Part 9: What I learned

What I learned!

             I learned a lot from my experience with raising the babies. First lets go through what I learned about feeding, housing, and keeping them healthy. Then in the next section I will describe how to tell what color they are or will be and at what age you can definitely determine this.

1.First I learned that you REALLY need to have a smaller tank. Recently I bought a 1.5 gallon to start the little ones off in. I placed sand instead of gravel and chose a lighter grey color so as to be able to spot the little ones easily. This works better as you can keep track of them easier, the tank is easier to clean, and they are easier to feed.

Here I attempted to keep newly hatched babies in a jar. This didn't work at all, even with my constant water changes and rinsing, as you can see, the water just wouldn't stay clean. They definitely need some sort of filtration.

This is the 1.5 gallon set up I have now, with light grey sand (looks white under the light) , a small tetra 3i whisper filter attached to an air pump, and I feed them with flakes of fish food.

2. I learned about feeding. I have tried several different types of foods and have found that regular flake fish food works best. It breaks up into different size pieces, is easy to spread across all corners of the tank, (babies often starve because they can't find food, keep in mind that one inch is as a mile is to us for these little guys), it doesn't cloud the tank, and the babies can readily feed at their leisure. Also its bright colors make it easy to see when more is needed. After the little ones get older you can vary their diet with algae wafers, sinking shrimp pellets, bloodworms (frozen is best, snails aren't exactly quick to the catch), brine shrimp, blanched veggies, (don't use canned unless you rinse them and soak them over night and rinse again, too much salt in canned veggies). If you try raw veggies you will find that they tend to float, so it doesn't work very well. I blanch a whole bunch of veggies and then put them in the freezer. Then all I have to do is pop one off and drop it into the tank, they thaw quickly and sink to the bottom.

3. Cleaning the tank. In a small tank like a 1 or 2 gallon I simply take a plastic spoon and stir or wave all the left over food stuffs toward the filter. I do this several times a day for one day, then again about 3 days later. This way the babies aren't buried like when I vacuum and the current from the filter isn't strong enough to suck them up. Even though they do end up getting rolled around a little bit, they aren't nearly as disturbed as with vacuuming.

4. Growing them at cooler temperatures as I later found out after some research apparently tends to make more vibrant colors. Although I prefer starting them off at warmer temperatures, around 70 degrees, for the first two or three weeks because then they grow faster. Then lowering the temperature to anywhere from 65 to 68 degrees. Usually after I move them to a bigger tank.

5. It is a good idea to take a little tank and spend 2 to 4 weeks preparing the tank. Basically growing algae. Set up your tank (empty with no fish or other critters) and set it somewhere with direct sunlight during the day. Let algae grow. A nice build up will ensure that the babies will have plenty to eat for at least a week if not two, depending on how many babies you have. You probably won't even need to feed them at all. It is really a good idea to prepare a second tank while the first is occupied. Then when the babies are about three weeks old and large enough to place in a bigger tank, you can put any new batches in the newly prepared tank. Then clean, and prepare the first tank for the next batch of babies, and then do it again and so on and so on.

6. Use sand instead of gravel for the babies. Sand is lighter so even if a few get inadvertently buried they can usually crawl their way out. When they are transferred to a larger tank you can use regular gravel. Just make sure you help out any little ones that get buried when you vacuum the gravel.

7. And last but not least, after you have determined the color, (which I will go over in the next section), GET RID OF THEM! lol At least give away or sell most of them. Either that or get several more tanks with no more than 20 per tank, even a large tank like a 55 gallon. Or else they will destroy your tank. There is just no way to keep your tank clean or feed them enough. They ate up most of my plants because I simply couldn't keep enough food. Normally they do not touch plants at all, but they simply couldn't get enough to eat. When they are hungry enough, they will eat plants. I ended up vacuuming and doing water changes every other day, and I still couldn't keep it clean. After the babies are a month old you should be able to determine, (with a little experience, and help from research) exactly what color they will be, and this is the time you will want to find them homes. Go to a small local pet store and ask them if they will take some. They will usually only take 20 or less. Often in exchange for store credit. Don't bother trying large pet stores, like Petco, or Petsmart. They only buy from their own "guaranteed" suppliers. Or, go online and either give them away in batches of 5 or more or sell them. When I post on craigslist, they are all gone in one day. 

As you can see by all the filth and not so clear water, it was VERY difficult to keep this tank clean.  I should have never let them grow this large, not with so many, but this was my first time. Lesson learned.

          Now on to the next section. Color identification of your baby snails!

Next Page: Part 10: Baby Snail Color Identification