[Graceful]

I only just now read that you should only add a nerite snail to your tank if you have algae growing. There has never been any visible algae on my tank. I have had a nerite for several months and have never fed him. Now I'm worried the little guy is starving! Do I need to feed him? :-(

Since we're on the topic, I have four (not sure!) baby ramshorns that are growing quickly. I assume they are getting enough to eat, as they have doubled in size in just a few months. I'm guessing they don't need any feeding?

 

[LebronTheBetta]

I think they're all just eating all the microscopic detritus or whatnot. But, if you feel they're not eating enough, algae wafers will do.

 

[LittleDeer]

+1 to what LebrontheBetta said

They will eat anything they can scrounge up including fish waste and excess food, and protein film that may build up on the glass or tubing you may have in the tank. But if you are worried, algae wafers should work for them.

 

[AltheaGlyndwr]

Question about the wafers though. How does the snail know where to find them? >.<;; That's what I've been wondering!

 

[LizbethDawn]

Mine seem to find them and I have four that I put in the tank when it had been going for about a week. I use the wafers three days a week and I also sprinkle a little bit of food by the filter out put so it goes pretty much straight to the bottom for the otos and the snails.

 

[Graceful]

Doesn't it just float around?

 

[jadaBlu]

I just bought one and the guy at the pet store said he breaks the algae wafers into smaller pieces so the snail has to hunt for them thus making them more active. (for his own aquarium) He watches to make sure they are consumed within a day or they can cloud the water. In my own experience I have found this to be true. I would just supplement a little bit they are poop factories. I have mine in a bare botteom jar until a new aquarium is set up and I can literally see the food go in and poop come right back out.

 

[shannonpwns]

Doesn't it just float around?

They sink.

http://www.petco.com/product/3984/Hikari-Tropical-Algae-Wafers-for-Plecostomus-And-Algae-Eaters.aspx

 

[LizbethDawn]

I think she might have ment my little pinch of flake that I put under the out put to get pushed down. They float about in the middle for a second so some fish get them but a few hit bottom. I do three algae wafers three times a week for 9 otos an the 4 nerites. The gouramis seem to pick at them too so they are literally gone in 6 hours and all the otos have full little bellies so I assume my algae eating crew is happy.