Feeding and Nutrition :: Speedy VS Anacharis

[CherylH]

Greetings turtle lovers

When I was in PetSmart yesterday I decided to purchase an aquatic plant for Speedy to nibble on. I selected a nice bunch of anacharis and put it in the tank, figuring that Speedy would nibble on it occasionally.

The anacharis didn't have a chance...every scrap of it was gone by today! I checked the filter to see if some of it had been sucked up in there, but no.

Why is my turtle such a glutton? That is the last time I trust her with a significant quantity of anything edible

Peace

Cheryl

[Linus]

Mine does the same thing. Plants don't last very long in the tanks!

[steve]

Glad she's enjoying it. Anacharis is pretty easy to grow yourself. When you first buy it, make sure you rinse it very well because it might have fertilizers or hitchhikers (snails) on them.

[elwray]

Anacharis is usually quite easy to grow, and grows quickly. If you have a fish tank with a decent amount of light, you can plant some in there and as often as once a week (or more) it should be tall enough to prune it and give your RES the cuttings.

Rinsing off pesticides/fertilizers is a good idea. Rinsing will rarely remove all hitchhiker snails though, since their eggs are so small and sticky. There are chemicals you can use to "dip" the plants before planting in a fish tank to kill snails, but in my opinion it's more trouble than it's worth - the snails are (usually) harmless pond snails that rarely will eat plants.

[VeipaCray]

Anacharis is one of the rare plants that can grow with light and by absorbing nutrients from the water. It doesn't need to be planted or to take root. It will grow if it's just floating.

I can't grow anacharis in my tank either....same thing with my turtle...devours it overnight.