Grey footed snails

Yesterday my grey footed snails arrived they are beautiful i love them so much, they are living in my fry tank with a yellow apple snail.

Today iv bought some blocks of calcium just wondered if anyone had tried them? it stated that they are safe to use with other fish and last for around 2 weeks.

These are my new snails:
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Apple snail and grey snail
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My apple snail sliding down the airline!
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are they like the vacation feeders? i have used those and now I make my own Plaster of paris pucks too. I have other fish in my snail breeding tanks and have never had a problem! also you can feed them food that is high in calcium like blanched spinach! They will love the variety and it doesnt last too long in any of my tanks!! some fish will eat it too:)

flip wrote: are they like the vacation feeders? i have used those and now I make my own Plaster of paris pucks too. I have other fish in my snail breeding tanks and have never had a problem! also you can feed them food that is high in calcium like blanched spinach! They will love the variety and it doesnt last too long in any of my tanks!! some fish will eat it too:)

Thank you for that im gonna try

you are welcome! other than my boys my snail are my passion! both of my largest tanks are dedicated to them! lol a 55g and 70g, all for snails :D

flip wrote:you are welcome! other than my boys my snail are my passion! both of my largest tanks are dedicated to them! lol a 55g and 70g, all for snails :D

Are they easy to breed or do they need special conditions and foods?

they can be easy to breed but you do have to have a male and a female to get fertile eggs. good food, clean water, and the right temps in the tank and they will be good to go! be warned though each clutch of eggs has one hundred plus eggs, you can cut just a bit of it off to hatch though:) once your new snail gets bigger, if you have a boy and girl they might surprise you with some!!

KH (carbonate hardness) and GH (total dissolved solids) are just as important a factor in fishkeeping as pH, ammonia levels etc. but are far less understood by most people.

I would be worried about having plaster blocks in a tank as they decompose and clog filters, leave mess on the bottom and radically change water chemistry - this is proven by the fact that plaster 'holiday blocks' are rapidly going out of style as outdated technology and bad for your fish. It might be ok for a snail-only tank, but for one with fish I wouldn't recommend it.

Plaster blocks also don't contain much bio-available calcium - basically, having plaster blocks doesn't help snails grow new shell because they can't absorb the form of calcium it contains through digestion, it just raises the amount of dissolved calcium carbonate in the water which helps stop shell erosion as the water doesn't leach as much calcium from the shell.

Freshwater snails only need 1-2% calcium in their diet to maintain healthy shell growth, and this can be given in the form of blanched spinach or greens, cucumber or nori (japanese dried sea algae sheets used for the outer coating of sushi, now available in most supermarkets). If you think the shell isn't growing properly a supplement can be given in the form of liquid calcium from online aquatic shops, or a human calcium supplement pill. Having a huge plaster block in your tank would be overkill.

Another thing you can give them is a little piece of cuttlefish bone weighed down with something - you give this to giant African land snails but it's suitable for aquatic snails too (what with being from an aquatic animal) and the bio-available calcium levels are good.

Thanks Kally

cuttlebone rots in water 90% of the time so just be sure to keep an eye on it! the plaster of paris pucks i make are small , less than an inch in diameter and not to thick and have never fouled the waterin the over a year i have been breeding tham. a lot of us snailers use them. the veggis are the best form of calcium i do agree just make sure they are blanched like i said before so they are soft enough to eat!

Thanks Flip

Welcome Good luck with them!

I gave my snails some home grown lettuce today and i cant believe how fast they've eaten it!
Just some photos of them having a good chomp!

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I love this photo just look at the snails face gorgeous!
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Great pics! They do make quick work of veggies dont they

flip wrote:Great pics! They do make quick work of veggies dont they

Yes and they've eaten all my lovely plants!

oh no! what kind of apples are they? Canas will do that, but diffusa/briggs should only eat decaing ones. MIne dont touch my plants. That really stinks!!

flip wrote:oh no! what kind of apples are they? Canas will do that, but diffusa/briggs should only eat decaing ones. MIne dont touch my plants. That really stinks!!

I know the lady just said they where grey footed apple snails, thats why i got them as my other apple snails dont touch my plants. My java fern on my drift wood has totally gone just stalks now even my water lettuce has gone. so iv just given them some cucumber...they know when i chuck anything in within seconds they are on it!!

But i love them anyway.

How do i get them to breed Flip? Is there anything special they need?

My snails have grown big now and tonight i noticed they have laid eggs!

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These are the snails.
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I love snails. My GALS have just come back from Bournemouth. So this year they have been to Hemsby, Brixham and Bournemouth! The little devils layed a load of eggs just before we went but managed to catch them before they hatched.
I got some very peculiar looking snails in my outside pond. Well not really a pond. I took a load of weed out of my proper pond and then realised I could see baby goldfish so I transferred it to one of those builders red buckets with rope handles. The snails are really funny looking.
There is something in my tropical tank as well They must be tiny water snails, but they look white/ shelled/transparent. Thank God they are not fish lice! I ran upstairs with a magnifying glass to have a better look. As I was looking a baby fish swam past. I thought hang on I dont recognise you? There were about 3 of the little devils. I wish my fish didnt breed so much!