Are Snails getting enough to eat??

How do I know my snails (and eventually shrimp) are getting enough to eat?

I feed a variety of foods 2-3 times daily. I use Omega One color flakes, OO minI pellets, OO minI veggie pellets, OO shrimp pellets, pure spirolina tablets, fry starter ground krill, some Red Sea weed as a snack, freeze dried blood worms, live banana worms, vinegar eels, blood worms and mosquito larvae. There is no set schedule but I feed these randomly. Usually a live food once a day and then mix and match to keep it varied. I have cories that I bought the shrimp pellets for ... and just got 3 mystery snails. I clipped a piece of lettuce on the wall today and will give them a slice of zucchinI tomorrow ... just don't know how to tell if everyone has gotten enough with the competition in the community tank ... I've got a really good filter and the gravel has been quite clean since adding the cories.

 

2-3 times seems plenty to me and definitely enough for everyone to get their share as long as some food stays floating enough for your top/mid dwellers and sinks for your bottom dwellers. For my mystery snails, I usually leave a veggie in the tank every night. They'll also eat any of the food they happen to come across as they crawl on the substrate.

 

They won't eat when they're not hungry so I just add food every time the food runs out!

 

I don't think fish would turn down any opportunity to eat.

 

Fish yes but snails and shrimp will. The question was about snails and eventually shrimp and snails won't eat when they're not hungry, the same with shrimp. If the food is uneaten more than a few hours I suck it out with a turkey baster. You don't want to have extra but just keep adding it until they aren't eating it and then make a base number based on this.

 

Fish yes but snails and shrimp will. The question was about snails and eventually shrimp and snails won't eat when they're not hungry, the same with shrimp. If the food is uneaten more than a few hours I suck it out with a turkey baster. You don't want to have extra but just keep adding it until they aren't eating it and then make a base number based on this.

I have a tank full of fish too though ... Are you saying to keep adding a veggie or something the fish won't eat? I don't want to over feed my fish but want to make sure the snails get enough ... they don't seem to go running like the fish do.

 

I don't have any bottom feeders so I just keep the algae wafers and the sinking shrimp pellets coming in my tank. Idk what to do if you have someone that will eat these things as well. Maybe drop the required amount right in front of the snails?

 

I also have a tank full of fish that will eat to their hearts desire. It's a 60 gallonand my bottom dwellers are snails, cories, and plecos. My fish LOVE bloodworms and won't share any, so at night I give them two big pellets, so they have something to munch on if they didn't get blood worms.

 

I have a tank full of fish too though ... Are you saying to keep adding a veggie or something the fish won't eat? I don't want to over feed my fish but want to make sure the snails get enough ... they don't seem to go running like the fish do.

I would say yes to this. Snail jello, green beans, zucchini, etc unless the cories would go after it... no experience with them on my end.

 

My corys and other fish will come by to nibble at the veggies but not long enough to completely consume them.

 

Ok thanks! I also have some lettuce clipped to the wall ... I put a small piece of yellow squash in too.

The fish LOVE the spirulina tablets I put in and I'm not sure the snails ever get any but on the days I add them I usually put 3-4 tablets.

 

Also, just want to toss in, if they aren't getting enough food, it tends to become noticeable in their shell health, so while it's definitely better to make sure they are initially, keeping an eye on their shells will help you notice if anything is going wrong.

 

Also, just want to toss in, if they aren't getting enough food, it tends to become noticeable in their shell health, so while it's definitely better to make sure they are initially, keeping an eye on their shells will help you notice if anything is going wrong.

Good to know! Thanks for the tip.

 

Crazy idea, you could get a small breeder box and put the snail food in it and the snails would be able to climb in to eat and the fish couldn't. Idk, I had a Betta in a breeder box with no lid and there was no extra food or anything in there and the snails kept climbing in there with him. Might be a silly idea but if you had a breeder box laying around you could try? Idk sorry I can't think of anything better

 

Crazy idea, you could get a small breeder box and put the snail food in it and the snails would be able to climb in to eat and the fish couldn't. Idk, I had a Betta in a breeder box with no lid and there was no extra food or anything in there and the snails kept climbing in there with him. Might be a silly idea but if you had a breeder box laying around you could try? Idk sorry I can't think of anything better

Might be worth a try. Still trying to get them to eat some veggies.