Snails!

[Chickerdoodle13]

So I've decided I want to try my hand at raising some apple snails! I went to petsmart and on a whim bought a golden "mystery snail", who is a little less than an inch in diameter. Then I went on aquabid.com and ordered four more smaller ones. I think there is a chocolate one, a caramel striped one, a blue one, and a strawberry one. I'm so excited! They were only $7.00!

I have the gold one in a tank with my betta fish and they are getting along pretty well. The betta is curious, but he is getting used to his new tank mate! The other ones will either go in this tank or another small one until they grow a little bigger! Then I will get a five gallon tank for them!

Anyone else ever have apple snails? I'm not so sure what to feed him though. Some sites say extra fish food is adequate and others say they need veggies and another type of food. Where can I get that food from?

 

[johnnyjack]

i thought betta fish were very agressive and would kill other fish i dont know about snails..

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I know there are a few types of fish that can be put with bettas in a large enough tank. However, I did some research about snails and they said they should be fine. Ghost shrimp and one other creature were recommended tank mates for bettas. When I first put the snail in, the fish kind of poked his mouth at it. Now he just looks at it.

 

[Dawn419]

Only had one experience with the Apple/Mystery Snail and it was a nightmare.

We used to take care of a freshwater/live aquarium planted tank in a local college restraunt. We showed up for our scheduled maintainence visit (after adding alot of live plants the visit before) looking forward to seeing how all the plants had grown in a three week period.

Well, to our horror, it appeared that someone had given the fish a lawn mower while we were away as every plant we had added was completely mowed down to the gravel.

The culprit...an Apple Snail that a regular at the bar thought would be cool to add. We grabbed it out of the tank, threw it in a bucket and put it in the freezer (euthanizing method for fish).

They'll eat fish food but as evidence from our nightmare, they'll require alot of vegetation also.

Please, do alot of research before you go too far with this one. A 5 gallon tank will be on the small side when they get any size, I'd suggest a 10g or 20g, with tight fitting lid.

Good luck and don't forget to find a source to sell all those baby snails too...they are prolific egg layers!

Good luck!

Dawn

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Yes, I heard they eat plants! I don't have any plants in amy of my tanks.

Finding homes won't be too hard at all! I have a barrel pond that could use snails to help keep it clean. I also have friends who have fish tanks as well. Not to mention I read egg sacs are very easy to remove.

I guess I will have to see how fast they grow. If they end up growing too fast, they will stay in an extra tub/barrel that I have. I have a mesh lid that can go over it. For seven dollars I figure I might as well try it out!

I had won some off aquabid before, but when they were sent, the PO stuffed the tiny box way in the back of the mailbox and they froze before we found them. That was such a nightmare! I had been so excited and the colors she sent me were so beautiful! At least they weren't expensive. It's still not that cold yet, but I ordered them with a heatpack. It's like getting chickens in the mail!

 

[mdbucks]

I guess that is wher the saying SNAIL mail came from.

 

[arlee453]

I made the mistake of adding snails to my fish tank one time.... you only need 2 and before long there will be 100s. They would clog up the filter and were all over the place...

On the other hand, I do think they are neat animals - a tank specifically of snails might be an interesting project.

Have fun with them!

 

[Rosalind]

I had a snail in with my cichlids once, but the convict cichlid ate it. He was one mean fish.

I dunno, my next snails are not going to be pets--they'll be livestock who live on grapevines in the muckier parts of my orchard. And then they will be escargot in wine-garlic butter

 

[silkiechicken]

I got ONE snail once.... and it laid eggs behind a rock... then I had 40 snails.... and then I got back to one snail, and it laid eggs in a shell!!! then the viscious cycle went again and again... and now I have no plants. On the bright side though, no plants and no snails.

Sounds fun though, maybe I should get one of the big snails and put it in the 30 with the gold fish.

 

[Chirpy]

Hey Chickerdoodle13 - I can tell you lots about most freshwater fish, shrimp and snails. First a great website for applesnails is applesnail.net.

Only canaliculata apple snails eat plants (yes, they'll mow them down almost overnight), the bridgesii apple snail won't eat your plants. I've had both and loved them but didn't like having my plants eaten. Our bridgesii never touched our plants.

Applesnails are also gonochoristic - meaning that you have to have a male and female to get babies. Most other snails are hermaphrodite - meaning you only need one to have babies!

Next - a great site for fish is aquahobby.com. Great people and they'll answer all your questions.

Some Betta's will actually eat the antennae off snails and some won't. They truly do have different personalities. We've had ours for almost two years and he's been great. He never touched our Applesnails.