Looking For Snails

[DarkEntity]

Erm, as above really.

Anyone in the Glasgow area who has smallish snails they want rid of, Pond, Ramshorn, Pest Snails etc. I want them for my Puffer and so far ive drawn a blank in all my local fish stores. Im currently feeding him Apple Snails which is becoming a tad expensive (also im running out of excuses to the kids as to where the snails went)

 

[nmonks]

Have you considered breeding the apple snails? It's very easy to do. The eggs are laid above the waterline so all you need is a simple tank with a glass lid. The eggs will be put on the lid. Filtration can be minimal (sponge filter is fine) and you only need a small heater for a ~10 gallon tank, so that bit will be cheap too. Besides having a lifetime supply of apple snails, you can sell off the babies to aquarium shops or other fishkeepers.

Obtaining pond snails surely can't be that difficult, though. Again, once you have a few, it's easy to raise them in a bucket or barrel in the garden.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[DarkEntity]

Ive been to every shop near me that sells cold, tropical, Koi etc none of them have snails.

I have one apple snail left, so unless i buy more i dont have the facility to breed. I was kinda hoping someone near had a snail colony they would be able to part with some from for cash or trade etc.

 

[Loko17]

Sorry that I cant be of much help but...if I get some snails from the pond near my house, can I feed them to my Dwarf Puffer?

 

[Ranger]

Sorry that I cant be of much help but...if I get some snails from the pond near my house, can I feed them to my Dwarf Puffer?

Not much of a snail/puffer expert. But do you mean like a pond as in... a person's pond that is maintained? Or like... watch out for the aligators in that pond? If its the aligator one, i'd be wary about introducing wild food into any of my tanks... Not to mention the dangers of taking snails from an aligator pond...

 

[Loko17]

Its not one that is like a goldfish pond no. But it's across the street and it has like brim, bass, and crappie in it. Always has loads of snails and I dont think there would be anything wrong with it. I was also thinking, since most DP's are wild caught, they would probably be eating food in worse conditions in the wild so why not feed him the snails? I might try it I might not.

 

[jayjay]

I wouldn't, you don't know what is in that pond, diseases etc.

Also on your little bit about dwarf puffers eating worse in nature, well in nature they have adapted to live with those things, introducing something from a pond down your street won't be the same as something from a dwarf puffers natural habitat.

 

[Loko17]

Thats true, but before I read your post I went out and got some and put some small ones in. So far he doesnt seem to be interested so if he doesnt take a snap at them in the next day or so I'll take them out. He does appear to be eating something though because his belly is getting pretty fat.

 

[smithrc]

bugger - If I hadseen this post earlyier I'd have bunged a load of MTS's in with the moss...

Actually I still could if you like - I'll just open the jiffy bag agina and then stick it back up.

Let me know

 

[severum boy]

Have a look on the internet for a UK based snail shop(hint). They can usually sell you some easy to breed snails at a deasent price. You could buy another apple snail.

 

[Tommo]

Although i can't safely recomend wild caught live food because of the possible diseases, I frequently take snails, freshwater lice and mosquito larvea from my pond to feed to my fish and i've never encountered a problem with it, so if you don't mind taking a small risk it's fine to take snails from ponds, and they're easy to breed in a small container.

If you don't want to take from the wild then there are usually pest snails in shops tanks, just ask if you can have a few.