Like a cook that can't boil water...

[Matt Shepherd]

....I cannot, for the life of me, raise pond snails. I know it's crazy,
but it's true.

For about a month now, I have been trying to convince the little
blighters to breed so I can feed them to my puffers before their teeth
get too big. But they WILL NOT REPRODUCE. I've put eight to twelve,
over the past few weeks, in an empty 30-gallon tank with only a few
Malaysian Trumpet Snails in there as well. I have put in frozen
zucchini, pleco food, etc., which gets ignored. The filter is clean
and working well. The tank is at about 80F. These snails "inherited"
the tank after some old fish died, but I don't see that as being a
problem, as I don't think fish would have cross-species problems
affecting the snails.

Any suggestions for ideal snail-breeding conditions? How can I
encourage the little devils to grow? I don't live particularly close
to a fish store, so buying snails for the puffers to eat is out of the
question.

What temperature is good?
What food do snails like?
Do they prefer darkness, or light? Should I turn the tank light on?
Should I keep the tank light off and a towel on it to prevent other
light from infiltrating?
How long does it take them to start multiplying?
Is filth good, or should I pay equal attention to tank-cleaning as I
do to the other aquariums?

Top-to-bottom: how do I make pond snails happy????

I feel like the stereotypical novice cook that can't boil water, or
the person who has to ask what number to call for a 911 emergency...

- Matt
www.man-man.org

[RedForeman ©®]

> ...I cannot, for the life of me, raise pond snails. I know it's crazy,
> but it's true.

Watch out Matt, Some guys in white lab coats are coming to take you away!!!!

> What temperature is good?
warmth, but not cold... 80ish...

> What food do snails like?
plants, not as much'food' persay, they eat plants no doubt...

> Do they prefer darkness, or light? Should I turn the tank light on?
Mine come out during the night, and rise to the top of the waterline

> Should I keep the tank light off and a towel on it to prevent other
> light from infiltrating?
no dont fret too much...

> How long does it take them to start multiplying?
time, and a place to 'do it'

> Is filth good, or should I pay equal attention to tank-cleaning as I
> do to the other aquariums?
nah, don't worry about the filth....
>
> Top-to-bottom: how do I make pond snails happy????

THis may sound weird, but maybe joining a local club for aquarists? maybe
get a ton of plants from a real dirty LFS and hope you get some plants, then
put some good lights over them for the plants to thrive, and the snails will
shoot your hopes down.... hopefully...

[Bob in PA]

"Matt Shepherd" > wrote in message
om...
> ...I cannot, for the life of me, raise pond snails. I know it's crazy,
> but it's true.
>
> For about a month now, I have been trying to convince the little
> blighters to breed so I can feed them to my puffers before their teeth
> get too big. But they WILL NOT REPRODUCE. I've put eight to twelve,
> over the past few weeks, in an empty 30-gallon tank with only a few
> Malaysian Trumpet Snails in there as well. I have put in frozen
> zucchini, pleco food, etc., which gets ignored. The filter is clean
> and working well. The tank is at about 80F. These snails "inherited"
> the tank after some old fish died, but I don't see that as being a
> problem, as I don't think fish would have cross-species problems
> affecting the snails.

I think the problem may be in the type of snails that you are attempting to
breed. Are they Apple snails? The ones that get to be fist sized? I
believe that they only breed during certain times of the year, and they only
lay egg cases above the water.

> Any suggestions for ideal snail-breeding conditions? How can I
> encourage the little devils to grow? I don't live particularly close
> to a fish store, so buying snails for the puffers to eat is out of the
> question.

Don't know what type your using, but why don't you try to get some of the
hitchhikers you usually get on live plants? Almost impossible to get rid of
without nuking the tank or training your fish to eat them.

>
> What temperature is good?

They grow in my ponds in temps ranging from the 50's up to the low 80's

> What food do snails like?

Anything that they can scavage: dead things, algae, fishfood, etc.

> Do they prefer darkness, or light? Should I turn the tank light on?

Wouldn't hurt.

> Should I keep the tank light off and a towel on it to prevent other light
from infiltrating?

I wouldn't, most everything needs some kind of light.

> How long does it take them to start multiplying?

Before you count to ten, if they are the hitchhiker type snail. :)

> Is filth good, or should I pay equal attention to tank-cleaning as I
> do to the other aquariums?

You could pay a little bit less attention to them, just throw some food into
the tank every now and then.

Hope this helps,

Bob

P.S. Anyone know of a good online source for driftwood?

--
Check out my newly designed webpage:
Http://trains99.tripod.com

[Madpiano]

Hiya

I know exactly what you mean. I had tons of snails, never got rid of them,
until I had puffers. They suddenly disappeared and refused to breed in any
other tank....

I found those little all-in one tanks ideal (you can pick them up for about
£20 and they contain lights, filter and heater). Put the tank close to a
window (windowsill is good), enter some snails (try and keep to the same
type, depending on the Puffer you have small ramshorns or rugby-ball shaped
things), enter some cheap edible plants (Hygrophilia, Java Moss etc. Not
Java Fern or Amazon Sword) and wait. You can feed with a little bit of Fish
Food, but don't overdo it. The tank will look ugly (algae all over), but the
snails should love it.

