Lazy Snail Pond

So a few weeks back I wanted to get some mosquito larvae for my betta, so I took a bucket of the water from his water change (~5 gallons), and stuck it out on the back porch. When I got endler, I started topping it off with some of their water... and usually left the rest of the bucket outside to check later, in case I sucked up any fry by accident. Well I left the Sunday water change bucket outside, and went to grab it today for another water change...and it's full of baby snails So I decided what the heck, dumped out a large planter I had in front (left over from tulips, so there was nothing in it), lined it with a black garbage bag (mainly to help with heat retention), and dumped both the first bucket (which never got mosquito larvae, but does have other small swimmy things, detritus worms, excellent green water, and a few snails of its own), and the second bucket, and then about 8 more gallons from the water changes I did last night. Additionally I picked out as many snails as I could find from the endler tank (the DIY snail trap having managed to catch only 10 fry and an adult female endler), and tossed those in as well (the snails, not the endler...although I was tempted...)

My issue is that I don't have any outdoor outlets on my house, so I can't run even a bubbler, much less a filter. Ideally I would like to breed snails in this, because I wanted to get some pea puffers in a few months, and my lfs will always take snails for THEIR puffers even if I don't get any of my own. And because I don't have it in me to crush them. Is there any other way to keep this water from stagnating, other than topping off with fresh water? The container is about 20-25 gallons, I think.

 

The only thing I can think of is maybe plants. Maybe you could suspend them over the top of the container with just the roots in the container. Sadly it is a fact of life. Still water stagnates but maybe the plants would help if there is no other option..

 

The only thing I can think of is maybe plants. Maybe you could suspend them over the top of the container with just the roots in the container. Sadly it is a fact of life. Still water stagnates but maybe the plants would help if there is no other option..

Yah :/ When I wanted it for mosquitoes, it had to be stagnant--mosquitoes only lay in still water.

AH! I found a solar powered "fountain" which will at least keep the water moving . Thinking about pairing it with some aquarium foam to see if I can fashion a quasi-sponge filter.

I think I might stick a lily in there though, just to help things out and give a good place for bacteria to colonize. Thanks for the help!

 

That little pump should be perfect for your needs. I should have known there was something out there in the world to help solve your problem since there are sooooo many solar powered items on the market now.

 

UPDATE: I couldn't get everything fixed up before I took a trip to California. I am back now and will take some pictures this afternoon of the setup I ended up with. It's still not perfect, but good enough for what I wanted, which was breeding snails and mosquito larvae. I just have to get into the habit of skimming for larvae daily or I won't have larvae but fully blown mosquitos!