red handed

Back in December, we decided to add to our family via a fish tank. Our initial tank included three live bearing fish (a molly, a platy, and a swordtail) and two snails (the cleaning crew). At the population's apex, about a week later, we had many, many more teensy fish because it turned out that the molly had been pregnant when she came to us. Since then, the population has been steadily decreasing, without obvious reasons. I worried we were overfeeding, but even after becoming more careful, we kept loosing fish, and eventually also lost one snail.

A few weeks ago, the swordtail died, leaving one lone fish---the largest of the molly's babies---and one snail. This morning we discovered the culprit of the mass death.



The snail did it! Jon found him on top of the struggling, pinned down little molly this morning. The molly did not last long, and floated away...tail-less. Needless to say, this snail is truly a monster. He finally left the molly alone, with only half of his body intact. Though apparently snails don't care for fish bones.

We're undecided on what to call the lone remaining denizen of our tank. I suggested Uncle Joe, Jon prefers der weiße Engel.