New Addition to My Tank

[Viper]

My friend gave me two black mystery snails (I think) and they are happily exploring their new world:

 

[Aquarium1]

They look awesome

 

[dkpate]

Yep, definitley mysteries! Their shells could use a little work though. Try grinding up some cuttle bone and sprinkling it in the tank or filter. I know mine looked 100 times better after I started doing that. How big are they now? Mine were about the size of fireball candy when I got them on the 26th of Dec., and now the one left is the size of a golfball.
Congrats on your new guys! They poo alot!

 

[Etunes]

There lovin that driftwood.

 

[Viper]

Yep, definitley mysteries! Their shells could use a little work though. Try grinding up some cuttle bone and sprinkling it in the tank or filter. I know mine looked 100 times better after I started doing that. How big are they now? Mine were about the size of fireball candy when I got them on the 26th of Dec., and now the one left is the size of a golfball.
Congrats on your new guys! They poo alot!

Yeah their shells could use a little work. Thats how they were given to me. Will the cuttle bone mess with the pH at all? Just curious because I actually have some cuttle bone for my turtle.

 

[Viper]

There lovin that driftwood.

About stinkin' time someone in my tank appreciated it! lol. I bought it for my pleco's to rasp on a while ago but they never seemed to take to it...

 

[dkpate]

I put the cuttle in my tank, and I have never had a change in my pH. The snails eat it, so I don't believe it's in there long enough to change it. I assumed they were given to you like that, mine were like that too when I got them. I actually had one who's shell stopped growing, but it didn't. And it had this big "V" cut up in front which would never grow in. The cuttle bone does wonders for them though and it doesn't take that long. They seem to grow just like fingernails.
I soak the cuttle for about 3 minutes, and then stick it in a bowl and grind the end off with the end of a wooden or plastic spoon. It put about an 1/8 of a tsp in each tank.

 

[Viper]

I put the cuttle in my tank, and I have never had a change in my pH. The snails eat it, so I don't believe it's in there long enough to change it. I assumed they were given to you like that, mine were like that too when I got them. I actually had one who's shell stopped growing, but it didn't. And it had this big "V" cut up in front which would never grow in. The cuttle bone does wonders for them though and it doesn't take that long. They seem to grow just like fingernails.
I soak the cuttle for about 3 minutes, and then stick it in a bowl and grind the end off with the end of a wooden or plastic spoon. It put about an 1/8 of a tsp in each tank.

So is the cuttle bone in there for them to eat or is it in there to strengthen up their shells? If I grind it up into a powder (which is what I am interpreting here), they are going to have a very tough time eating it

 

[dkpate]

Oh no, grind it up, they will get it, trust me. It is like you taking a calcium supplement.

 

[melosu58]

Very nice.

 

[Viper]

Oh no, grind it up, they will get it, trust me. It is like you taking a calcium supplement.

I tried what you said and kind of sprinkled it into the tank on top of them (they were both hanging out at the top water line) and one of them started making his way immediately down the side of the tank towards it and 10 seconds later, the other one literally just dropped off the side of the tank and hit the bottom and started moving towards it. Hopefully it works as you say it does!

 

[dkpate]

Nice! It should! If you look at my thread, "Snail clumps" you will see what mine looks like now, and her shell wasn't that nice when I got her.

 

[DragonFish71]

+1 for cuttlebone.


I use it for our FW ghost shrimp, RCS, crayfish, and our snails. For our brackish water ghost shrimp in the 80g I use the lobster pellets for hermit crabs, it also contains calcium. I use those because our dragon gobys also need calcium and they love pellets.

 

[dkpate]

Dragon is the one I got my info from, and I will be forever grateful!!!