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Wild Turkey
04-30-2008, 08:02 AM
So i called up a few LFS today to see if i could grab some pest snails for my 2.5, i need something to do hold the cycle in it. So after a few calls i found someone who was willing to help. Went to petsmart and there were no mysterys, so i asked, and they told me they were in the back because they were actually treating the water (i assume with copper) to get rid of the pest snails.

The girl was really helpful and bagged about a hundred, and 1 trumpet snail i pointed out to her (i think it is a trumpet) that got in their tanks somehow, they dont sell them. His shell is about 1/2 inch long. After further inspection some of the very small ones are also trumpets, so im a happy camper! I was real careful not to add any of the copper water to the tank and all the snails seem to be happy, immediately springing to life as they hit the clean copper-free water.
Right now i have one glowlight danio that i saved a little while ago, the zebra danios in my ten gallon are constantly harassing him much to my dismay. I realize he will do better with more glowlights but i cant do it for him right now, so i figured hed be happier with 2.5g of his own than sharing a 10g with bad neighboors, and it seems so as he has already spread his fins out and is strutting confidently around the tank. The tank doesnt look too pretty yet but I got a pic for you guys, enjoy!


Do you guys think the snails and the danio will be enough to hold down the cycle? I moved a sponge filter from an established tank, and added a ten gallon trickle filter i won on ebay for extra filtration.


http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/showphoto.php?photo=4944&cat=500&ppuser=13480
Wild Turkey
04-30-2008, 04:12 PM
Bumping this cuz i need to know if the tank is gonna stay cycled or not
MandyL
04-30-2008, 09:59 PM
Yes, I would guess that a danio and snails would hold a cycle in a 2.5g.
ILuvMyGoldBarb
04-30-2008, 10:01 PM
A dead decomposing snail would help, but live snails really don't contribute much ammonia to the water at all.
xoolooxunny
04-30-2008, 10:24 PM
snails are poop machines! Put a couple on a plate with a little water on top of it, watch them crawl around and leave a trail of poop everywhere they go. They alone wont hold a cycle for say, adding 6 more fish at once, but I would have to say they certainly contribute, teamed up with the danio. That small of a bioload would have me adding only about 2 new fish at a time, no more.
ILuvMyGoldBarb
04-30-2008, 10:27 PM
What kind of snails are you watching? The pest snails that PetSmart gets are generally just common pond snails, I had them in my 125 and they don't produce much waste at all, certainly not enough to have any great effect on a cycle.
xoolooxunny
04-30-2008, 10:29 PM
What kind of snails are you watching? The pest snails that PetSmart gets are generally just common pond snails, I had them in my 125 and they don't produce much waste at all, certainly not enough to have any great effect on a cycle.

trumpet snails, from my tank. kulis and yo yo's wont touch them, so i have to keep the pop. under control myself, thats the only kind of snail i have. Maybe thats the big difference?
Wild Turkey
04-30-2008, 10:32 PM
A dead decomposing snail would help, but live snails really don't contribute much ammonia to the water at all.

Haha great minds think alike. I saw one or two dead ones in there, so i left them for now thinking the same thing. I also threw a big leaf of boiled lettuce in there, theyve almost detroyed it after 24 hours, but im gonna leave the stalks in there, maybe that will help a little too since they seem to be neglecting that part of the meal. It looks almost like a spider web right now.

As far as the adding of other fish, i dont plan to, hopefully by the time the glowlight has a new home some of the trumpet snails will have grown up to hold down the cycle enough to add one fish when needed, remember its really only supposed to be a Q tank, i just like snails too much lol
xoolooxunny
04-30-2008, 10:40 PM
Malaysian trumpet snails only get to be about 2-3 cm, not nearly as big as the mystery snails.
Wild Turkey
05-01-2008, 12:31 AM
Malaysian trumpet snails only get to be about 2-3 cm, not nearly as big as the mystery snails.

Yea ive never had any trumpets before, but free is free and hopefully theyre gonna breed eventually. The small round snails are pretty small, the biggest ones are about 3mm in diameter, maybe 4 or 5 at most. They are mature, or at least some of them cuz i can see them already mating.