Snail rookie

[terrapin24h]

All--
Just this last week I got 2 ivory mystery snails from petsmart(see my avatar). They seem to be doing well, are prob around 1" in size and tend to be active right after my lights go out. I have two, and would like some more but am not sure what i need to do to encourage breeding. I have a 3 gal eclipse tank(my hosp tank) that I would use to cultivate new guys. My wife thinks they're gross, but i like'm. Any suggestions as to care and feeding would be good. I have not vac'd my gravel and have a healthly bed of brown diatoms, green algae and some left over food. My oto cats are thriving too, so i think i have a good thing goin. Let me know what else i can do, thanks!

--chris

[siymdapolio]

Hey chris! Good choice on snails! The ivory are very nice :D I want some i got two golden but white would be awesome. Since you are saying you want to encourage breeding you want to make sure that there is a pair (which i am not familiar with) BUT you need to have the temp warmer for it to be more active and enduce breeding. This i know helps start breeding and encourages quicker and more rapid growth. You should not worry about feeding to much but you could put an algea wafer down there if you think they have not gotten enough food.

They are snails and pretty hardy! Make sure your ph is not soft ph lower than 7.2 or around there because when this is, there snails become soft and brittle deteriate

hope this helps

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh242/siymdapolio/frosties-tiger2.gif

[terrapin24h]

Alex--
thanks for the reply. I knew about the ph. My ph tends to run low(water has no KH) so i have to supplement. I'm working my way up slowly. I'm at 7 now hoping to go to ~7.2. Gotta love baking soda :) My tank temp is 77.5-78

--chris

[Minderella83]

How much baking soda do you add per gallon terrapin??

[terrapin24h]

It depends, but i only need to add it when i change water. It took me a bit to get used to my water and how my tank takes it, but after while i got a "feel" for how much i need to add. Generally, i do a little bit less than 1/4tsp per 4 gallons of water(30 gal tank, typical water maint change is 4-5 gal). If I do 5 gal i do exactly 1/4 tsp. That will maintain whatever PH the water is at. To elevate the PH i add just a touch more. If I don't add any at all, my ph will drop .2/day until my KH is 0, at which point the bottom will fall out on my ph. Some LFS around here say this area is notorious for no/low KH in the tap water.

--chris

[terrapin24h]

all--
i've been bit by the bug; i just got 2 more last night, goldens. So i have 2 ivory and 2 goldens, one fo the goldens was cruising the top of the tank last night. Here's hoping i'll have some eggs soon.

--chris

[Sounguru]

Take those snails back to the store now... You have to hurry you are in serious trouble.... I started with 6 MTS now I haev over 2000 snails of 5 different types and I'm looking for more....

Someone help me....

[terrapin24h]

lol

there's actually a part of me that hopes i'll be able to get some breeding going. Then maybe i could sell some to lfs and such in the area(or at least get some righteous trades). If i get too many i could always just harvest the clutches and throw them away. I have a 3 gal tank i'd use, or i could always buy a basic 10 gal too. I'm hoping itll be fun

--chris

[siymdapolio]

No problem chris glad i could help a bit or say my word :thumb:

Thats no good that your area is notorious for having no kh/0, Good idea with baking soda you got to love that! The water here is a good 7.0 7.2 and have never tested hardness/ kh / but my lfs tell me you are lucky to be an aquarist here :D The water is perfect for stable ph :D

Good luck with breeding and all hope to see them soon

Post Script
Its allways a good idea when breeding these snails to not fill the tank all the way up and leave room for them to lay their eggs on and inch. and keep them moist.

c ya!

[Mvjnz]

Awesome snail:)

The temp doesn't really need to be any higher than about 20 degrees celsius, and of course it helps if you have a male and a female and not 2 of the same sex:)

What I did is just do regular water changes and feed them with fresh veggies every day, cucumber, ice berg lettuce, spinach, peas, banana (excellent for extra calcium but messy so don't leave it in there for too long).

If you see them mating then it could be anywhere from a couple days to several months before they decided to actually lay the eggs.

If you see one of them trying to mate but being rejected repeatedly you prolly have 2 males.

[terrapin24h]

all--
well, yesterday each ivory paired off with a golden, and this morning i couldn't see any of them. Here's hopin they had a "snorgey" LOL :) I've got my ph up to 7.2 and my temp hovers just bit over 77, I was thinking of lowering it a bit to prolong the life cycle of the snails. They are happily grazing on gravel now(i'd let my gravel get dirty cause i knew they were coming) and the tank walls, and i'll start leaving blanched veggies tonight. Thanks for all the advice!

--chris