# Breeding snails



## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Hello,

I am trying to get a decent colony of snails for a couple of months now. I have ramshorn, pond and malaisian. They breed very slow and I don't get it. I see much more eggs and I see them hatch, but than the babies disappear. Do they grow so slow and I can't see them or something is wrong. I don't think there is a fish that eats them, I only have endlers, cories and tetras there. I used to have shrimps in the same tank and I suspect they might have eaten some, but they are out of that tank for more than a month.
So as I have a spare 2 g and a filter, I decided to start a tank to breed snails. I put some gravel and a couple of plants (I don't have too many extras right now as I recently started a new tank). I will get some organic lettuce on my way home. Anything else I should do to make them breed? 
Thanks!


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## waterlilly (Aug 22, 2010)

Malaysian Trumpet snails breed like crazy - if the water parameters and the food sources are ok. I started out with 4 and within a couple of months there were tons! 
They love all the sinking wafers, especially the algae ones. 

What kind of substrate do you have? They usually hide during the day and come out in the evening. Let me know if you need MTS! I would love to give you a few to help your population grow!


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## katienaha (May 9, 2010)

make sure theres lots of leftover food that the fish dont get!


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## taureandragon76 (Apr 21, 2010)

I keep my snail breeding tank barebottom. Easier to clean and they lay eggs all over the glass on the bottom, also put a sponge on your intake to try and stop some from getting sucked up.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Thanks for the advice!
The MTS are in a tank with small grain substrate and they hide.
The rest are in a bare bottom one and one with large gravel.
I setup the new tank with gravel but will take it out then. I thought it might be good for snail.
As for leftover food, this is what I suspect, I don't feed that much and the cories are probably eating most of the food. And the shrimps in the other tank. But what happens with babies then? Do they die out of starvation?


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## Claudia (Apr 21, 2010)

They reproduce mad when u over feed


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Yeah, I know, but don't want to do that in the tanks with fish. I was hoping feeding babies 2 times a day will help, but I guess the shrimps eat everything, so snails are starving. That's why I decided to start a snail tank, at least till I get more snails, maybe a month?
Any advice welcomed! Will they eat cucumber? I guess I'll start with algae wafers as I know they'll eat that. And maybe will stop the filter 
Oh, do they need heater? Room temperature can be pretty low during the night. Will that bother them? I am not sure I have an extra heater right now.


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

ahh okay, so overfeed + more water changes = more snails. good stuff, i've been having trouble with getting some of my snails to breed as well


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Yeah, I don't want to overfeed my tanks and the snails breed but slow  I was hoping to have much more snails by now. And what really bothers me is I see lots of eggs, but rarely see babies. I wonder what happens with them. I think most of the fishes there won't eat them, but who knows. I have 2 pond snails and 1 ramshorn in the breeder tank. I gave them cucumber and algae wafers. Will keep you posted if you want


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## jkam (Apr 21, 2010)

Just want to make sure, but are you supplementing the tank with calcium? The snails can't build their shell if the calcium is low in the tank. To fix this you can put crushed coral in the tank/filter. 

Another thing is to make sure the tank is heated, they'll grow faster the higher the temperature.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Thanks! I was actually asking about heater yesterday. I don't have a spare one right now but will get one over the weekend. And no, I haven't added anything, I'll go and buy some on Saturday. (the other tanks have equilibrium, is that enough for the snails?)


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## jkam (Apr 21, 2010)

equilibrium might work, not sure if it has calcium in it.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Not sure as well, but it was recommended to me for planted tanks and it seems to work well. But now I wonder if I lack calcium and that's why the baby snails die?


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

equilibrium has 8% calcium in it. good to know because i had been using epsom salts to raise my gh, but that's basically magnesium

crushed coral is a good solution i guess, but i just worry about the effect on ph


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Will snails be bothered with a wrong PH?
I never had issues breeding snails before (when I was living in Europe), I just had them in the tank. I am not sure what my issue is now.


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## jkam (Apr 21, 2010)

Europe (I think) has harder water so the snails should have no problem. We have pretty soft water here so it's hard to pull out anything useful for the snails. 

when I had snails they were fine with anything above 7ph. Anything lower would erode their shells.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Yeah, this is why I mentioned it. 
Poor snails  And fish too.
Will add equilibrium in the snail tank as well


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

I have a 20g bare bottomed tank just for a few abn plecos, a couple of amanos and the rest ramshorns to feed my loaches. pH isn't an issue as long as it's stable, so go ahead and use crushed coral if you have some. I do pay attention to the hardness or GH so I add epsom salt, calcium chloride and a little marine salt for traces - it brings the hardness up to about 6dGH. Snails everywhere!


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Thank you very much!
So I can't "overdose" the crushed coral?


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

You can't overdose the crushed coral - I personally prefer aragonite. In my personal experience, crushed coral will continue to dissolve until pH reaches about 7.6 to 7.8. It really doesn't add to KH or GH all that much, so I have to supplement GH with what I suggested. Equilibrium would work, but I find it cheaper to buy Calcium Chloride in bulk, I use it for my discus, goldfish and snails. A little bit goes a long ways, especially for a 2gal tank!

Quite a few applesnail breeders I know use Kent Liquid Calcium - it's bascially calcium chloride.


