aquarium dunce

I just ordered 4 assassin snails from a guy in Miami Florida. I live in Virginia. I think they are going to be shipped priority mail... Anyway my question is what is the best way to acclimate these snails? I have never had anything live shipped to me before lol. Thanks for you help!!

Beth1965

You should have no problem, just float them for a bit before dropping them in the tank. Get them used to the water temp.
Do you have a desirable pH for the snails?

Nate McFin

The only thing I would be concerned with is temperature. I acclimate everything the same just to be on the safe side myself. A little extra time sure wont hurt. Especially this time of year when its a little cooler outside.
Congrats on your snails by the way! Mine should arrive today. Hopefully they are hungry, Ive not kept up on my Pond snails to make sure they have enough.

aquarium dunce

What is the desirable ph for snails? I know I am growing pond snails like crazy... Just rinsed my filter and sponge out... The old water was just totally peppered...I would say at least 100 snails that was what was in my filter alone. Have not checked my ph for a little while last time I checked was 7.2.

Beth1965

I think 7.2 should be okay. The higher the better for snails.
Beth

Nate McFin

calcium is the main thing to be concerned about for healthy shells. It sounds like you should be fine if your Ph is 7.2.
How many did you get for your 20G?
I have a 20G and picked up 10...I wasnt sure how many would be appropriate.

jdhef

It sounds like your tank does have a very desirable ph for snails

Nate McFin

LOL-
Thanks for pointing that out Jdhef...not enough coffee for me yet I guess.

aquarium dunce

For $25 I got 4 assassin snails... I figure I have so many snails for them to eat the assassins will be happy and reproduce a little lol. I have no idea how many are ideal for the tank.

Nate McFin

Update-
My assassins came in last night. There was some shipping confusion on the sellers part and my snails went from Arizona to New Jersey and then back here to Oregon. 2 weeks in the mail!!!!Those are some well traveled snails! I wasnt expecting any to survive such a long trip this time of year but they all made it. I put all the snails in a small dish. Only two began moving around the dish. I tought the rest were dead. As I slowly added warm tank water to the bowl with a medicine dropper one by one they began to awaken. I am happy to say all made it fine. They are so cool to watch and their shells are just beautiful.
Just wanted to update for future owners with the same question.
Nate

bolivianbaby

Wow, that was a long trip. I'm so glad they all made it! Congratulations!

aquarium dunce

Thanks for the update... mine are supposed to be shipped out either sat, mon or tues. I can't wait to see the little buggers....They have a lot of treats waiting for them lol

Nate McFin

lol I know what you mean!
It was kind of funny this morning when I tuned on the light they were cruising around the tank and I see this one crawling around with a pond snail on his back. I just had to laugh...I was like "Your supposed to be kiiling him not giving him a lift!"

Elvishswimmer

HAHA! So funny!

Hope they do their work! Glad they survived!

aquarist48

Hello AD. Congrats on the new snails. So glad to hear they have survived their trip around the country. As long as your pH doesn't drop below 7.1 they should be ok. Once the pH drops below 7.0 the acidity of the water can do damage to the snail shell.

As mentioned above they need calcium to thrive. Feed them some zucchini every now and then (high in calcium) too you can place egg shells in the tank for additional calcium. You can place the egg shell in a mesh bag and replace them once they have dissolved.

Best of luck and hope you can share some photos sometime.
Snail diseases and problems
Ken

I've moved your thread to the "freshwater invertebrates/snails" section fo the forum.
Thanks!
Ken