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Post by seastar on Jun 11, 2018 22:16:55 GMT
Hi everyone, Last Saturday, I've seen a friend for the first time in years! We had a little bit of time to exchange our emails and talk a bit. I've discovered that she has snails too, but aquatic ones! She wrote me an email a bit earlier to answer to a few questions I asked her. She took the opportunity to suggest me to adopt a few aquatic snails! Before agreeing, my mother wants some information on them, and I asked my friend for some pictures. If I get some pics, I'll share them here to get the snailies identified. Hope they're local (I'm Canadian)! But before specific care, does anyone have some general aquatic snails advice please? It would be very bad if I can't take care of them! Thank you in advance! seastar
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Post by seastar on Jun 12, 2018 13:22:22 GMT
Actually, my friend sent me some information on them, she said they were Physa fontinalis (common bladder snails). THEY'RE SO CUTE!!!!!! If someone has some info on them, it would be nice to post it here please. Thank you!
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Post by Liguus on Jun 12, 2018 14:23:16 GMT
Bladder snails are extremely easy to keep. When I worked in a greenhouse we had some containers of aquatic plants (flooded metal greenhouse tables and plastic tubs) and bladder snails somehow got introduced into them and started to multiply. All they had was the algae that would grow in the water, which just got refilled with tap water while we watered the greenhouse. When you keep them as pets you can obviously use better water, with conditioner in it , some calcium supplementation into the water either through liquid drops from the poetaster or maybe even just dissolve a bit of limestone flour in the water, and feed them algae wafers/fish flakes. For the most part they would be fine even in a small container just eating the algae that grows in it.
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Post by seastar on Jun 12, 2018 14:45:24 GMT
Thanks for the info! My friend had these snails by accident too, she bought a plant and the snails were on it (somehow). I really hope my parents will accept!
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Post by seastar on Jun 12, 2018 18:03:00 GMT
Hi again,
Now, I'll go to the specific questions:
-What size should the tank have? If my parents accept, I'd like around 3 snails. -Can you handle aquatic snails? If you can, how? -How often do you need to change water? If you don't need to, do you need a machine to filter water? -If my parents accept that I get aquatic snails and they get eggs, what should I do with them? I don't live close to water AT ALL (unless you count the sink, but it would be inhumane to throw eggs in it). If allowed, how do you ship them? -If they die, how will I know? I don't want to have to take them out to check whether or not they're dead everytime... -Do they need a variated diet like terrestrial snails? If they do, can I just put some kind of veggies in the water and take them out when necessary? -How much food should I put? I've read that I should put just enough food for them to finish it under 3 minutes, but I don't know how much they eat... -Do they need a real, living algae? What kind of decorations do they need? -How will I know they're happy? The last thing I want is that my (possible) aquatic snails are unhappy...
Hope I'm not too annoying with all of my questions, but I want to give as much info to my parents as possible. It'll help them take a real decision!
Thank you so much!
seastar
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Post by Liguus on Jun 13, 2018 1:36:36 GMT
For 3 bladder snails almost any size aquarium would be fine, even a jar. Sort of up to you as to how big of an aquarium you want, ( and if you want a filter of any kind) You can handle them, either underwater or on your hand for short periods. Water change depend on the size of the aquarium. If its small it will need to be more frequent. You don't need a filter but it will help with water quality. I would recommend freezing the eggs. Bladder snails tend to breed A LOT so you will need to do something to get rid of the hatched snails. I have no idea how people ship aquatic snails. They are pretty active so if you see a bladder snail on the bottom of the aquarium for a long time it's probably dead, otherwise they would be on the sides somewhere. A varied diet is good, but they are probably not too much to worry about, and can survive on mostly algae, either the one that will inevitably grow in the aquarium or algae wafers from the store. They would probably eat vegetables that are in the water. They aren't big eaters so not much would be necessary, maybe like 1/2 an algae wafer for the group every few days. They don't need algae, but in a well lit aquarium algae will inevitable start growing on the glass and rocks, etc. and they will eat it. They don't need anything specific in there, you can decorate as you want. If they are moving around and active, then they are probably happy.
