Snails

[Berserkr]

I'm looking to set up a small tank as right now I have no room for much else. Something that I can use to entertain and teach my two kids, two and almost four years old. My son, the oldest. LOVES snails so I was thinking of doing an apple snail tank or some other kind of snail maybe. Any recommendations or tips?

[Mgamer20o0]

what size of tank were you looking at? you can do a shrimp/snail tank

[Berserkr]

nothing huge due to initial expense and space. I'm thinking no more than 20 gal, so I won't be able to have too many snails/shrimp. I do think shrimp would be a good addition too, little more active and fun to watch I imagine. I've never had inverts, just fish, so I don't know much on their behavior.

[Notophthalmus]

I think one apple snail/2.5 gallons is the rule of thumb. They will probably breed, so you'll have to destroy the eggs or find someplace to put the young. The bioload of the smaller shrimp (Caridina, Neocaridina, Palaemonetes) is negligible, so just toss a few in and let them breed. Give 'em plenty of plants and hides.

Check out any of Msjinkzd's threads for tons of good invert setup and care ideas.

[Berserkr]

any recommendations for types of shrimp and plants, substrate? I'm currently cruising the other threads as well

[Mgamer20o0]

well small to some people is 20 gal small to others is 40 gal..... 20 gal tank gives you a lot of options. i would look for a 20 long if you can. i have a bunch of them and really like them. i would do a planted snail/shrimp tank.... 2-4 apple snails and start off with 10 shrimp or so. msjinkzd has some great snails and shrimp so you might want to pm her and ask.

[Berserkr]

Yeah she seems to post alot of good info, I'll see what kind of set up she'd recommend

[Berserkr]

I assume the process to cycle the tank would be the same as for fish, correct?

[Notophthalmus]

Absolutely.

[Yadokari]

Cycling process is the same, although snails are much hardier than fish. So they can actually survive well during the cycle process if you decide to do "fishy cycle".

[msjinkzd]

Sorry, hectic day! I don't actually agree that apple snails are hardier than fish. Alot of them do quite poorly with ammonia and nitrites, their symptoms are just less visible as they can breath with their siphon as well. I would totally go for a 20g set up with some nice low light plants. Neocaridina shrimp are by far the easiest as far as water conditions go. They accept a very wide range of ph and temp. Caridina can be much more particular about both if you want them to breed. Apple snails (pomacea bridgesii) are by far my kids hands down favorite. They love the shrimp too, and in an invert only tank you can expect to see lots of action. The bioload of shrimp is very low, but apple snails are "poop factories". I would recommend getting your tank set up with plants and preferably cycling it before you add your critters. As far as substrate, the shrimp dont care, but the snails don't always love sand. I would go with a darker substrate as I feel like the coloring on shrimp (neocaridina anyway) is better with a darker substrate. Definately get some java moss for the shrimp. The baby shrimp love it. Filtration is super important in a tank with snails, so over do it if you can. Please be sure to place a sponge over the intake to protect both the snails and any baby shrimp you may have. Temp for these critters is better in the low to mid 70's. Higher temps accelerate the apple snails growth and shorten the life span. I keep my invert tanks around 74. The snails will need a calcium rich diet (often accomplished through feeding veggies) and the shrimp are pretty opportunistic feeders. Hope all this helps, let me know if I forgot anything important :)

[Arakkis]

Took a pic of my 20 gal invert/shrimp tank
Aqua clear 30 filter /w elite prefilter, 50W Marineland heater
all sorts of plants:
Ciliata, x-mas tree moss, bolbitus, anubis (barterei, nana, nana 'petite, petite golden, minima) crypt swords, riccia, pennywort, pellia, and others
Shrimp:
250+Cherrys, 5 red nose, 1 blue amano, 5 black amano
Snails:
15 Olive nerites, 15+ Red/pink Ramshorn
Others: 2 Galaxy Rabora(Celestial pearl Danio) to keep cherry population down
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj94/Chibisque/IMG_0741-1.jpg

[Berserkr]

Awesome! Thanks for all the help, I dig the tank. I'm gonna be starting very small, but can't wait to get something bigger, yay tax returns. I figured I'd cycle it like normal, I'm just so impatient, but it'll be a good lesson for my son. Maybe I can find some way to hide the tank, so I don't hear "Is it ready yet Daddy?" constantly...

[Berserkr]

So I found a good deal on a 10 gal, that'll make an ok start, gonna go pick it up tonight and start the process! woot

[thebullit]

cool, nice start

[Arakkis]

Got some new snails in, yes it's a FW snail:
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj94/Chibisque/NeritinaNatalensis.jpg

[Berserkr]

What kind of snail is that? That's beautiful! So, I don't expect much from petsmart but the ones in wa state aren't usually too bad. The one here in Tulsa...horrifying. The dead bgk was especially depressing. I'll NEVER go there for anything living, except maybe to rescue one of the cats out of there...horrible place.

[Arakkis]

Neritina natalensis aka Zebra snail.. algae eating monster that hates eating plants