Mystery Snails!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bubbles0oO]

i am going to be buying 5-6 mystery snails this weekend. i have a 5 gal bucket with mesh secured tightly with paperclips. i will not be doing filtration just 2wice a week water changes, i will seed the water in the bucket with a netful of gravel hanging ion pantyhose (net) oin the water. the water will be filled up 75% of the way. i will feed algea wafers , i am also planning on buying a cup or two of java moss to grow ( i always need it )

heres my question:
1: will this work?
2: should i put a bubbler into the bucket for air flow?
3: i know snails in general need to have a scource of calcium, how would i do this.
4: anything else you can think of that they need?
5: should i use the 10 g i have? i would buy a filter ( when i can get the money)
so exited lol been planing on this for awhile

[siva]

1. I don't know. Mystery snails create a lot of waste.

2. Yes.

3. Cuttlebone

4. Lots of food. Full grown mystery snails have big appetites.

5. Yes. Much better idea. Especially if you want them to reproduce for you.

[Bubbles0oO]

1: i guess ill have to see

2: done

3: what is cuttle bone and is it cheap? lol

4: ok

5: i would but i dont have any room for the 10 g i am gonna keep the 5 gal bucket on my desk with a light on it.

6: is it bad that i just set it up? ( i just went and got the bucket cleaned the bucket, filled it with my aquarium water, put it in place added a small amount of moss, and the bubbler held down by a rock, with the lid secured? will all the good bactiria in the water live?

7: will they reproduce in the bucket???? why do you say the 10 g? ( besides its bigger)

[siva]

3. It's actually the internal structure of a cuttle fish. They are sold with the bird supplies. Birds use them to sharpen their beaks. You shouldn't need to pay more than $1 for one cuttlebone. What I typically do is break it up and bury some pieces in the substrate. Leave some sticking out a bit and they'll feed on it some.

6. Bacteria won't live w/o an ammo source. You can dose pure ammo.

7. I don't think there is going to be a good place in the bucket that stays moist enough for their egg sacks. It may work with a tight fitting lid. You may want to develop a plan for removing their egg sacks to a better place for hatching.

8. The main problem with this bucket idea is the filtration. I would attach that airline to a sponge filter instead of an airstone, and cycle it before adding the snails. They aren't great candidates for a fish in(or in this case snail in) cycle. I don't think the media in pantyhose and airstone is going to be quite good enough for a group of mystery snails. Not sure if you've kept these guys before, but they poop a lot.

[Boogety48]

3. cuttlebone is something you can get in the bird section of pet stores
Penn-Plax® 2-in-1 Mineral Block and Cuttlebone - Health Care - Bird - PetSmart
You could also use shells and egg shells. I have those broken up and dropped in my tank.

[Bubbles0oO]

i have 1 mytery snail in my larger tank, idk how much he poos lol. the spray from the bubbller makes the sides of the bucket collec droplets of water is that ok for the eggs? i will get some cuttlebone , and i filled it with water from my other already running tank, should i put a few pond snails in there to keep it cycled? or mabe even the fry i have it could help them grow with all that room

edit: would i put the whole thing of cuttle bone in?!?! they look quite large, would i break off a portion???

[siva]

Hmm..well it needs to be moist and humid but not real wet. Adding water from the other tank doesn't make it instantly cycled. There isn't much BB in the actual water. Sure, you could add some pond snails and try to cycle it. Hopefully you have a test kit and can make sure it is actually cycled when you add the snails and/or test often once you add the snails.

Yeah, just break off a couple chunks. It's easier if you peel off the hard backing. I usually chip away at it with a butter knife.

[Bubbles0oO]

how would i make it moist and humid? ( what is BB lol) and i just tested it the only thing off is the ph lvl

[Donkey Gun]

BB - Beneficial Bacteria

Is this for breeding mystery snails?

[Bubbles0oO]

id like it to be, i just had an emergency and am more open to setting upi the 10 g right now, my momma guppy just gave me 20 fry 17 of them were eaten and now i want a fry grow out tank. i have everythign exept the snails and the filter for the 10g

[siva]

You could do the fry and snails together.

To make the area above the water line stay moist and humid, you'd need a fairly tight fitting lid.

How is the pH off?

[Bubbles0oO]

the lid i have is a mesh sort of thing

and im still confused on that ......

[siva]

The mesh lid won't keep it moist enough, but in this bucket set up I really think you might want to have a seperate container to remove the egg sacks to.

lol Well what exactly is the pH?

[Bubbles0oO]

the strip reads out as acidic at 6.3

what would you reccomend for the lid then? and how would i remove and hatch the egg sacks? this is getting a little more complicated than i wanted, should i just make a sponge filter for my 10 g, what would you reccomend for a lidding?

[siva]

That's not gonna work for mystery snails. You need a liquid test kit to determine if that's even accurate. I would highly recommend you invest in one before investing in the snails.

I do think you'd have much better success in a filtered 10 gal. Any regular lid should work. Have you ever checked out applesnail.net? Really good info there on breeding them. Check it out.

[Bubbles0oO]

ok, well i have a liquid test kit, ill be making a sponge filter this weekend, and ill look into getting a lid for it. so just a regular lid? like the one with the fold off acsess thing?

ok so here it goes

i will set up my 10 g with a reg hood and light

i will have a sponge filter

i will have the water down so that 60% is water

i will have a cup or two of Java Moss

some fry

5-6 mystery snails

will test with my liquid test kit

do i need anythign else?