Fish Poop Vs Snail Poop! Zoa Effects? Which Poop is MOST BENEFICIAL???!!

infinite abyss

infinite abyss

New member
Do both fish poop and snail poop provide well nutrients for zoas?

Or is one preferred over the other? Any differences would you say?
 
This is a funny question. Sorry, this is not my field of expertise...;)

I wonder how many other hobbies talk about poop....?

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that snails don't eat much so they probably have very little poop, which would make their poop inconsiquential compared to the quantities a fish can poop out.

Furthermore, it would probably depend on the type of fish or snail. As an example, is the fish a meat-eater or more of a herbivor. I would imagine that a meat eater would produce higher energy poop compared to a herbivor. The same goes for the snail, does it graze on algae or eat detritus?

My guess is that something like a nassarius snail, whose diet already consists of eating poop, would produce super high-energy poop, which would make them super-poopers.

Poop.
 
EricTheRed said:
This is a funny question. Sorry, this is not my field of expertise...;)

I wonder how many other hobbies talk about poop....?

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that snails don't eat much so they probably have very little poop, which would make their poop inconsiquential compared to the quantities a fish can poop out.

Furthermore, it would probably depend on the type of fish or snail. As an example, is the fish a meat-eater or more of a herbivor. I would imagine that a meat eater would produce higher energy poop compared to a herbivor. The same goes for the snail, does it graze on algae or eat detritus?

My guess is that something like a nassarius snail, whose diet already consists of eating poop, would produce super high-energy poop, which would make them super-poopers.

Poop.
Click to expand...

nice input, thanks! i was actually thinking about getting nasirrus this morning lol, there's a great deal on ebay for them!
 
EricTheRed said:
This is a funny question. Sorry, this is not my field of expertise...;)

My guess is that something like a nassarius snail, whose diet already consists of eating poop, would produce super high-energy poop, which would make them super-poopers.

Poop.
Click to expand...

I like the concept of SUPERPOOP! RECYCLED POOP! Sounds HIGH QUALITY! lol
 
infinite abyss said:
nice input, thanks! i was actually thinking about getting nasirrus this morning lol, there's a great deal on ebay for them!
Click to expand...

Yeah, that is a a sweet deal. Nassarius are my favorite snails. they work the sandbed so I don't need to touch it. Unless you need all 260, let me know and maybe we could split it (or even find a 3rd guy so we each get 110...)
 
so we have regular poop, then poop^2, poop^3, how about we start recycling poop & sell batches of poop^5?

they need to find a way to store fish poop, so people can start dosing POOP in their tanks, for those who don't want to add fish.
 
infinite abyss said:
so we have regular poop, then poop^2, poop^3, how about we start recycling poop & sell batches of poop^5?

they need to find a way to store fish poop, so people can start dosing POOP in their tanks, for those who don't want to add fish.
Click to expand...

sounds like a good business to start! I can help you out with all the poop you will need if you go through with this. ;)
 
EricTheRed said:
This is a funny question. Sorry, this is not my field of expertise...;)

I wonder how many other hobbies talk about poop....?

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that snails don't eat much so they probably have very little poop, which would make their poop inconsiquential compared to the quantities a fish can poop out.

Furthermore, it would probably depend on the type of fish or snail. As an example, is the fish a meat-eater or more of a herbivor. I would imagine that a meat eater would produce higher energy poop compared to a herbivor. The same goes for the snail, does it graze on algae or eat detritus?

My guess is that something like a nassarius snail, whose diet already consists of eating poop, would produce super high-energy poop, which would make them super-poopers.

Poop.
Click to expand...


Just for fun (and to continue a poop conversation), I'm going to postulate a slightly contrarian theory. I would proffer that a snail, ounce for ounce, generates dramatically more excrement than a fish. They eat all day and they eat anything whereas a fish eats only at feeding (unless they are a grazer) and when they do poop a snail just eats that too. Snails are like worms in that respect. If they are awake, they are eating. Furthermore, I might surmise that a primary level consumer's excrement would, in fact, be more nutrient rich that that of a secondary consumer or predator. Predators must expend large amounts of energy in the search for food and therefore they always use that food more efficiently. Primary consumers eat much less nutrient rich food, but they expend very little energy obtaining it and therefore require less efficiency and produce a more wasteful poop. (This is why the herbivore dinosaurs were soooo much bigger than the carnivores) Think of how cows eat through grass and their poop looks about like, well; grass. But they eat hundreds of pounds of grass or grain every day. A cheetah eats a waterbuffalo and his poop looks like, well; poop. There is a reason we spread cow manure on fields for fertilizer and not cheetah or wolf poop; first, there is more of it because cows poop like machines as they march through a field inefficiently processing all of that matter. Second, to make cheetah poop you have to use cows, not grass (expensive because calories are inherently expensive), and third when a cheetah is done with his poop, there is only the most basic waste materials left and not much potential energy remains. Burn a little cow pie and you can see what I am talking about now try to burn a piece of dog poop or fox or cat or something, won't even burn. This is how calories are determined and it stands to reason that the same theory would hold true in a marine environment. Now, the real questions is; what elements are the zoas using from the poop? If they are relying on the pooper to breakdown the food itself into a more manageable state (like mushrooms under cow pies) then they would benefit more from the snails, but if they are looking for base elements and molecules, then the more efficient fish/predator poop is going to be better. I think the obvious conclusion however; is that the zoas are going to benefit most from a "nature-reflective" mixture of the two, but this is why I need a huge research lab with a million tanks in it because now I want to know if my undergrad bio classes have paid off in my hypothesis. . . .
 
