My curiosity on ampullaria's habit of catching falling leaf matter and effectively using it has been peaked. I just fed some lettuce to my rafflesiana giant and sanguinea to see how they will be affected. After less than 5 mins. in the raff pitcher, the pieces of lettuce are already going brown
. Also, look at CPUK's discussion on the subject-
http://www.cpukforum.com/forum....start=0
The evidence is overwhelming that they can use the fallen leaf litter. One person just mentioned a study that said 36% of the foliar nitrogen in some ampullarias was derived from litter, and that plants in the open showed signs of Nitrogen-deficiency. I just fed my raff giant a some lettuce in light of this ! I guess it shouldn't be surprising that plants can benefeit from plant matter in the pitchers. I just didn't think the enzymes produced in the fluid would be sufficient to break down the matter and nutrients. It could be from bacteria breakdown too. Regardless of how it is broken down, if you know anything biology, you'd know that there is a great deal more energy to be derived from producers/plants. I suspect that if the pitchers can effectively break down plant matter, they could greatly benefeit from vegie feeding. 90% of the total energy is lost in every step of the food change as you go from producers to consumers.
http://www.cpukforum.com/forum....start=0
The evidence is overwhelming that they can use the fallen leaf litter. One person just mentioned a study that said 36% of the foliar nitrogen in some ampullarias was derived from litter, and that plants in the open showed signs of Nitrogen-deficiency. I just fed my raff giant a some lettuce in light of this ! I guess it shouldn't be surprising that plants can benefeit from plant matter in the pitchers. I just didn't think the enzymes produced in the fluid would be sufficient to break down the matter and nutrients. It could be from bacteria breakdown too. Regardless of how it is broken down, if you know anything biology, you'd know that there is a great deal more energy to be derived from producers/plants. I suspect that if the pitchers can effectively break down plant matter, they could greatly benefeit from vegie feeding. 90% of the total energy is lost in every step of the food change as you go from producers to consumers.