calcium supplementation for my shrimps and snail?

[supersudo]

so I am brand new in this world of invertebrates.. i have 3 amano shrimp, 1 ghost shrimp, and a nerite snail in my betta tank and have 7 brands of betta food, hikari micro wafers, and HBH algae grazer discs... seeing as none of these foods are designed specifically for invertebrates.. i was wondering if these guys need any extra calcium in their diets..

right now, they're grazing my tank for all the algae in there.. but i doubt that algae has any calcium content..

i have a few shells from a craft store.. would just putting them in the tank be sufficient?

 

[Nue]

Yes they do, but you can get away with it from just having it in the water. You can add a cuddlebone for birds. You can also make them food with calcium, check here for some good recipes http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135871
Also i just add plain calcium pills to my tank. They go nuts over them. And you can also buy food with calcium, i just received some form kensfish.com and all my fish LOVE his food.

 

[pbmax]

What Nue said. I feed Ken's veggie sticks with calcium, but they did fine just getting it from the water before that.

 

[fishcatch22]

Yep, usually your water will be sufficient, its mainly snails that need calcium for proper shell growth. Unless your water in unusually soft, you don't need to fret too much.

 

[arise1dwr]

So adding calcium pills to the water will be ok for the snails?

 

[supersudo]

quick question guys... i have some leftover Calci-Sand from when i used to have land hermit crabs... on the bag it says "Pure calcium carbonate" but then it is also bright blue.......

i did a test and put some in a cup of water overnight... it clumped together it didn't appear to dissolve or turn the water blue... would this be okay to put in the tank?... if it is.. i'll put it in at night so my betta won't see it

 

[supersudo]

would eggshells work? i've read eggshells are mainly calcium carbonate held together by protein

 

[fishcatch22]

They most certainly will work well for omnivorous snails like apple snails, not sure if herbivores like nerites or trapdoors will go for them, though.

 

[Nue]

So adding calcium pills to the water will be ok for the snails?

Yes. May cloud the water a little bit, but usually settles after a few hours.

 

[supersudo]

found a useful website with ways on boosting calcium!

http://www.ehow.com/how_5302582_boost-calcium-levels-aquatic-snails.html

the picture suggests i put A TON of shells on the gravel for calcium... i only have 2 small ones in my tank right now.. should i be worried? should i add more? :/