I have a ten gallon, I can't seem to keep snails in there, my tank is 75 degrees, lost count how many I have lost, my ammonia was up to 0.8 at one time, its now currently down to 0.2. I read some wheres that they don't like salt, so I stopped adding salt to my aquarium, also any suggestions on how to feed them? maybe there going hungry, I have two red cap orandas in there and they grab any food that drops in there, I have a heater and a bubbler in there as well and I don't fill up the water to the very top, thinking maybe they needed some room above the water line. any suggestions would be helpful, just bought two more tonight , just hope they survive.
thanks

What type of snails are they?

Snails eat all types of different foods. I give mine cucumber, algae pellets, turtle pellets, weekend feeders, lettece and some gel food that I give my goldfish.

The salt may be the reason why they are dying, so stopping that will help.

snails are sketchy with ammonia as well... by any chance would you put those 2 new snails in a bowl until teh tank cycles.... the snials may die in a cycling tank with ph swings and such

feeding them just like selena said.. you can weigh down lettuce with rocks, gravel or a food clip and let them munch on it

Snails are all about perfect water params-if your water's bad--your snails will be trying to climb out ,or just plain die off. You can feed them all sorts of veggies-zucchinnii-cucumber-lettuce-tomato-grapes-etc.to name a few..Do you test your water params?

I have two golden apple snails like the one someone pictured, and a blue one, am so addicted to them but would like to keep them alive, how long would they live in a bowl? and would they be able to climb out? I don't really see them trying to climb out, they mainly stay around the bottom and once in awhile hide in the castle I have in there, how do I know if there eating, these goldfish gobble everything up they even took the one morsel of food from the snail this morning, I do water changes every other day, am trying to get the ammonia level down further, a pet store told me I am getting false test readings due to the ammo-lock I was using and suggested to stop using it. I thought snails were pretty hardy.
Also, if I had an ammonia problem I would think my fish would show some signs of illness, but they don't they actually competed for peas this morning, I dropped in a couple of shrimp pellets for the snails but as I said am not sure if they are getting any, my goldies can be piggies at times. Is there an ammonia level considered to be safe for snails?? Maybe I should stop buying them for awhile...thanks for your help

Apple snails need aeration in the water and the tempreture has to be 18c+. I keep mine between 18c-24c with a heater and I have a air curtain which I curl into a spiral and place some river rocks on top to hold in place for added aeration. I also have a filter which agitates the surface of the tank to create more aeration as well.

I do regular water changes and siphon the gravel twice a week as snails are just as piggy as the goldfish and poo everyway. I keep my 3 snails with 5 madakas and two danios in a 20ltr tank, which is a bit too small at the moment. I will upgrade to 55 ltr in a couple of months or sooner.

You can keep snails in a bowl, but i would recommend fileteration, aeration and to buy a thermomater to check the water tempreture, and siphon the gravel and do regular water changes.

Here is a pic of my snail tank:



Have you checked out applesnail.net. I learnt alot about snail care there.

I hope I have help

selena is exactly right....

as for aeration snails won't need it.. their siphon can draw air into their lungs from the water surface air....

you could get without using a filter...... just do very regular 100% water changes umm maybe 3 times a week???

Maybe your PH isn't high enough?? snails shells will start to erode in water with Ph lower than say, 7.3 PH. try adding a little liquid calcium or crushed corral to help with calcium/PH issues.

I had 3 snails in my established 55 and they all died - not at one time, but in a few months time. I honestly think they staves to death - they would never eat anything I put in their for them. I even tried taking them out and feeding them....not luck, I won't buy any more.

Lachfa: Awwwww, that's so sad How long did you have the snails for? Maybe they were a bit unwell when you bought them. Healthy snalis always have a healthy appetite. It's very hard to tell when snails are a bit under the weather when you first buy them

I had them for several months. I thought they were all dead one day and pulled them out and put them in a bowl - one was dead, 2 were not doing well but came around. One died a few weeks later and the 3rd just last week.

