They are seeking out my bumper crop of trapdoor snails and pop up with them. They must be a delicacy with the effort they put in to find and eat them (and squabble with each other over who gets to eat them).
Glad to see your ducks enjoy escargot. I wonder if they would be decent alternative to RES for snail/parasite management in low fertility ponds?
Very interesting to hear your YP also place ribbons in leaves on the bottom. You also have poor recruitment like SetterGuy.
I was joking upthread about "branch training" YP for effective spawning. I wonder if you guys do have YP from a facility that harvested the eggs. Therefore, a poor spawner (in nature) could be passing on their genetic traits? Or could it even be a learned behavior? Young YP observe the larger YP leave ribbons on leaves on the bottom, so they do the same nearby?
Fascinating problem.
Agree that some new YP stock in the future would probably be a big benefit to your pond.
