Apple snail population control in Eclipse tank

What are you feeding them? Mine never lived more than a week.

Here's a decent site discussing Apple snail diet (and other
conditions):

http://www.applesnail.net/content/care.php

"Ted Pavlic" wrote in message
...
What are you feeding them? Mine never lived more than a week.

Here's a decent site discussing Apple snail diet (and other
conditions):

http://www.applesnail.net/content/care.php

Thanks Ted. Going by that they should have lived. I seldom saw the eat
anything and they weren't very active. They ignored algae wafers. I stopped
buying them.
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

Thanks Ted. Going by that they should have lived. I seldom saw the eat
anything and they weren't very active. They ignored algae wafers. *I stopped
buying them.

Apple snails have the nice feature of being an indicator of certain
water problems. In particular, if they're uncomfortable they'll seal
up inside their shells. They can do this days before the water is too
bad for fish.

So, if you saw them recoil inside their shells very often, maybe there
was something else wrong with tank other than food. ? Other than
that, maybe it was the fish store (or their source).

--Ted

If you find them - remove them right away before they have a chance to
develop.

The sparse material I've read about apple snail life cycle says that
the snails should take about 2 weeks to hatch. Based on when we got
the two snails and when the first egg sac hatched, that seems about
right.

So, as long as we check every couple of days, it sounds like we'll be
OK...

I like the idea of taking the eggs out manually anyway. I have to
imagine it's less stressful on the female when she can actually lay
the eggs (rather than absorbing them or laying them in the water).

This next part was very helpful:

You have the stomach for live feeding (you're feeding your puffers
with pond snails), so I'll tell you what somebody said they did with
snails on another group.
They feed birds in their yard. In a shallow dish, they placed a little
water and the snails. They didn't last long.
I have never done this before.
I feed seed. = )

I wish I had read this yesterday -- that's a fantastic idea.

Yesterday, we removed three egg sacs. We put them into a ziplock bag
and smashed them. Luckily, they smashed easily, but we felt pretty bad
about it nonetheless. It's one thing to feed snails to something else.
It's quite another thing to destroy them for no decent reason.

That being said, we really worry about these snails getting out in the
wild. We live by a "lake" (an old rock quarry), and we don't want
these things to have the chance of invading. I suppose as long as we
put these things outside when they're very young, the birds should
digest them easily before they could possibly cause a problem. We
already have a few feeders, so a bowl full of snail eggs will fit
right in.

Thanks for the help!

--Ted

snails on another group.

By the way -- what was the other group? I wouldn't mind having another
active aquarium newsgroup to monitor.

Thanks! --
Ted

"Ted Pavlic" wrote in message
...
Thanks Ted. Going by that they should have lived. I seldom saw the eat
anything and they weren't very active. They ignored algae wafers. I
stopped
buying them.

Apple snails have the nice feature of being an indicator of certain
water problems. In particular, if they're uncomfortable they'll seal
up inside their shells. They can do this days before the water is too
bad for fish.

So, if you saw them recoil inside their shells very often, maybe there
was something else wrong with tank other than food. ? Other than
that, maybe it was the fish store (or their source).

--Ted
=======================
There were always dead ones on the bottom at the fish store. I know better
than to buy fish or snails when you see something like that, but that was
always the conditions they were under. My water is hard and alkaline.
I do water changes pretty much on schedule. They should have done well but
never did. The store no longer carries them due to the high losses.
--

RM....
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

"Ted Pavlic" wrote in message
...
snails on another group.

By the way -- what was the other group? I wouldn't mind having another
active aquarium newsgroup to monitor.

Thanks! --
Ted
===========================
This was a very active group at one time and I hope it becomes that way
again. I like Usenet and don't enjoy the Forums myself.
--

RM....
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö