Maintaining a koi pond is a hobby that can take on a life of its own.  In learning about keeping koi and maintaining a pond, I’ve learned that a common phenomenon is people getting hooked on buying more fish.  Given that a full-grown koi can go for $50 or even hundreds of dollars, the hobby can get very expensive very quickly.  I’m thankful, then, that the previous owners stocked the pond so well.

What I find myself looking for are not more koi (not necessarily), but more species that I can introduce to the pond to increase its biodiversity.  At least, that’s the rationale—I really just want an excuse to buy more snails and minnows and what not.

So far, I’ve added rosy red minnows, two small butterfly koi, ramshorn snails, and Japanese Trapdoor Snails.  My next planned addition is three dojo/weather loaches, which are a peaceful, eel-like fish that feeds along the bottom of the pond.  In searching for those loaches, I came upon an eBay listing for seven purple leopard ramshorn snails.

These are just a color morph of ramshorn snails.  Instead of the typical dark brown, they have a slightly purplish, speckled appearance.  I would not have bothered purchasing them except that they were eight bucks (with free shipping), so I figured, “why not”?  They should add to the genetic mix of the existing ramshorn population.

One thing I’m learning when purchasing live animals on the Internet (read that out loud and it will sound questionable) is that, like most things in life, you often get what you pay for.

To illustrate that, here is what I received Monday:

This method of shipping aquatic snails is very common and perfectly safe for the snails.  The dampened paper towel gives them the moisture they need during shipping, and the sprigs of plants offer some sustenance.  For the most part, though, the snails go dormant during shipping, which is why they are all in their shells (at least, I hope so; otherwise, I paid eight dollars for empty shells!).

However, the snails were quite a bit smaller than the pictures seemed to imply.  Of course, I should have known, having purchased ramshorns in the past.  They are not a big, beefy snail like the JTS.  Still, if any of them survived the journey and the subsequent acclimation to the pond, they should help in their tiny way with cleaning up the muck.

For additional scale, here’s one of the larger snails in the palm of my hand:

These little guys are so lightweight, I nearly lost one of the tiniest ones to a gentle breeze while placing them into the pond.  To avoid them becoming an instant snack for the koi, I placed all of the snails (which appear to be nine in total—sellers often include two or three extras as “insurance” against losses during shipping) in the filter area, where some of the JTSs are also residing.  The snails won’t bother each other, and the koi cannot access the filter, so this little population should have a chance to survive (and possibly reproduce).

I’m not sure what has become of the initial ramshorn population I introduced earlier this year.  They are so small, I likely won’t ever see them again.  I imagine the koi consumed some of them, but most of them are likely burrowed into the muck at the bottom of the pond.

In other pond news, the pond is already in need of another top-up.  It’s been a very dry spring here in South Carolina, and we haven’t had substantial rainfall in weeks.  I’m thankful for that lower humidity in the air, but the dryness has done a number on the pond.  I’ll get it topped up this weekend.

As soon as we get some decent rainfall, I’m heading out with a net and a little jug to collect some native South Carolina tadpole species, as well as some of our local freshwater minnows, to introduce as well.  My hope is to create a hugely biodiverse pond that will support local wildlife.  We already get tons of lizards, anoles, and even (I think) salamanders near the pond.  I saw this huge, grey critter with a bright red hand scampering nearby, and I think it was a salamander of some kind, not a lizard, but I’m not sure.

More to come!  Gotta get through the Spring Musical and the Spring Concert the first part of next week, then it’s back to adding fish and snails and frogs I don’t need but want to the pond.