I love my snails, nearly as much as my goldfish. I would be so sad if any of my babies passed away

my ph is 8.0. Is liquid calcium ok for goldfish, I wish my goldfish would let the snails eat, how can I get around this, I have even dropped sinking shrimp pellets, the goldfish dart for them real fast..can u help??the problem I might possably see is that they don't eat with the goldfish around, am trying to come up with a strategy so they can eat, I did drop a pellet next to one the other day, some how the fish didn't see but I didn't stay around long enough to see if the snail consumed it, my fish will take the food right from the snail, why cappy was poking at my one snail tonight terrible, the poor thing couldn't get far enough into his shell, I do have a bubbler, heater at 75 and a filter..I did go to applesnail.net, it was very helpful, but I couldn't find how to get the snails to eat..
thanks

Maybe seperate the snails for feeding time. Put them in a bowl 3-4 inches of water and put food in there. You can leave them there for about an hour or so. That way you can tell if they have eaten or not.

I heard that maybe switching the light off and then dropping the pellets in will help stop the goldfish from consuming the food before the snails

I will certainly give this a try, thanks so much, I will keep u posted, I don't want to lose anymore, they are so cool looking, yesterday one was just sitting there but he had this tube type thing sticking out, the rest of him was in his shell, do you know what that could have been??

his breathing siphon....they use it to take in oxygen from the air

Hamstaman is right. The snails look so cool when they strecth out their siphon. I have a bubble wand that I shape into a spiral and hold it down with some river rocks. One particular snail will crawl in amongst the bubbles and strech his whole body up wards with his siphon strecthed right up. Every time I go to grab the camera he stops . If I ever get a photo of this, it's going to look so cool!! B)

the liquid calcium won't hurt your fish, don't worry. have you tried putting a cooked cucumber slice for your snails? the fish won't be able to get anything exept the seeds off of that!

just thought of something, if my ph is 8 do I still need the liquid calcium?

If you feed your snails a high calcium diet and ensure your ph range stays at 7.5-8 than I dont think you would need liquid calcium. I read somewhere that a high calcium diet is more effective than just adding liquid calcium becuase the snails absorb calcium better through food rather than the water.

love that picture of your snails selena! I read somewheres that oranges have a high calcium rate, the fishies like oranges too, but how long should I keep the orange in the tank, I was thinking on trying just putting an orange wedge in there, or should I remove the skin?
thanks

remove the skin and put it in your tank.

but be warned...

Oranges are very acidic so they may make you Ph fluctuate. It's also going to make your tank relaly messy when your fish goes through it and spits out all the pulp. But don't let this discourage you, its a great food.... I suggest when you feed the snail a large wedge feed your fish at the same time ropping little peices of oranges into the tank, this way you fish get distracted from the other orange meant for the snails and it allows the snails to get a bite to eat without being tormented or thrown off.

Here is a link to a great website that includes snail care and the calcium content of food:

Snail care & food

I feed my snails this brand of turtle pellets:



"Rich in calcium and vitamin D3, Nutrafin Turtle Gammarus Pellets are an excellent meal for your pet turtle. These medium size floating pellets can be fed to many reptiles and amphibians. Gammarus is a calcium rich ingredient which aids in the growth of a strong and healthy shell. Gammarus is enriched with other vitamins and minerals to ensure the highest quality and effective supplement for your turtle"

Since feeding my snails these pellets plus vegies that have grown bigger and their shells are looking really good. I cant get liquid calcium so put a couple of little bit of cuttle bone in the filter. You can get cuttle bone in the bird section of the pet shop or supermarket

great idea, never thought of turtle pellets, thats make perfect sense since turtles need high calcium food for there shells
will give it a try
thanks

Ive tried to use turtle food (I have 2, so I had it already) but my fish ate it. Will it do anything to the fish? I even tried to feed the fish and slip the snails the turtle food but my fish knew there was more food in there and took it away from the snails <_<

I dont think turtle pellets will harm your fish, but I would suggest maybe seperating the snails to feed them. If your fish consuming large amounts of turtle pellets I dont know what the effects may be.

I keep my snails with medakas & a couple of danios so my snails dont have to compete with greedy GF

last night after I turned out the light, I threw in some algae wafers, my oranda found one hehe, but I didn't see him go for the other I threw in there, I broke the wafers in half and dumped them in, can snails eat hard stuff? was just wondering if they need there food soaked too, so anyways I am hoping that the snails got the rest of them, I don't really want them to go hungry

I dont soak my algae pellets because they sink pretty good. By the time the snails reach them, the pellets would have softened up. I soak the turtle pellets becuase they float.