advice for starting a new snail tank

[janetdc1]

It's been about 2 years since I've been on here- I have 2 30 gal fish tanks, and have an opportunity, finally, to set up a 30 gallon in my art studio- for snails! A couple years back I tried mystery snails and fell in love with them- ut one by one they stopped thriving. They were in with some slightly nippy fish(platys) and I think it was too stressful for them- soooooooo now I want to start a snails only tank. I have opportunity to purchase magenta, yellow, white, and blue mystery snails- I once had a columbian ramshorn which I loved-he was cool! but can't find any of those anywhere-nor asolene spixis- which I also love-so mysterys it is for now.
I guess I just need a refresher course- what substrate should I use? Should I cycle the tank first? (I could put a few fish in there from my other tank then remove them when I put in the snails)
also- temp of about 75 okay? PH? my water is pretty hard- I have conditioner I use to rid it of all the nasty chemicals- but should I just always add calcium?
IF you had a chance to set up a snail tank, how would you do it?
thanks in advance!

[janetdc1]

I know I should cycle the tank- that was a dumb question- I just really want to do everything right this time so my snails will thrive.

[janetdc1]

hellooooooooo out there!

[boxedfish]

i have a tylomelania snail tank and i use coarse sand, with rocks and wood. PH i will maintain at 7.5 and above. water is medium hard but i will not go higher than this. never add calcium because snails are doing fine.

[Anti Decent]

It's been about 2 years since I've been on here- I have 2 30 gal fish tanks, and have an opportunity, finally, to set up a 30 gallon in my art studio- for snails! A couple years back I tried mystery snails and fell in love with them- ut one by one they stopped thriving. They were in with some slightly nippy fish(platys) and I think it was too stressful for them- soooooooo now I want to start a snails only tank. I have opportunity to purchase magenta, yellow, white, and blue mystery snails- I once had a columbian ramshorn which I loved-he was cool! but can't find any of those anywhere-nor asolene spixis- which I also love-so mysterys it is for now.
I guess I just need a refresher course- what substrate should I use? Should I cycle the tank first? (I could put a few fish in there from my other tank then remove them when I put in the snails)
also- temp of about 75 okay? PH? my water is pretty hard- I have conditioner I use to rid it of all the nasty chemicals- but should I just always add calcium?
IF you had a chance to set up a snail tank, how would you do it?
thanks in advance!

Yeah, the inverts thread can be a little dead. haha.
Any substrate with snails is pretty okay. there are only two things
you need to avoid with snail. substrate that is too fine can keep
a snail from being able to upright itself. and substrate with sharp edges can
harm a snail, or anything else living for that matter.

of course you cycle the tank!:swear:!
you're temp is probably about right, in my experience, though
others would argue that it's slightly cool. i have no clue on the
ideal PH for snails.

And if you see no stress to the snails, or porting in their shells,
i would recommend against adding anything to treat a problem that isnt there.

How would i do it? it's pretty simple.
snails are extremely easy to care for, and compared to
their other aquatic friends, produce very little bio load.
they also require very little sustenance. That said, and HOB filter
recommended for the size of your aquarium will work just fine.
I would aim for easy to care for plants, and natural-colored gravel
because they bring out the natural colors in the in the
o-so-colorful shells of the snails. You will probably be surprised at how quickly
your population skyrockets, so just make sure you give them enough
food for the whole neighborhood. let me suggest a vegetable clip
for feeding these guys. its a clip with a suction cup that goes on the glass.

every once in awhile, just add cucumbers, lettuce, and or carrots and
you wont ever get an unpleasing result!

-Andrew
sorry for the obnoxiously long post. ;)

[msjinkzd]

It's been about 2 years since I've been on here- I have 2 30 gal fish tanks, and have an opportunity, finally, to set up a 30 gallon in my art studio- for snails! A couple years back I tried mystery snails and fell in love with them- ut one by one they stopped thriving. They were in with some slightly nippy fish(platys) and I think it was too stressful for them- soooooooo now I want to start a snails only tank. I have opportunity to purchase magenta, yellow, white, and blue mystery snails- I once had a columbian ramshorn which I loved-he was cool! but can't find any of those anywhere-nor asolene spixis- which I also love-so mysterys it is for now.
I guess I just need a refresher course- what substrate should I use? Should I cycle the tank first? (I could put a few fish in there from my other tank then remove them when I put in the snails)
also- temp of about 75 okay? PH? my water is pretty hard- I have conditioner I use to rid it of all the nasty chemicals- but should I just always add calcium?
IF you had a chance to set up a snail tank, how would you do it?
thanks in advance!


I would use a substrate like estes cichlild substrate as it will raise the hardness which would be good for the long term health of the snails shell preventing erosion. Gravel is fine as well, you want to be able to vac it easily to keep the tank clean. I would plant it with lowlight plants including ferns, anubias, maybe some sag, and put in some hardscape (wood or rocks). I would bury a terra cotta lid in the front of the tank in the substrate as a feeding dish. I would over filter and cover my intake. To prepare the filter for the new tank, you could run it on one of your existing tanks for a few weeks to seed it with good bacteria, or take some established media from another tank, or take soem gravel and decor. Or all of the above. If your water is nice and hard, you don't need to add additional calcium to the water column. You will need to feed a calcium rich diet. That temp is perfect, it will allow for slow thick growth of the shell. Hope that helps!

[janetdc1]

I am so excited to get it going!
Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful advice! I'm off to the fish store tomorrow for plants, and substrate, then home to enjoy setting it up- I think I will use some materials from my platy tank to help speed the cycling- and I have several white mountain minnows I can put in there for a week or so or how ever long it takes-no hurry- then the snails can come home. I will take pics when it's all set up and post them here if I can figure out how to do that-lol!
thanks again! you've all been great!
janet

[msjinkzd]

can't wait to see it! There is a tutorial in the comments section I believe on how to post pics when the time comes. If you have a hardtime, just shoot me a pm :)

[Anti Decent]

can't wait to see it! There is a tutorial in the comments section I believe on how to post pics when the time comes. If you have a hardtime, just shoot me a pm :)

what a team player.
:D