Snail only tank

[Mullen]

My wife just started a science teaching job and I would like to set up a
tank for her class. I have a 5 gallon Pyrex glass jar/bottle that I would
like to use. What I hope to do is set up a water terarium - hopefully a
couple of plants and some snails. They tank will not be able to be heated
(room temp only) and could get somewhat colder during winter break also no
filtration. Is something like this even possible? Any suggestions for
species of plants or snails? Substrate?

Thanks-
Jackson

[Eric Schreiber]

Mullen wrote:

> I have a 5 gallon Pyrex glass jar/bottle
> that I would like to use. What I hope to do is set up a water
> terarium - hopefully a couple of plants and some snails. They tank
> will not be able to be heated (room temp only) and could get somewhat
> colder during winter break also no filtration. Is something like
> this even possible? Any suggestions for species of plants or snails?
> Substrate?

I had a ten gallon snail-only tank for awhile. I started with two apple
snails (Pomacea canaliculata, I believe) which reproduced like mad.
They were voracious plant eater, which I often fed by dumping all the
plant cuttings from my main tank. They reproduced like mad. I had up to
a hundred of them when I finally gave the whole lot to a local pet
store.

Obviously, those would be a poor choice for a planted tank.

Another kind of apple snail, Pomacea bridgesii, might work well in a
planted setup. I had one in my heavily planted tank, and he never
bothered any of the healthy plants. He ate only debris and algae.

Good luck telling the difference between species, though.

If you go with large snails like apples or mystery, I'd recommend no
substrate at all. Those snails are prodigious poopers. The tank will be
a lot easier to clean if you can just vacuum the gunk off bare glass.


--
Eric Schreiber
www.ericschreiber.com