I'm thinking of buying a snail as a tank cleaner. I'd like to know about how to introduce snails to a tank, what to look for when buying them, what to feed them, that sort of thing. Since it is not a school tank I wanted to know as well if I will need to feed a snail regularly since the betta is being fed carefully pellet by pellet and rarely loses one.
Canned spinach according to what I read before I got my Mystery snails. But I feed mine Omega One Veggie Rounds or Hikari Algae Wafers. They like the Veggie Rounds better. I feed them to my Otos and the Snails like them too. Soon our garden will be up though and they will start to get some fresh food (spinach and zucchini and maybe other veggies)
Thank you, but what I'd really like to know are some things about how people who successfully keep them introduce them to the tank, whether they need to be quarantined, how to introduce them in a relatively stress free way, that kind of thing.
apple snails or mystery snails will eat tons of veggies. The one main thing that is important is that they get enough calcium in there diets. If not there shell will become brittle and fall apart and they will die.
Where do you get the crab pellets from Carol? I can order them if need be, but do you think I would need them with water hardness GH and KH of over 300 on each scale?
Most of the pet stores here have them. Don't think you would need them Rose but might be a good treat (If you can keep their tanks mates from sharing them )
Carol
So I went and picked up a blue mystery snail. For the first few days the little guy was shy, but now he is happily crawling around the tank.
I picked up a veggi clip as well, and I attatch some romaine (sp?) lettuce to it every couple days. The snail will climb right up onto the lettuce and start eating it from the top down and the fish nibble at it as well.
Carol: are shrimp pellets a good equivalent? I realized I might be being too literal but I got those for my corydoras, will they work equally well for the snail?
My Mystery snails are in with the skunk loaches(no the SL don't bother them) so they get a big variety of foods. Veggie wafers, shrimp pellets, flakes that the danios don't get, fresh veggies. Dark green veggies have calcium in them so unless you see problems with their shells you probably don't need to worry about pellets with calcium. I was just mentioning that their out there if you need them.
so to answer your question I think the shrimp pellets will work just as well as long as you feel fresh veggies of some kind about once a week.
Carol
Yes, it's a Mystery snail.
I was also told by Rose that sometimes the snails don't want completely fresh vegetables and are waiting for them to rot a little. She said she actually microwaves her veggies a bit and then puts them on the clip. And she said her snails don't seem to like lettuce.
So...what veggies are good? She recommended spinach. Any other recommendations? I want the critter to get that calcium it needs.
Yes, yes, yes. My bettas do like their snails and they treat them like puppies. They like to watch them and see what they are up to. They did the little bounce off the shell once or twice to see if they could nip them but the ladies did not even do that. They just are curious about them. I am so glad I have them. Mine are the Ivory (Albino) Mystery Snails but the Golden and Blue and any other colors are beautiful too.
Mine had been in the tank for a month before they put theirs out too. It takes a while for the shyness to wear off and them to get comfortable with their new environment. Give him time and I promise you will have quite a show. the eyestalks that mine are showing off now are about 3 times that long. They are beautiful! (if I do say so )
Well, my snail has revealed itself fully at last. It is as you said magnificent! Who could have thought?
Also I'm pleased to report that my snail is eating vegetables. It finally did tackle some lettuce and has been a couple of times to my knowledge perched there munching away.
They have to reach a stage of a certain "wilting" to be interesting to them I guess. I put out new spinach leaves and some zucchini for the Otos and Snail today and they haven't touched them. They will probably have to be in there for a couple of days to get eaten, but the book says not to worry about it so I am not going to.
Aren't they marvelous when they bring themselves out and move around. I think they look so dainty and beautiful. I have a new hatching of Zebra Nerita Snails in the tanks too. I will probably have to little by little get rid of them as they are about 30 strong right now. Got to nip that in the bud.
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:P ..... they really do not need anything else. LOL
