Jaron
Aquarium Advice Newbie
I have a 1960s edition of the Innes book, and in his section on snails he describes Australian Red snails. The illustration shows them having pointed shells like a pond snail, but about an inch long or just over. I believe he described them as fairly prolific, easy keepers, so I've been curious about them, but I can find very little online. Did they just go completely out of style nationwide?
Here's what I've found:
A Merriam-Webster definition, so at least I know they were once a real thing: Australian red snail - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Webster gives the scientific name as Lenameria dispar, which, when searched, also turns up very little.
Today I found mention of them in a 1953 book on Google Books:
https://books.google.com/books?id=J...SjAK#v=onepage&q=australian red snail&f=false
This book describes them as being the same color as red ramshorn snails, but "whelk-like in shape", and shows a hand-drawn illustration like the Innes book. But it gives a different scientific name, Bulinus Australianus, which does actually turn up some search results, though nothing in the aquarium hobby and nothing with pictures. I learned, for example, that Bulinus Australianus was sent to space on a Chinese mission, and lived in a sealed environment with just water and algae. Both the algae and snail grew at first, and then plateaued.
WetWebMedia made it sound like they still exist by including them in some info on outdoor ponds, but they just include them in a list of species and don't say anything about them specifically:
Pond Snails, Bane or Boon?
And, that's all I've found. Using any of the names above in an image search, I can find some photos of dead shells, but none of those contain real info either. Google Red Ramshorn snails and you'll find real info, as well as the mentions and photos of a zillion adoring (and some begrudging) keepers. But Red Australians bring nearly no results.
So my questions are:
What are they like to keep?
Why did they so completely fall out of the hobby?
And, if they didn't fall out of the hobby because of some dark evil secret, where can I get some?
Thanks
Here's what I've found:
A Merriam-Webster definition, so at least I know they were once a real thing: Australian red snail - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Webster gives the scientific name as Lenameria dispar, which, when searched, also turns up very little.
Today I found mention of them in a 1953 book on Google Books:
https://books.google.com/books?id=J...SjAK#v=onepage&q=australian red snail&f=false
This book describes them as being the same color as red ramshorn snails, but "whelk-like in shape", and shows a hand-drawn illustration like the Innes book. But it gives a different scientific name, Bulinus Australianus, which does actually turn up some search results, though nothing in the aquarium hobby and nothing with pictures. I learned, for example, that Bulinus Australianus was sent to space on a Chinese mission, and lived in a sealed environment with just water and algae. Both the algae and snail grew at first, and then plateaued.
WetWebMedia made it sound like they still exist by including them in some info on outdoor ponds, but they just include them in a list of species and don't say anything about them specifically:
Pond Snails, Bane or Boon?
And, that's all I've found. Using any of the names above in an image search, I can find some photos of dead shells, but none of those contain real info either. Google Red Ramshorn snails and you'll find real info, as well as the mentions and photos of a zillion adoring (and some begrudging) keepers. But Red Australians bring nearly no results.
So my questions are:
What are they like to keep?
Why did they so completely fall out of the hobby?
And, if they didn't fall out of the hobby because of some dark evil secret, where can I get some?
Thanks
I can't remember anything here like that. Does it say what size they get to and if on the east or west coast of Australia?
