# zebra snails - are they hard to keep?



## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

So finally I bought zebra snail at IPU last sunday and it died two days later. I was wondering if they are hard to keep. I have couple of ramshorn snails and they are doing great. I have to say I'm little disappointed and I'm not going to drive back to the store for $2 credit. (good thing I haven't bought more). i know they won't breed in freshwater aquarium. Can anybody recommend a good place (not too expensive please) to buy them. I don't want to give up on them yet. 
Thank you


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## Rastapus (Apr 21, 2010)

Zebra snails are incredibly hardy. Are you adding buffers? Without calcium they don't hold up very well.


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## Athomedad (Oct 8, 2011)

I have 5 from IPU that are doing fine. They need acclimatizing to the tank (float bag, add a cup if water every 10 minutes) the same as a fish. 

My water was soft & their shells started to turn white but I've raised the hardness & they are doing quite well.


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## Keri (Aug 2, 2010)

I have several zebras from IPU as well that have been doing well for me. I also acclimate them very slowly.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

I started with one zebra snail that did a good job of tidying up in my 36 bowfront and also was often visible. But I forgot about him and when I washed the substrate with hot water, he was in it! I was horrified and pulled him out, tossed him into another tank. He survived the chlorine and the heat and the indignity.

I've picked up a few more for various tanks and they also seem very hardy. 

It's possible that certain medications could kill them, although I don't know which ones. Also, they do seem to eat a lot and so in a brand new tank setup they might starve if you don't toss them a sinking pellet or something.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

I have same issues as you, roadrunner. Keeping snails is a problem for me in the regular tanks, I can only keep them big and beautiful in a snail breeder one. Thus I think it is probably lack of food, I can't find any other explanation. I tried zebra ones some time ago, lost them all  Snails in my normal tanks die or grow extremely slow and won't breed. I keep a breeder one and every now and then move snails from there to other tanks. There is a particular betta tanks that NO snail survive, I wonder if that betta is eating them. I keep adding snails once every 2-3 weeks. I don't think it is a water quality/hardness issue as I have shrimps that are breeding in there. Hard to believe shrimps are hardier than snails.
So, I really don't know what my problem is. But there is one.


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

I add alkaline buffers and equilibrium to my tank with each water change. Is there anything else I should be adding? Maybe some aquarium salt? I'm trying to grow some plants so I don't really want to experiment with chemistry too much.


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## Shiyuu (Apr 9, 2011)

I got 2 from IPU and they are doing fine as well~
I remember I totally forgot they needed to be acclimatized, so I put them in the tank right away... 
And they are like nothing happened and munch down all my left over algae in 3 days... 
(Damn it Zebra snail~~! Those algae are for my otos~!!)


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

I do the same, roadrunner. Still mystery to me.


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

I'll get some more next time I'll see them at LPS and see what happens…….


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## _ kT (Feb 22, 2012)

i got 6 from IPU and they've been doing fine. i forgot to acclimate them and just floated the bag for a bit before i dropped them in. they've been doing great though, mostly see them hanging around in the corner of my tank or on my driftwood


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

so I was trying to figure out why I can't keep the zebra snails. I went to get some more after I did good cleanup (I mean vacuum the gravel) of my tank and about 50% water change. They were doing good for a while, but after I did some testing of my water for nutrients I was low on everything so I slightly increased the dose. After couple of days I did the testing again and iron and nitrates were at 0 so I dosed macros one day and next day I dose iron. After that the snails were doing good anymore. Any ideas why? (after re-testing the iron, it was still close to 0 and chelated iron on the lower side of recommended levels.


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## Sweetpea (Nov 7, 2011)

I'm sorry I don't have an idea for you what is going wrong with your zebras, but I just wanted to echo the people above commenting about the apparent hardiness of the zebras. I've had ten from IPU in my 50G display tank for the past few months, since soon after it was finished fishless cycling. In January, I had an apparent pH crash that killed off all of the bacteria in my biofilter...was getting lax about my buffering, so I think that's probably the reason, though it occurred in conjunction with adding some new fish, so I'm still not clear what happened. Anyway, the spike in ammonia killed off about 11 of my amano shrimp, and though I still can't quite believe it could be true, it seems to have killed off my entire pond snail population. (I was wanting to get rid of these from the tank, anyway, so I can't quite believe they're all gone since it would just take one survivor to repopulate...but I haven't seen any in almost two months...fingers crossed that I'm not jinxing myself by saying this out loud!!) Anyway, whatever happened to my pond snails didn't affect my zebra nerites at all. They're all still going strong!! I hope that you're able to give them another try, with more success this time. They're great glass cleaners...other than all of the eggs they leave behind everywhere, of course. 

BTW, I feed algae wafers for my otos and the zebra nerites are often to be found munching on that. But if yours died within two days of getting it, it's hard to believe it could be from lack of feeding or not having their preferred food, etc., to kill them so quickly. I hope you figure it out!


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## roadrunner (Apr 25, 2010)

Thanx Sweetpea. I have also got some algae pellets while back and I usually drop one small in once or twice a week, so they definitely do not starve. I have one large flowerhorn snail and he keeps going strong. it even survived medication dosing few months back (wasn't supposed to) and I've already seen few babies around. Not sure why my zebra snails won't do well in my tank. My GH and KH is ok, I'm only running out of Nitrates most of the time. 
I'm trying to grow plants and I need to dose, so I guess I have to decide if I want to keep the plants or snails. I'm just not able to keep both


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