Now comes the hard bit. We all think snails breed rapidly, if we have them
as unwanted guests, but they don't actually. The do take their time. They
certainly don't breed as fast as Guppies. They also only breed up to a
certain number, then they kind of stagnate. Try to pick out the medium sized
ones, not the biggest.

Small Ramshorns are the easiest and fastest to breed, but they are a bugger
to collect. The Rugby Shaped ones breed slower, but are easier to pick and
need a male and a female to breed (but I don't know how to keep them apart).
MTS are a big no-no for Puffers as their hard shell can break their beaks.
Apple snails are too messy and too slow to breed.

If you have a spare fish tank (not one in which the pufers live), try and
throw some in there as well. I used to go for the Rugby Ball shaped ones,
but mine weren't british pond snails and never harmed the plants. If you
don't live too far from South London, I can give you some of those. They are
actually really pretty with a marbled shell.

Good Luck
Mad

[Matt Shepherd]

"Madpiano" > wrote in message >...
>
> If you have a spare fish tank (not one in which the pufers live), try and
> throw some in there as well. I used to go for the Rugby Ball shaped ones,
> but mine weren't british pond snails and never harmed the plants. If you
> don't live too far from South London, I can give you some of those. They are
> actually really pretty with a marbled shell.
>

Thanks for the offer, but I live in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. How's
your throwing arm? :-)

The snails I got -- LFS guy wasn't sure of the breed, but said they
were breeding them as feeder snails -- are pretty, uh, snaily-lookin'
things. Round dark shells, little antennae. Right now I have them in
one of those plastic kid-terrarium things with a small heater in there
to guarantee decent temperatures. He (LFS guy) told me to put a piece
of lettuce in every day and take it out every night to avoid it
rotting away in the container. I'd love to get them something with a
filter, but the smallest all-in-once package around here is a 10-gal
for over CAN$100.

My only empty aquarium is a 30-gal right now but I'd rather reserve it
for fish when I get some, and eventually add the snails once the fish
are established.

They seem happy in their current container. God know for how long,
though.

- Matt
www.man-man.org

[Jeff Pratt]

Matt Shepherd wrote:

> "Madpiano" > wrote in message
> >...
>>
>> If you have a spare fish tank (not one in which the pufers live), try and
>> throw some in there as well. I used to go for the Rugby Ball shaped ones,
>> but mine weren't british pond snails and never harmed the plants. If you
>> don't live too far from South London, I can give you some of those. They
>> are actually really pretty with a marbled shell.
>>
>
> Thanks for the offer, but I live in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. How's
> your throwing arm? :-)
>
> The snails I got -- LFS guy wasn't sure of the breed, but said they
> were breeding them as feeder snails -- are pretty, uh, snaily-lookin'
> things. Round dark shells, little antennae. Right now I have them in
> one of those plastic kid-terrarium things with a small heater in there
> to guarantee decent temperatures. He (LFS guy) told me to put a piece
> of lettuce in every day and take it out every night to avoid it
> rotting away in the container. I'd love to get them something with a
> filter, but the smallest all-in-once package around here is a 10-gal
> for over CAN$100.
>
> My only empty aquarium is a 30-gal right now but I'd rather reserve it
> for fish when I get some, and eventually add the snails once the fish
> are established.
>
> They seem happy in their current container. God know for how long,
> though.
>
> - Matt
> www.man-man.org

Head to petcetera, they have 10 gallon tanks for ~= $10 CAD. a sponge
filter and the heater from your existing enclosure should round things out.

Jeff

[Matt Shepherd]

Jeff Pratt > wrote in message news:<bBUpb.9613$6A4.4629@edtnps84>...

> Head to petcetera, they have 10 gallon tanks for ~= $10 CAD. a sponge
> filter and the heater from your existing enclosure should round things out.
>

Thank you for the suggestion, Jeff, but unfortunately Petcetera does
not believe in us feelthy Quebecers and "heading over" would be a
pretty significant trek. The snails seem happy enough in the plastic
"tank" with the 25W heater for now.


QUESTION:

What kind of lettuce to snails prefer? Suggestions?

[Jeff Pratt]

Matt Shepherd wrote:

> Jeff Pratt > wrote in message
> news:<bBUpb.9613$6A4.4629@edtnps84>...
>
>> Head to petcetera, they have 10 gallon tanks for ~= $10 CAD. a sponge
>> filter and the heater from your existing enclosure should round things
>> out.
>>
>
> Thank you for the suggestion, Jeff, but unfortunately Petcetera does
> not believe in us feelthy Quebecers and "heading over" would be a
> pretty significant trek. The snails seem happy enough in the plastic
> "tank" with the 25W heater for now.

That's a shame, of a sort. It's a shame they don't want to serve that
market, but it provides a "space" for non-corporate LFS's.

> QUESTION:
>
> What kind of lettuce to snails prefer? Suggestions?

I've fed mine iceberg, romaine, baby spinach, etc and they seem to devour
them all. I just grab some of the "stemmier" parts whenever I ake a salad.

Jeff