Funny Planted tank interlopers

I’m relatively new to the planted tank game. I absolutely love it though!

One thing I have noticed is that there’s way more “life” in the tank than with plastic plants. When I had plastic plants the only life in the tank was what I bought and put in there.

Now I’ve had all sorts of things. Some good. Some bad. All interesting.

I’ve had copepods (a nonissue)

Freshwater limpets (They’re actually really cool. To be honest, my family has spent more time looking at them with a magnifying glass than the actual fish I paid for... such is life.)

I’ve had damselfly larvae. Uggh. I freaked when I saw the first one in an “empty” aquarium.

Detritus worms/planeria. Yuck.

And now a mysterious (but probably not Mystery) snail.

Two questions:
*Are these baby rams horn snails? Pics are attached with my pinky nail for size.

*What other cool/gross/surprising/annoying interlopers have you had in your aquarium?

 

I just had a mosquito pop out of my tank. I squashed it and fed it to my half beak. I had a baby fish that hitch hiked and came out during my first feeding. My new fish promptly ate it though.
I agree and it’s fun.
I have no idea what type of snail that is. I usually kill hitch hiker snails. I know others don’t.

 

So far I’ve never had an actual fish. Sounds fun though. Currently the unidentified snails are doing a better job with the brown algae than anything else I’ve tried. For now. They live. Apparently my water is essentially fertilizer for brown algae. Never seen green algae but always brown.

 

I’ve had what’s apparently called springtails come into my house because of duckweed. I freaked out when I first saw them, but now I just keep a lowered water level so they can’t jump out, and my Rasboras get a snack whenever one of them lands in the water.

 

Certainly looks like a baby ramshorn! I love my hitchhikers—I've paid for five species in my tank: guppies from my LFS, RCS from a local breeder, and ramshorn snails/dwarf water lettuce/flame moss from other local aquarists.

Other species I've unintentionally acquired along the way include:
-Malaysian trumpet snails
-Pond snails
-Copepods (I've only seen a few)
-Duckweek (but only one piece, so it was easy to avoid adding!)
-Java moss (in the RCS bag)
-Sußwassertang (also with the RCS, which felt like a pretty sweet hitchhiker!)

So, in conclusion, I've had more hitchhikers per addition than I've had deliberate additions to my tank!

 

Detritus worms are not planaria. Detritus worms are a type of tubificid worm related to the tubifex tubifex worm found in your LFS and earthworms.
Detritus worms can be cultured and fed to your fish

 

If you look at your aquarium water under a microscope...theres a lot more in there than you can imagine.

 

That's happened to me too. I see all these things going on, some are too small to identify. I want limpets though; I don't have any of those. I also have those same snails. I don't think they're ramshorn though, maybe a minI version. I've had mine for a while, but they don't get big. They stay super small.

 

That's happened to me too. I see all these things going on, some are too small to identify. I want limpets though; I don't have any of those. I also have those same snails. I don't think they're ramshorn though, maybe a minI version. I've had mine for a while, but they don't get big. They stay super small.

Ah, yes! I forgot that "miniature ramshorn snails" are a thing. Evidently they're less likeable than their full-sized relatives, though I've never had the tiny ones.

 

Honestly, I just dip my plants a few times and see what comes out. I’ll research them a little , and if they’re harmful they get killed, but more often I’ll just let them into my tank. I think that aquariums are supposed to be an ecosystem, not a finely detailed, plastic tank.

 

I prefer a bio soup to sterility myself.

 

Detritus worms are not planaria. Detritus worms are a type of tubificid worm related to the tubifex tubifex worm found in your LFS and earthworms.
Detritus worms can be cultured and fed to your fish

Thanks. I've always been confused when people mentioned them.

 

I see all these things going on, some are too small to identify. I want limpets though;

Limpets are so cool to me! I'm glad they came in... even though I have no idea what they came on. I'm pretty sure I had only emerged grown plants at the time... I wonder if they can survive out of the water? Seems unlikely...