Snail Tank

[shortymet55]

I want some puffer fish, but before I get them, I need a food for them. So, Im thinking of getting a tank and setting it up for just snails. That way they reproduce and Ill have a unlimited supply of puffer food. First of all, would this work? If so, how sophisticated does the tank need to be? Can I just find unwanted snails, put them in a small 5 gallon tank filled with dechlorinated water? Do I need a air pump to keep the water moving, do I need a filter? id like to keep as cheap as possible. For food, can I just add some live plants and they eat the algae and all off them? Thanks

 

[TylerFerretLord]

The tank needs to be cycled and filtered, the water dechlorinated, snails are sensitive to ammonia and such. A sponge filter will be fine in the tank. It also needs to be heated.

Since this is to be a snail culture, I really suggest using crushed coral/aragonite sand as a substrate, or they won't be able to form their shells properly.

They won't reproduce much if you don't feed them, as the colony of snails will only grow to what the amount of food will support. Algae wafers will be taken, as well as cucumber, zucchini, and other green veggies.

Also, what species are you going to culture? The little brown pond snails work well for this sort of thing.

 

[dizzied]

If you're raising them just to feed your puffer, the setup can be pretty plain and simple. A heater would be unnecessary unless wherever you're placing the tank is especially cold.

Do use a filter, if only to keep the water from becoming stagnant. A simple internal or sponge filter will work just fine. You'll also need to feed them to get a good population going, since algae is unlikely to provide enough food.

 

[shortymet55]

I dont really know what type of snails they are. Just they came off of plants. I will add some wafers and zuchinni for food. I guess I can get them a cheap sponge filter. I have a air pump that is on my 10 gallon, but from what I have read, its really unnecessary with the filter movement.

Is the purpose of the substrate, so they have calcium in the water? If so is there an alternative? I would prefer no substrate for ease of cleaning, but if necessary, I can do it.

Right now I have two snails I found. They should be fine without a filter until I can put one in my 10 gallon long enough to get the cycle started. If not, well I would just smash them if I wasn't trying to keep them alive, soo... heopfully this works out.

 

[shortymet55]

Well, my dad has forced me to change directions here. He said no to another tank. He said he will allow me to have a jar, but not a 5 gallon tank. So, I can have this jar with an air stone in it, some plant leaves, and zucchini. No room for filter. Will these survive with no filter, but aeration?

 

[iSnail]

It will be harder to breed them in a jar but if that's the only option for you, then be prepared to change water every 2 or 3 days.

I have a breeding colony of snails in a small filtered tank with some dwarf cory cats and I also have a couple of unfiltered snail hatcheries (6L & 2L) on my window sill. It's hard work keeping the unfiltered tubs. I change 80% water every 2 or 3 days whereas the filtered tank I just do the normal weekly water change.

You don't NEED substrate but you will need the jar full of live plants like Anarchis (Egeria/Elodea). The plants act as a filter and also snails like laying eggs on them.

Feed them every day or every other day with zucchini/blanched veg/fish food, etc..... you can supplement them with invert food like Hikari Crab Cuisine for extra calcium.

There is a pinned topic in this section on the various types of snails. Try to avoid breeding MTS (Malaysian Trumpet snails) as food since their shells are too hard for most puffers.