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

hp10BII said:


> You can't overdose the crushed coral - I personally prefer aragonite. In my personal experience, crushed coral will continue to dissolve until pH reaches about 7.6 to 7.8. It really doesn't add to KH or GH all that much, so I have to supplement GH with what I suggested. Equilibrium would work, but I find it cheaper to buy Calcium Chloride in bulk, I use it for my discus, goldfish and snails. A little bit goes a long ways, especially for a 2gal tank!
> 
> Quite a few applesnail breeders I know use Kent Liquid Calcium - it's bascially calcium chloride.


wheres a good place to get this calcium chloride in bulk, or the kent liquid calcium? i've seen crushed coral in some of the LFS but not the CaCl


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## hgi (Jun 13, 2010)

This is a very interesting read, I plan on getting my little snail farm up very soon and didn't know about the crush coral and calcium deal.... Now I'm just kicking myself in the but for tossing my 5lb bag of crushed coral in the trash last week when I cleaned up my fish room... DOH!


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

user_error said:


> wheres a good place to get this calcium chloride in bulk, or the kent liquid calcium? i've seen crushed coral in some of the LFS but not the CaCl


J&L sells Kent liquid calcium, but pricey compared to bulk.

I picked up a 50lb sack of Dow Chemical Calcium Chloride Flakes for about $45 3 or so years ago - you can use it as an ice melt for your slippery sidewalks in the winter too! They sell it in smaller buckets.

Imperial Paddock Pools, 3795 William St. 604.291.7771

You can try dehumidifer salts if you can find them from Rona or Home Depot. It should be 100% Calcium Chloride.

I use a ratio of about 3:1 Calcium/Magnesium. You could use Calcium Sulphate too, but it's not as water soluable and I find it messier to use.


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

Thanks for the tips!


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

is aragonite substrate + cichlid salts that have calcium enough?
what about those little white blocks at the store meant for hermit crab tanks to strengthen their shells? same stuff?


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

hgi said:


> This is a very interesting read, I plan on getting my little snail farm up very soon and didn't know about the crush coral and calcium deal.... Now I'm just kicking myself in the but for tossing my 5lb bag of crushed coral in the trash last week when I cleaned up my fish room... DOH!


You may not need it if your local water supply has a high and stable pH level. Don't know about Nanaimo. Snail shells in soft water tend to be a little duller and scratchy looking. In harder water with higher pH they should be bright and smooth. My ramshorns have a deeper red colour.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

Mferko said:


> is aragonite substrate + cichlid salts that have calcium enough?
> what about those little white blocks at the store meant for hermit crab tanks to strengthen their shells? same stuff?


It should be more than enough - maybe even too much. I find that my snails breed better outside my African tanks. I dunno about those white blocks, I'm guessing they're a form of calcium sulphate(gypsum) or calcium carbonate.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

i noticed a little explosion of them in my shellie tank, i dont keep it as hard as my main tank


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

OK, I guess I better add some crushed coral to all my tanks then as I have shrimps, cray and snails almost everywhere. As I can't overdose it and it won't harm anybody, I better do it tomorrow. So no dosing on that, just put a bag in the filter and that's it I guess.
Equilibrium is plenty for the money, it goes very slow and I got it for $11 from J&L. It has a lot more minerals than just the calcium and plants love that. So I will go on with it and just add some coral. Hoping that will make everybody happy.
No eggs in my snail tank yet, but they eat a lot and the water gets cloudy even with the strong filter I am using there. I guess water changes 2 times a week...


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## hgi (Jun 13, 2010)

hp10BII said:


> You may not need it if your local water supply has a high and stable pH level. Don't know about Nanaimo. Snail shells in soft water tend to be a little duller and scratchy looking. In harder water with higher pH they should be bright and smooth. My ramshorns have a deeper red colour.


No, Nanaimo has pretty soft water.. all my tanks are in the low 6ish for pH


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

OK, I have a bunch of eggs, looks like it was the ramshorn  I am off to IPU to get some crushed corals and keep my fingers everything will go well with the babies.
The tank is not heated, so it seems the food is the most important thing for them to lay eggs.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

Just letting you know that crushed coral isn't the solution if you want a stable GH (includes calcium). You want to keep your GH at around 5 degrees, or 90 ppm (what kits measure in) if you keep a community tank. It'll help your invertebrates live, and make your fishies much more happy. Equilibrium, Barr's booster, grumpy's booster are among a few mixes easily found, with equilibrium being the most easiest. they are all very similar in make up, all cloud the water when added.

the simplest calcium test, squish a pond snail, if it just squishes, not enough, if its hard, and almost sharp when it squishes, you are doing fine 

I used crushed coral for years, it mostly boosts PH and a bit of KH, almost no GH unless you got something in your tank buffering your ph lower (like acidic substrate or co2). When i stopped the CO2, my KH and GH started to crash, and fish started to stress and lose colour. Most people with great success at crushed coral already had sufficient GH from their water source, whereas here, we have practically R.O. water. Its great in a way that we can control exactly how we want our water.

For metricide only planted tanks, non planted tanks its not recommended. You can keep a small mesh bag in your filter as a Fail safe, as it'll likely keep your KH high enough to counter the effects of nitrate build up causing a PH crash from lack of water changes, but to rely on it is border line irresponsible


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Thanks so much neven, this is what I've been told in IPU this morning, no need of crushed corals, I might use a calcium supplement (turtle blocks, etc.), but they had none. They tested the water and it it was fine, so it seems equiliubrium is doing its job. BUT, yesterday I wanted to move one more pond snail in the breeder tank and a piece broke from the shell without me even squizing it  So, I obviously lack calcium, but KH and GH are fine. I may use some more Eq. from now on and test for KH and GH more often.
Will see what will happen with the eggs when they hatch. Brandy from IPU said my cories and teteras may eat the babies.


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## user_error (Aug 15, 2010)

i've noticed that myself my snails don't have strong enough shells

now just need to find the cheapest bulk source as i tend to overstock my tanks and do frequent water changes to compensate...


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