Herbie said:
Just for fun (and to continue a poop conversation), I'm going to postulate a slightly contrarian theory. I would proffer that a snail, ounce for ounce, generates dramatically more excrement than a fish. They eat all day and they eat anything whereas a fish eats only at feeding (unless they are a grazer) and when they do poop a snail just eats that too. Snails are like worms in that respect. If they are awake, they are eating. Furthermore, I might surmise that a primary level consumer's excrement would, in fact, be more nutrient rich that that of a secondary consumer or predator. Predators must expend large amounts of energy in the search for food and therefore they always use that food more efficiently. Primary consumers eat much less nutrient rich food, but they expend very little energy obtaining it and therefore require less efficiency and produce a more wasteful poop. (This is why the herbivore dinosaurs were soooo much bigger than the carnivores) Think of how cows eat through grass and their poop looks about like, well; grass. But they eat hundreds of pounds of grass or grain every day. A cheetah eats a waterbuffalo and his poop looks like, well; poop. There is a reason we spread cow manure on fields for fertilizer and not cheetah or wolf poop; first, there is more of it because cows poop like machines as they march through a field inefficiently processing all of that matter. Second, to make cheetah poop you have to use cows, not grass (expensive because calories are inherently expensive), and third when a cheetah is done with his poop, there is only the most basic waste materials left and not much potential energy remains. Burn a little cow pie and you can see what I am talking about now try to burn a piece of dog poop or fox or cat or something, won't even burn. This is how calories are determined and it stands to reason that the same theory would hold true in a marine environment. Now, the real questions is; what elements are the zoas using from the poop? If they are relying on the pooper to breakdown the food itself into a more manageable state (like mushrooms under cow pies) then they would benefit more from the snails, but if they are looking for base elements and molecules, then the more efficient fish/predator poop is going to be better. I think the obvious conclusion however; is that the zoas are going to benefit most from a "nature-reflective" mixture of the two, but this is why I need a huge research lab with a million tanks in it because now I want to know if my undergrad bio classes have paid off in my hypothesis. . . .
Click to expand...

interesting theory, and yes, probably best to follow nature reflective environment
 
Herbie said:
Just for fun (and to continue a poop conversation), I'm going to postulate a slightly contrarian theory. I would proffer that a snail, ounce for ounce, generates dramatically more excrement than a fish. They eat all day and they eat anything whereas a fish eats only at feeding (unless they are a grazer) and when they do poop a snail just eats that too. Snails are like worms in that respect. If they are awake, they are eating. Furthermore, I might surmise that a primary level consumer's excrement would, in fact, be more nutrient rich that that of a secondary consumer or predator. Predators must expend large amounts of energy in the search for food and therefore they always use that food more efficiently. Primary consumers eat much less nutrient rich food, but they expend very little energy obtaining it and therefore require less efficiency and produce a more wasteful poop. (This is why the herbivore dinosaurs were soooo much bigger than the carnivores) Think of how cows eat through grass and their poop looks about like, well; grass. But they eat hundreds of pounds of grass or grain every day. A cheetah eats a waterbuffalo and his poop looks like, well; poop. There is a reason we spread cow manure on fields for fertilizer and not cheetah or wolf poop; first, there is more of it because cows poop like machines as they march through a field inefficiently processing all of that matter. Second, to make cheetah poop you have to use cows, not grass (expensive because calories are inherently expensive), and third when a cheetah is done with his poop, there is only the most basic waste materials left and not much potential energy remains. Burn a little cow pie and you can see what I am talking about now try to burn a piece of dog poop or fox or cat or something, won't even burn. This is how calories are determined and it stands to reason that the same theory would hold true in a marine environment. Now, the real questions is; what elements are the zoas using from the poop? If they are relying on the pooper to breakdown the food itself into a more manageable state (like mushrooms under cow pies) then they would benefit more from the snails, but if they are looking for base elements and molecules, then the more efficient fish/predator poop is going to be better. I think the obvious conclusion however; is that the zoas are going to benefit most from a "nature-reflective" mixture of the two, but this is why I need a huge research lab with a million tanks in it because now I want to know if my undergrad bio classes have paid off in my hypothesis. . . .
Click to expand...

You have way too much time on our hands....:lol:
 
infinite abyss said:
are their some on this forum who would say poop has no significance besides creating dirty water?
Click to expand...

Poop is good in an sps tank especially when you're running an ulns. Your sps need the poop (ie nutrients) or they die. So the answer is , yes, but only to a certain degree. Too much just pollutes the water.

In all seriousness, unless you're running a lot of sps then I wouldn't worry about having a low bioload. you could always supplement with aminos to avoid adding more fish (but I wouldn't even bother unless you have sps.)
 
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