snails

[Kyle]

what do i feed a snail?

[dramaqueen]

Ask Lupin. He's the snail expert around here. :)

[Calmwaters]

Alge wafers is what I give mine plus they eat any flakes my corys miss.

[ChristinaRoss]

mine eat leftover fishfood

[kelly528]

Bettas seem to like stealing algae wafers (plus algae wafers are a bit expensive for a snail imo!) Here's what I do:

-Save leftover lettuce, eg old stuff or the outer leaves that you don't eat
-Throw it all into a bag in your freezer
-Within about an hour it will be frozen
-When you take it out and thaw it, it becomes quite wilty (the ice crystals in the plant cells actually rip the cells apart as they form)
-Secure it to the bottom using whatever: a sinking veggie clip, a rock, it's up to you.

You can do this with pretty much any leafy green (I love spinach-- Lots of calcium for their shells) or even little cubes of zucchini, etc.

[AlexXx]

Kelly, the bettas dont go after it?

[5green]

and wont that make the water dirty

[ThePearlFish]

I put 1/2 of a hikari algae wafer RIGHT in front of my snail and he grabs onto it and munches it up. that way the others don't get it and spread it everywhere to get the tank messy. he also helps my corycats clean up watever food is missed from all the fish and I also am going to start supplementing his diet with snail jello with calcium in it for his shell health. (it helps when you have a ton of extra calcium from having reptiles ;) ).

~TPF

[kelly528]

Originally Posted by AlexXx

Kelly, the bettas dont go after it?

Well I have seen my gouramis swimming around with suspiciously green poo after putting in in their tank, but bettas are strictly carnivorous (except for peas!) and won't bother with it.

Originally Posted by 5green

and wont that make the water dirty

Not if you don't overfeed. I find algae wafers worse because when they get waterlogged and disintegrate they just sort of melt down into the gravel where the snails can't get them. Spinach, lettuce, etc will stay intact for about 24 hours in tankwater.