feeding snails

[prettyvacant]

what is nice to feed snails, besides zucchini?

 

[BASSNMAN]

Snails will eat most veggies, peas, lettuce etc. The primary purpose of having snails is for them to clean up any excess food that goes to the bottom of the tank.

 

[Lance M.]

Those mystery and Ivory snails you have like to eat plants so don't get mad if your plants start to get mowed down. I fed my apple snail lettuce. The mystery snails I used to have liked to eat algae tablets so that might be good, other than that they will eat the stuff that falls to the bottom like Bassnman said.

 

[Corty]

When I was breeding snails, I would feed them flake food that was about to expire, rather than just throw it out. They didn't seem to mind.

 

[prettyvacant]

i feed mine flakes everyday and once a week some zucchini. i was just wondering about other vegetables. Corty, i have been thinking about breeding snails, but i was wondering, what is the most obvious way of telling if the snail is male or female? in my 2 gal, i noticed some patches of eggs ...i think. i read about the snail's eggs on some site, and now im pretty sure its the snail. but my snail is just a baby like 1 cm long. so would i need to put in a male snail ... because these eggs won't just hatch on their own eh lol. so hopefully someone can give me some info on breeding snails.

 

[Psyhampster]

as far as i know, most snails are hermaphrodites, so you only need one.

 

[Lance M.]

Ya Psyhampster is right. Those eggs should just hatch after a while if nothing happens to them.

 

[Corty]

Mystery snails are not hermaphrodites to the best of my knowledge, although it's pretty hard to tell the difference between males & females.

As an afterthought to my previous comment, if you have some Tubifex Worms, they'll be pretty happy to munch some. If you decide you want to breed them, you'll want to get some more.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Mine LOVE lettuce, and just about anything. Algae wafers too.

Gluttons...

 

[Fluff]

.

I have tons of mystery snails. They eat, broccoli, spinach, zucchini, greenbeans, peas, squash, frozen brine shrimp, brussel sprouts, shrimp pellets, algae wafers and of course, flake food. They will eat anything. I had a guppy die in a tank and the snails were consuming that too. They really aren't picky. And Corty is right. Mystery snails are not hermaphrodites. But, the female can hold eggs, I think it's up to two months before laying them so don't be shocked if you have a single snail and all of a sudden find eggs. They lay eggs above the water line. Here is a pic of mystery snail eggs. Also, you should check out applesnail.net. They have tons of info on mystery/apple snails. Feeding, breeding as well as anatomy etc. HTH

 

[prettyvacant]

thanx for the information, Fluff. I have been to that site before because i wanted to find out how to tell if my snail is male or female. but it isnt very easy to tell. like i said before, i found "eggs" in my 2 gal with my baby snail. I find these eggs under the water, on the sides of the tank and on the rocks on the bottom. But they dont seem to look anything like the pic you attached. theyre in little clumps and theyre clear and very tiny. i really dont know what it could be..?
anyways thanx everyone for the food suggestions.
and how would you keep the peas down for the snails to eat?

 

[Devilishturtles]

and how would you keep the peas down for the snails to eat?

Could be difficult, but I would guess tying it off to a rock or something, and then sinking the rock down. The same you have to do with the lettuce, and most other veggies. Have fun tying down a smashed pea though

 

[Fluff]

If you blanch the peas or microwave for a few seconds, they will sink. That's what I do. Then I just squeeze them out of the skins. Also, I forgot to add to the food list that they like some fruit too. Mine are partial to canalope and honeydew melons.

 

[LittlePuff]

You can also feed them Hikari Crab Cuisine. It has extra calcium to harden their shells.


Kim