Culturing pest snails for Clown Loach

[BigBadGourami]

Hi this may sound odd to all you folks who complain about snail
infestations. I have a group of four small clown loaches and they don't
seem very thrilled about either flakes or sinking carnivore wafers. I was
thinking the local fish store has a tank infested with those tiny pest
snails. I was thinking of putting some in an old 2.5 gal goldfish bowl and
giving them to the loaches a couple at a time.

My questions are...
1. Can I grow them at room temp or would I need a heater.

2. What can I feed them to sustain them. Maybee a few pieces of lettuce or
other vegetable matter. Or give them some fish flakes.

[Dinky]

"BigBadGourami" > wrote in message
news:6KqJb.105042$VB2.268105@attbi_s51...
> Hi this may sound odd to all you folks who complain about snail
> infestations. I have a group of four small clown loaches and they don't
> seem very thrilled about either flakes or sinking carnivore wafers. I was
> thinking the local fish store has a tank infested with those tiny pest
> snails. I was thinking of putting some in an old 2.5 gal goldfish bowl
and
> giving them to the loaches a couple at a time.
>
> My questions are...
> 1. Can I grow them at room temp or would I need a heater.

I've done this as well, and had better luck with the heater. My guess is
they were simply more active in the warm water.

>
> 2. What can I feed them to sustain them. Maybee a few pieces of lettuce
or
> other vegetable matter. Or give them some fish flakes.
>
The bloody little things eat damn near anything. I fed shrimp pellets and
clipping from my planted tank.
>

[NetMax]

"BigBadGourami" > wrote in message
news:6KqJb.105042$VB2.268105@attbi_s51...
> Hi this may sound odd to all you folks who complain about snail
> infestations. I have a group of four small clown loaches and they
don't
> seem very thrilled about either flakes or sinking carnivore wafers. I
was
> thinking the local fish store has a tank infested with those tiny pest
> snails. I was thinking of putting some in an old 2.5 gal goldfish bowl
and
> giving them to the loaches a couple at a time.
>
> My questions are...
> 1. Can I grow them at room temp or would I need a heater.
>
> 2. What can I feed them to sustain them. Maybee a few pieces of
lettuce or
> other vegetable matter. Or give them some fish flakes.

While you can certainly harvest snails, the quantity you achieve would
probably not represent a significant enough portion of the loach'es diet
to address your concerns. Try zucchini (pealed, sliced and weighed
down), frozen bloodworms/shrimp & beefheart. These are all tender enough
for small loaches.

NetMax

[Erik Soballe]

"NetMax" > wrote in message
...
>
> "BigBadGourami" > wrote in message
> news:6KqJb.105042$VB2.268105@attbi_s51...
> > Hi this may sound odd to all you folks who complain about snail
> > infestations. I have a group of four small clown loaches and they
> don't
> > seem very thrilled about either flakes or sinking carnivore wafers. I
> was
> > thinking the local fish store has a tank infested with those tiny pest
> > snails. I was thinking of putting some in an old 2.5 gal goldfish bowl
> and
> > giving them to the loaches a couple at a time.
> >
> > My questions are...
> > 1. Can I grow them at room temp or would I need a heater.
> >
> > 2. What can I feed them to sustain them. Maybee a few pieces of
> lettuce or
> > other vegetable matter. Or give them some fish flakes.
>
> While you can certainly harvest snails, the quantity you achieve would
> probably not represent a significant enough portion of the loach'es diet
> to address your concerns. Try zucchini (pealed, sliced and weighed
> down), frozen bloodworms/shrimp & beefheart. These are all tender enough
> for small loaches.
>
> NetMax
>
>

I had the same problem with a couple of loaches that would only eat snails.
I tried everything, and then tried frozen bloodworms. After a couple of
days of bloodworms, they now eat everything, including flake.

-Erik

[AfricanCichlid Addict]

if you want to give your clowns something they'll love.....go to your
local supermarket and get some popcorn shrimp from the deli (i get the
uncooked, unsalted ones). break off small pieces and they go crazy.
they also love bananas (small slice weighted with plant weight)