Great shipment of fish.

Oregon Weather, You have to love it (Right?), this spring is proving to be one of the darker and wetter ones we have seen in a long time. Luckily yesterday I got to stay out of the rain by staying under the fish area putting a way a large shipment of fish.

My supplier has started limiting deliveries to every other week this year because of transportation costs following last years still lingering economy. This proves to be difficult as They don't always have what I need when I want it. But this week they had a good selection so I took advantage of it. We got both Koi and Butterfly Koi, Sarasas, Shubunkins, and Pond Comets. We also got some exceptionally nice Black Moors. I am pleased with the colors and and the assortment of sizes we got on many of the fish.

With the sharp increase of fish sells I am seeing this spring I am hoping that the fish supplier will begin to feel a little more comfortable and be making weekly deliveries soon.

Right now the selection is great, so if you are in the market for fish the fishing is good.

Quick Note

Going to be a busy day, I will be off to work (Expertees) soon. I am so excited, We will be recieving a large shipment of fish tonight, so those of you who have been out looking for fish a good portion of them will be here this weekend. It will make for a long evening getting them all acclimated to the temperature difference and PH of my ponds. Japanese Black Trapdoor Snails are proving to be very popular once again this year. I believe I a hundred of them coming as I have sold most of my own stock in the last two weeks.

The Shipment I was expecting last week of pond supplies arrived and I will need to get it all priced and on the shelves......These things make believe that spring is truly here!

Japanese Trapdoor Snails

The Japanese Black Trapdoor Snail (Viviparis malleatus), Viviparis meaning live bearer, are the preferred snail for water gardening. They are dark in color and grow up to 3 inches. They generally produce 3-5 young at a time.

They scour the pond eating algae off the liner, planters and even cleaning up your plants without harming them. They also eat dying plant matter and clean up left over fish food. They are cold hardy even if your pond freezes over, unlike many snails because they do not breath air (many snails have a breathing apparatus that they send to the surface to suck in air with). Japanese trapdoors stay in the water at all times unless removed. If you do take them out they will seal their trap door and wait for you to return them to the water.

The biggest question is how many do you need. "The golden rule" published in books for many years is one per square foot of surface space, this is fine for small ponds, but can get overwhelming and quite expensive to buy if you have a large pond. I suggest one for every three square feet of pond surface on larger ponds, keep in mind that they do multiple. At any rate the more snails you have the more benefit you will see in algae control, buy what you feel comfortable with, 10 at a time seems to be a magic number this year for many pond keepers--After all you can always get more net time you visit.

Want to name your snails? You can sex your Japanese Trapdoor Snails if you can view them with their antenna out. Note in the picture above that one antenna is shorter, this is a male, and the reason for the shorter blunted antenna is that is also doubles as its sex organ. The females will have antenna of equal lengths. Also note its mouth, as tiny as it he moves it from side to side as he peruses your pond cleaning an path crystal clear.