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Post by seastar on Jun 13, 2018 2:07:47 GMT
Thank you so much for answering! The idea of freezing the eggs freaks me out, but if there's no other solution, I'll have to... I'll transfer this info to my parents and tell whether or not my parents agree that I get aquatic snails. Once again, thank you @liguus for taking the time to answer!
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Post by seastar on Jun 14, 2018 14:28:15 GMT
I've discussed with my mother, and she thought that if I could get 2 small aquariums with 1 Physa fontinalis and 1 other specie in each, there wouldn't be any egg problems! Is there a specie that can cohabitate with Physa fontinalis? Unless we discover that it's allowed to release eggs in the St-Lawrence river, it's the only solution we could find (away from freezing the eggs, but we'd prefer not having to do this). If there are no egg problems, it'll be easier for my parents to choose, and they seem pretty close to saying yes!
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Post by seastar on Jun 24, 2018 16:41:12 GMT
Hope I'm not too annoying with my 1001 questions! Do you know if Physa fontinalis snails can live in hot waters (between 22°C and 25°C)? It's because my mother and I have found Zebra neritina (I think) for sale at the closest pet shop we know and if they can cohabitate with Physa fontinalis, we might buy some! Edit: just a bit after writing my question, I've discovered that they can tolerate temperatures between 5°C and 30°C!
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Post by littlegoldsnail on Jul 20, 2019 3:01:13 GMT
Hi! Aquatic snails are great! But first you need to read up on the nitrogen cycle. Snails produce waste which produces ammonia that and in an aquarium that ammonia will go into the water column and can kill your snail, that’s why the nitrogen cycle is very important to know about (cycling your tank is getting a colony of bacteria to eat up the ammonia).
I would NOT recommend bladder snails as your first snail, they reproduce A LOT and quickly overstock your tank and increase the bioload by a lot. Their eggs are almost impossible to find and the snails themselves only reach about 1/4 of an inch in length (full sized, that’s a big one). Over all, bladder snails are a bad choice. I would recommend mystery snails or nerites (very easy to care for and make much better pets).
I feed mine blanched vegetables 1-2 times per week, how often you feed depends on how much you feed at one time. A couple cucumber ends will last a couple mystery snails a couple days, then you can wait a few days after the finish and drop of few more in (you don’t want constant food, you will over feed which may cause overpopulation of bad bacteria).
Once you have established your nitrogen cycle you probably want to change 25%-50% of the tank water weekly (I know it sound like a lot, but it’s really not). Once a every couple months take the filter apart and clean the impeller and rinse the filter media (always want dechlorinated water so you don’t kill your good bacteria in the filter media).
I would do a fish less cycle (adding straight ammonia rather than the waste to get your bacteria colony going), it’s much safe for the tank inhabitants.
I would highly recommend Fishlore aquarium fish forum is your planning on aquatic snails, there is a lot of info on there you can get and many very experienced fish and aquatic snail keepers.
Aquatic snails are a true joy and a great experience, I keep many myself and they are a wonderful thing to get into, but just be warned that they are a lot more sensitive then land snails because you have to keep the water chemistry in line so you don’t endanger your little babies.
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Post by littlegoldsnail on Jul 20, 2019 3:13:25 GMT
Also, for a nerite or two you probably only need about 3 gallons of water, for a mystery snails you couple probably keep 2 in a five gallon tank and maybe 4-5 in a 10 gallon, but I wouldn’t do any more then that and you will want to start with just one, then wait a week or so and add a second one and so on. You DO need a filter, I would highly recommend a sponge filter, the are very safe for snails (in regular filters your snail and get stuck in the intake) and provide a good surface for your good bacteria. Sponge filters are powered by and air pump and make bubbles to circulate the water well so you won’t need an aerator.
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Post by littlegoldsnail on Jul 20, 2019 3:15:12 GMT
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Post by littlegoldsnail on Jul 20, 2019 15:41:07 GMT
One thing, if you do ever handle your snails, LEAVE THEM UNDERWATER, though they can come out of water, it is not healthy for them to be out of the water for more then a few seconds and they do not like coming out of the water. Plus, the temperature in your bedroom may not be the same as the the tank water which may cause a temperature shock (snail DO need heaters, my snails usually do best when the tank water is between 75°-80° F).
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