INVERTEBRATES SURVIVE IN FRESHWATER HABITATS

Invertebrates Survive In Fast Flowing Freshwater Habitats

Invertebrates Survive In Fast Flowing Freshwater Habitats

Introduction

Compared with the sea, the kind of invertebrates living in freshwater habitats is rather low. Insects are the most significant freshwater invertebrates, but these are not ever swapped as aquarium residents. Firstly most are only for the time being aquatic animals. Many species are aquatic only during their larval phase, become terrestrial insects after metamorphosis (dragonflies being the classic demonstration of this).

Molluscs - snails, clams, and mussels 

Snails are unquestionably the invertebrates that are most easily maintained in ordinary freshwater aquaria and can be split up up into two camps, those introduced on reason as novelties and those that arrive in as hitchhikers on aquarium plants. Of the species on reason kept in aquaria, apple snails, Pomacea bridgesi and Pomacea canaliculata, and Colombian ramshorn snails, Marisa cornuarietis, are the two most common. Although their shells have absolutely distinct shapes, these two species are very closely related. Apple snails are large and globose, normally about the size and shape of a golf ball, and the varieties sold in aquarium shops have yellow or golden-brown shells. Colombian ramshorn snails are not rather so large-scale and have flat shells about the size of a large coin and are carefully assessed with dark dark and yellow stripes. In terms of care these are very similar, requiring tropical rather than coldwater conditions and neutral to quite hard water.

Pond snails are snails that reside in still or slowly flowing waters and have developed to withstand poor water value and reduced levels of oxygen. Most are adept to respire air and numerous can 'hibernate' if conditions get awful, for demonstration if the pond dries up. The classic pond snail are the ramshorn snails, Planorbis spp. These snails have very flat shells and arrive in a kind of colours, including dark, yellow, and red. Most are somewhat small, about an inch across at most. Ramshorn snails are large opportunists and will consume almost anything, including aquarium plants and fish eggs. Tadpole snails Physa spp. are perhaps more of a nuisance because they are smaller and o more tough to find and type much more rapidly than ramshorn snails. While ramshorn snails are sometimes purchased as novelties for the aquarium, tadpole snails usually get in as stowaways on batches of aquarium plants or with reside food.

Crustaceans

Freshwater crustaceans of various kinds are now frequently traded. These can be split up into five basic types: algae-eating shrimps, follower shrimps, long-arm shrimps, crayfish, and crabs. The algae-eating shrimps are exemplified by the Amano shrimp Caridina multidentata. They are mostly small (typically round an inch in extent or less) and absolutely tranquil, doing best when kept in groups and maintained in calm aquaria with small fishes like neon tetras and harlequin rasboras. Most are very good algae eaters, though they will also peck away at bloodworms and other small, meaty foods.

Shrimp

The shell fish, LOBSTERS, CRABS, and SHRIMP, arrive under the head of crustaceans; that is, ...