Poor Gary

[BettaMomma]

Gary, although he pulled a Houdini act and snuck back into the girly tank is now in his own little 1/2 gallon fishbowl on the counter in the kitchen. He was in one of those plastic boxes that hang on the outside of a tank at a lfs where they line with a bag so they can dump your fish into the bag and tie it up - and off you go. He had a good 2 1/2 inches to climb up to get to the top of the box, and he'd have had to freefall from there another 2 inches down into the water. Well, he did it. Which means he climbed up out of the water and went a total of probably 4 - 5 inches on dry surface. How he did it I have no idea. He is in the naughty tank now, and he's been sentenced to live in it forever.

Or, well - at least until I can find him a bigger home.
He's got beach pebbles, a fake plant (not that he's the least bit interested in it cuz he can't eat it) and some gravel in there. I'm sure he hates it in there, which in turn makes me feel bad, but he was making much too much waste for my girls and they were all getting sick.

Gary, Gary, Gary.
Oh, and he's also at LEAST tripled in size since I got him (he used to be as round as a nickel).

 

[Bettabelieveit]

Silly gary, I'm sure he was in his little holding tank, and said "Meow" and then ventured his way out into the tank, once he got there, I'm sure he ventured up to one of the girls and simply stated to them... "Meow" and the proceeded to poop.. or eat something.. what else does a snail really do?

 

[Ben]

haha, sneeky snail

can snails live with out filters?

DD

 

[BettaMomma]

Silly gary, I'm sure he was in his little holding tank, and said "Meow" and then ventured his way out into the tank, once he got there, I'm sure he ventured up to one of the girls and simply stated to them... "Meow" and the proceeded to poop.. or eat something.. what else does a snail really do?

I wouldn't put it past him. lol

That's a very good question - I was just going to ask someone if I needed to get an airstone in there for him for aeration. I plan to give him very frequent water changes cuz he's messsssssssssssy. He is getting algae wafers to eat cuz the tank he's in was sparkly clean with no algae in it. As soon as my hospital tank is freed up he'll be going in to there. It's a 1.7G hex.

One good thing is that his new tank sits right next to the hospital tank - and Daisy's in the hospital tank. She is obviously still madly in love with him, cuz when I put him next to her she went crazy, and before I went to bed - I went and looked at them once more, and she was laying on her plant staring over at him.

I think they're nuts.
They're all completely nuts.

 

[eudielynn]

Poor little guy in solitary confinement. I can't believe how big he's gotten. I got Goldie before you got Gary and he/she has grown very little. It must be all those live plants he ate. They made him big and strong.

 

[FalconStorm]

Heh, I've seen apple snails at my lfs that were over two inches in diameter, almost three, so he may get even bigger still. *grin*

 

[BettaMomma]

Okay so HOLY CRAP - i just went to www.applesnail.net and found out some rather freaky information. Apparently, snails of his type can get up to 6 inches in diameter if they're taken well care of. Higher temps also speed up their growth, and he's been in 78 degree temps since I got him. They also require the same size/amount of tank and water that fish do, so for every inch of snail shell diameter they need a gallon of water.

Looks like he won't be staying long in the 1/2 gallon tank. 4 more days at the max, should do it then the 2G hospital tank should be freed up.

Jeez!

I found out some other odd info - if they have body parts ripped off, such as tentacles, or EYES... they can regrow them. They can also go into hibernation for really long periods of time, and many people toss them out thinking they're dead.

 

[eudielynn]

They can also go into hibernation for really long periods of time, and many people toss them out thinking they're dead.

) Yeah, I still feel really bad about tossing my hubby's Brownie out after he hadn't moved for two days. Then I found out they can go like that for a month or so.

 

[daudy_dojo]

Okay so HOLY CRAP - i just went to www.applesnail.net and found out some rather freaky information. Apparently, snails of his type can get up to 6 inches in diameter if they're taken well care of. Higher temps also speed up their growth, and he's been in 78 degree temps since I got him. They also require the same size/amount of tank and water that fish do, so for every inch of snail shell diameter they need a gallon of water.

Looks like he won't be staying long in the 1/2 gallon tank. 4 more days at the max, should do it then the 2G hospital tank should be freed up.

Jeez!

I found out some other odd info - if they have body parts ripped off, such as tentacles, or EYES... they can regrow them. They can also go into hibernation for really long periods of time, and many people toss them out thinking they're dead.

yea the smallest required tank is 20 gallons for an apple snail... they perferably like to be in ponds... someone was trying to coax me into getting one, said it was perfect for my 2.5 would never grow to big... to bad i had some knowledge on them

 

[BettaMomma]

20 gallons for a snail?
I just read on www.applesnail.net that you need 1 gallon of water for 1 inch of shell.
Hence, Gary's almost 2 inches - he'd need 2 gallons.
No?

edit - I'm planning on giving him something bigger eventually, and as he grows - but I shouldn't feel bad about not giving him that monstrous of a tank...

should I?

 

[SRC]

lol dont forget to feed him though....now that he's not in the tank to eat fallen fish food..and no algea (or plants)..he'll be starving. I have heard they love cucumber and zuccinni slices.

"mow" (<-translates to FEED ME MAMMA)

 

[BettaMomma]

lol He does say that, I swear.

I dropped in half an algae wafer last night and it was gone w/in an hour (once he found it), and I have to get some veggies on the way home tonight for my guinea piggies - so I'm going to get Gary some cukes. He LOVES them - I blanch them for him and he slurps down every last little bit of them.

Are you supposed to feed a snail whatever they can eat?
Or will they eat themselves sick?
could I drop a few fish food pellets in there for him to find too?

 

[FalconStorm]

What about the fact that they are REALLY messy? I'd think you'd need to allow more room for that fact alone.

 

[BettaMomma]

Well, yeah - he's super messy but I plan to do 100% water changes on him just like everyone else (bettas) so then does it matter? The tank he'd be going into is 2 gallons... I could see maybe getting a 5 gallon down the road to share with one fish but he makes such a mess in the water that I don't wanna subject a fish to that mess..

 

[eudielynn]

I may get shot down for this, but I have Snail in Batista's tank which is 2.5 gallons. He is by far my biggest snail at about 4 inches so far (I had to get B a big one since he kills and eats anything I put in there.) I do my regular water changes 2 or 3 times a week, and they do fine. I would think that algae wafers and cucumbers would do him for a while. When you put him in the larger tank you might consider a live plant for him to munch on.