Need Advice on Briggs...

[huffmagx]

I have seen the advice of 2 1/2 gal per snail but I want to know what you guys use when hatching a clutch . The clutch I have is smallish compared to what I have seen pictured on here but thought I'd move them to their own growing space. I see hatching strategies but how about some grow out advice.

I could leave them where they are ( attached at the top of my 55) but it is fairly snail/fish full and I don't want the babies to have to compete overly hard to get their fair share of snailo!

I don't plan on letting all clutches hatch ( I wish I could but space is finite for me anyway) but would really love to do 1 or 2 small ones the snails are so beautiful.

 

[BettaFishMommy]

i'd start out with just letting one clutch to hatch. even a small clutch can yield a lot of babies. trust me, i know. had my first one hatch that looked like it couldn't hold more than 30 or so and i had about 120 lil shellkids!

how about position a large breeder net box thing to the inside of the tank just under where the clutch is. when it hatches (if it hatches) the babies would drop into the breeder net and would not have to go so far for food. the net would allow circulation of water so that the babies would not be sitting in stagnant water. when they get bigger, and some will grow faster than others, move them to join the tank population or sell/trade/give away.

just make sure the edge of the breeder net is as snug as possible to the side of the tank below the clutch, or else the babies may just fall into the tank anyway. and have the top edge of the breeder be above water at least an inch or so, or else the babies will just climb over the edge into the tank. use a piece of airline tubing to siphon the snail's waste and any leftover food out of the breeder box daily, and i would do this every day even if it doesn't look like there's any snail poop or leftovers in there, to keep the environment as clean as possible.

disclaimer: i have not done this myself, it is just an idea i had. i just let my snail babies grow up in the tank without special treatment. survival of the fittest, i say, and who has the space to care for over 100 briggs for their full lives with only one tank? yikes! lol.

 

[huffmagx]

Sounds like a good idea BettaFishMommy I may give it a try! I was just wondering how everyone else does it.
I was thinking of getting them their own space for ease of feeding and leaving it 'bare' bottom for cleaning I was just wondering how big folks typically use for a clutch.
I don't want to leave them in their their whole lives mind you just until they are old enough to place with other snail lovers.

 

[BettaFishMommy]

i did that with a bare bottom ten gallon once with a single clutch of about 60 odd (my second set of babies) and it worked well. my apartment stays rather warm (thank you hot water heating and POS thermostats! lol) so i did not have to use a heater. i had the ten gallon sitting on the end of my kitchen counter and used a glass sliding lid instead of a regular lid (cupboards above did not leave room for lid and lights, and the kitchen is well lit so i could see in the tank well enough without a tank light anyway). had two small sponge filters in there driven by a whisper 40 air pump on a split line. kept the tank just under 3/4 full because i was a il paranoid of the kitchen counter holding the weight of a full 10 gallon. did water changes every few days to keep up the water quality. fed twice daily with small amounts. it worked well for the 3 to 4 weeks i had the babies in there, until they got moved to the 20 long lightly planted tank i had set up at the time.

hope that info helped!