Snail and Shrimp Diet questions.

I've been asking so many questions on here but I just have so many! One that I have is, I plan on getting a 10 gallon and putting in a female betta, 4-5 ghost shrimp and a mystery snail. But my question is, what should I be feeding the snail and shrimp? I am thinking for the betta, feeding Fluval bug bites betta formula because, as far as I know, that seems like a good food. I am open to other pellet options as well. I plan on putting in some frozen food relatively often, blood worms, brine shrimp etc. But my question is, should I feed the bottom dwellers something else? I do plan to have a live planted tank if that changes anything. Thanks!

 

Hi there

Bug bites is a great staple food and feeding a variety of frozen foods is even better. Balance and variety is key and I recommend switching up the food as much as you can. Read up on different brands, like omega one flakes are another great staple food to add to the rotation.

Your shrimps and snail will act as your “cleanup crew” and will eat any leftover fish food and algae in your tank. Since your tank will be new, there wont be much algae so I recommend dropping in half an algae wafer for them a few times a week.

 

Hi there

Bug bites is a great staple food and feeding a variety of frozen foods is even better. Balance and variety is key and I recommend switching up the food as much as you can. Read up on different brands, like omega one flakes are another great staple food to add to the rotation.

Your shrimps and snail will act as your “cleanup crew” and will eat any leftover fish food and algae in your tank. Since your tank will be new, there wont be much algae so I recommend dropping in half an algae wafer for them a few times a week.

Ok ty ty ty! Any recommended brands?

 

If you're gonna feed frozen shrimp or the like, I just want to let you know that supermarket shrimp, supermarket fish, supermarket seafood in general, etc. can be washed and diced up for your fish to consume. It's cheaper than the small 10-15 dollar packs you get at the pet store. Just my $0.02.

 

Ok ty ty ty! Any recommended brands?

No problem! Personally i feed my fish bug bites, omega one flakes, fluval veggie flakes, hikari first bites for my fry, along with frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp idk their brands but they sell them in the freezer at petco lol.
Ive heard new life spectrum is another great brand but i havent tried it.

 

If you're gonna feed frozen shrimp or the like, I just want to let you know that supermarket shrimp, supermarket fish, supermarket seafood in general, etc. can be washed and diced up for your fish to consume. It's cheaper than the small 10-15 dollar packs you get at the pet store. Just my $0.02.

Wow! That's actually really good advice! Budget has always been important to me and I've always been very frugal but I didn't know about that tip! I'm assuming just to make sure that there is no salt or spices, just the meat itself. Ty!

 

No problem! Personally i feed my fish bug bites, omega one flakes, fluval veggie flakes, hikari first bites for my fry, along with frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp idk their brands but they sell them in the freezer at petco lol.
Ive heard new life spectrum is another great brand but i havent tried it.

Ok great! ty again! Everyone on here is so helpful and responds so quickly! This forum has been such a great help!

 

I don't know a ton about shrimp but here's what I know flip aquatics has for shrimp foods. (They're an excellent shrimp company, you can find them on YouTube).

Our Top Shrimp Foods

 

A agree about variety 100%.

Look into snello for your shelled pets. You make it yourself with crushed up fish food, plain gelatin or agar, crushed eggshells or tums, and high calcium baby food. It can be cut up to whatever size you like and frozen. The Betta might even swim down to munch.

Mystery snails also enjoy frozen bloodworms as do the shrimp but they don't need as much meaty protein.

 

A agree about variety 100%.

Look into snello for your shelled pets. You make it yourself with crushed up fish food, plain gelatin or agar, crushed eggshells or tums, and high calcium baby food. It can be cut up to whatever size you like and frozen. The Betta might even swim down to munch.

Mystery snails also enjoy frozen bloodworms as do the shrimp but they don't need as much meaty protein.

wow! I just looked slightly into it and thats a great idea! So, would this also be good for the shrimp? or would I be feeding the shrimp something else?

 

A agree about variety 100%.

Look into snello for your shelled pets. You make it yourself with crushed up fish food, plain gelatin or agar, crushed eggshells or tums, and high calcium baby food. It can be cut up to whatever size you like and frozen. The Betta might even swim down to munch.

Mystery snails also enjoy frozen bloodworms as do the shrimp but they don't need as much meaty protein.

I do have a quick question for you. this might be a dumb question but can you keep snails with a tank that's carpeted with dwarf baby tears? I think they look really cool but was just wondering how snails do with carpeting plants. I want to get a mystery snail if that changes anything. Also I am finding a lot of people using calcium powder instead of eggshells in their snello recipes so I'm unable to find proportions regarding to eggshells. How many do you think I should be using in order to give them the correct amount of calcium? Also also! (I swear this is the last thing) Could I use fresh fruits and veggies instead of baby food? I'm really wanting to do like no preservatives and things like that for them. and if so, what are some good option? Thanks!

 

Hi HorsesHamstersAndFish. If your H. callitrichoides carpet is well established you might be ok with a Mystery snail. I say might because those guys are like bulldozers and if they want to pull up footfulls of substrate or anything, they will. Nerites just might be the safer bet in that regard, however, if you have a show tank that you love, just know that nerites leave egg trails where ever they want-on decor, glass, hoses...the eggs won't hatch but are considered unsightly-to many (myself included).

Powdered calcium: I've seen people use Tums-I think anything but mint is fine but this must be confirmed as I really don't know. I used pulverized eggshells because I don't have a pig to feed eggshells to? I think I just used them because I won't pay for a whole bottle of calcium powder and have no use for tums outside of snello, and probably just baked something and was annoyed about waste. (sorry you asked yet?)

The baby food I got was Love Child Organics ,128ml, apples, spinach, kiwi, broccoli with 8% calcium. Not sure why you couldn't make your own but you'd need figure out the calcium content of your ingredients and do a bit o' math. The organic babyfood sitch is sooo easy. And that stuff is cheap!

If it's all a bit much, some folks stick a cuttle bone in the tank for calcium but I know nothing of the process or what it does. Others on the forum sure do!

HTH!

 

Hi HorsesHamstersAndFish. If your H. callitrichoides carpet is well established you might be ok with a Mystery snail. I say might because those guys are like bulldozers and if they want to pull up footfulls of substrate or anything, they will. Nerites just might be the safer bet in that regard, however, if you have a show tank that you love, just know that nerites leave egg trails where ever they want-on decor, glass, hoses...the eggs won't hatch but are considered unsightly-to many (myself included).

Powdered calcium: I've seen people use Tums-I think anything but mint is fine but this must be confirmed as I really don't know. I used pulverized eggshells because I don't have a pig to feed eggshells to? I think I just used them because I won't pay for a whole bottle of calcium powder and have no use for tums outside of snello, and probably just baked something and was annoyed about waste. (sorry you asked yet?)

The baby food I got was Love Child Organics ,128ml, apples, spinach, kiwi, broccoli with 8% calcium. Not sure why you couldn't make your own but you'd need figure out the calcium content of your ingredients and do a bit o' math. The organic babyfood sitch is sooo easy. And that stuff is cheap!

If it's all a bit much, some folks stick a cuttle bone in the tank for calcium but I know nothing of the process or what it does. Others on the forum sure do!

HTH!

ok tysm! this has been a huge help!