koi
swallow them and crunch them up.

(Which reminds me, rec.ponds - where *exactly* are koi teeth?)


k30a

Rich wrote They look like molars.

ak! This gives me the heebie jeebies.
I'll look in my koi's mouth and see a
tiny pair of dentures...!
They sure do a good job on snails.




k30a

Art Lemke is a dentist in Maryland and a high quality koi keeper that is
very into the shows and he told Doc Johnson that he would put a gold crown
on one of the teeth one of these days. Not in the koi's mouth of course.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"K30a" wrote in message
...
Rich wrote They look like molars.

ak! This gives me the heebie jeebies.
I'll look in my koi's mouth and see a
tiny pair of dentures...!
They sure do a good job on snails.




k30a