Snail Newbie

madhouse

madhouse

AC Members
Mar 19, 2009
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Hello all!

I am new too this forum and have looked at quite a few of the posts already concerning snails and have become intrigued in the raising of these little guys. My wife and I stumbled into snailtopia quite by accident. We had bought an apple snail (Garry) from a local pet store in the belief that he would assist in the cleaning of our ten gallon tank. He is quite an active fellow and I found it entertaining to watch him scoot along the tank. His tank mates are a large goldfish (Spot), a black bugeyed fish (not sure what he is) and a bottom dweller. They all seem content.

Later we picked up a Japanese Trapdoor snail (Snelly) to put in with our betta (Sparky) in a 5 gallon tank. That didn't go well as she had three babies the very same night we got her! Right away we pulled her and the little ones out because of Sparky trying to eat the babies and attacking the mom. Since then she has had 8 more little ones. The most recent being last week. They all came in a months span. So they are now all in a 2.5 gallon with a sponge filter (11 snails in total!)

Anyways, what I would like to know or have are suggestions on the best way to care for these guys so they are healthy and happy. Are there any books available or literature I can get to help? This seems to be alot more involved than I thought and any help would be appreciated.

Oh.... and one last question. The local pet store today also gave us another snail of a different breed. He is only about 1cm long and has a long pointy shell (cone style). Any idea on what kind he may be?

Please help
 
Hi,
I'm pretty new to snails too, but they are great fun. I feed mine sinking vegie pellets and snail Jello. I get the pellets on-line from Ken's fish as he carries pellets with calcium, which is needed for their shells. I have pretty hard water so I probably have less of an issue with shells than others might. I have malaysian trumpet snails (kind of sounds like the type you saw at your pet store), ramshorn snails, a bladder snail that hitched a ride with some plants, 2 red spot nerites that just arrived this week, and 4 baby apple snails (2 magenta and 2 purple) that also just arrived this week. There's a great website http://www.applesnail.net/content/care.php for apple snails. I think they're pretty happy as long as the water stays clean and there is some minerals available for their shells.
 
:welcome: to Snail Heaven!

The most important part when it comes to keeping snails is keeping your water conditions right for the snails. Acidic water tends to erode their shells badly. If your KH is low, you might want to increase it to keep the pH from lowering. It's a very easy process. Just use crushed seashells, limestones, crushed corals, plaster of Paris blocks, aragonite or marble chips otherwise you don't have to and simply focus on calcium enriched foods. Collards, seaweeds and snail jello (with calcium added) usually are the ones that supplement snails quite well. If you're in USA, order from kensfish.com invert sticks. These foods have 20% calcium content which is what the snails need if you want to maintain their shells.

The cone shaped snail could be MTS. If so, MTS usually will breed fast enough and you'll have plenty of babies in no time. They help aerate the substrate as they burrow around thus are called "earthworms of the aquatic garden".

I have ramshorns, MTS, bladder snails, nerites, brigs, canas, trapdoors and assassins snails. Of course, they're all in different tanks (except the trapdoors which were placed in the pond) as some will not get along easily due to predatory nature, aggressive feeding habits, temperature, etc. The trapdoors are coldwater and they were not doing well in my tank so I decided to move them to my pond for their own good. So far, they've been actively eating algae at the compensation of squinting hard to be able to see them.:( Just something to consider when you buy different species.:)
 
Thankyou! And as an update to my post..... I was just checking on the tank with the momma Trapdoor and babies and discovered yet another little one. It would have been born today.... in just the last hour or so. This now makes 12 she has had!
 
Um, are you aware that a 10 gallon tank is far too small for even one goldfish, much less two (assuming the bug-eye is a black moor goldfish) plus several snails?
 
I was reading that Tums makes a good supplement as well. Will this do in a pinch? And yes, I do know that a larger tank would be wise but it is just not feasible at this time. They seem to be doing well in this tank and have been for over half a year now. We watch closely to ensure that they remain healthy and have seperate 2 gallon tanks to use as 'hospitals' if signs of disease appear.
 
madhouse said:
I was reading that Tums makes a good supplement as well. Will this do in a pinch? And yes, I do know that a larger tank would be wise but it is just not feasible at this time. They seem to be doing well in this tank and have been for over half a year now. We watch closely to ensure that they remain healthy and have seperate 2 gallon tanks to use as 'hospitals' if signs of disease appear.
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What are your pH and KH? If your pH is 8.0, you don't need to dose Tums. I sometimes still dose Tums but only when I wanted to since I just love looking at my snails dig through their faces on it.:lipssealedsmilie: Downside is it clouds the water although no harm is done. The plaster of Paris block seems to act as a water clarifier though as I dropped Tums for a week before when my tanks had the plaster of Paris blocks and I never observed any cloudiness at all.
 
I actually don't have a tester for Ph levels but I am going out tonight to pick one up. My fish have never seem to been affected by the water so I am ashamed to say I never bothered to pick one up. But now it seems to be crucial thing. Once I test my water I will post the results.
 
Well.... Garry seems to like...correction.... love the tums. Gave him half a tablet and he has surrounded it completley. The goldfish can't get at it now! Lol!
 
madhouse said:
Well.... Garry seems to like...correction.... love the tums. Gave him half a tablet and he has surrounded it completley. The goldfish can't get at it now! Lol!
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What flavor did you try? Mine like cherry/strawberry (whatever the pink one is), and then orange, lemon and lime.
 
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