Baby Ramshorn Shell Questions - Shrimp & other Invertebrates

LVKSPlantlady · 10-15-2009, 12:20 PM

OK 1st off, SO SORRY if this question has been asked before, but I looked at 37 pages of "omg snail prolems" and " whats wrong with my shrimp"! Does NO ONE read the old posts?!

Anyways I thought that I would just write my own thread...

I'm trying to breed some Ramshorn snails for my skunk loaches, who LOVE them...I put about 6 1/4 in ramshorn snails in my 20 long in April! And I'm just now seeing any babies, and maybe it's just been awhile since I have seen any baby RHS and that I don't remember what thier shells look like but these guys don't look not right... thiers shell are layed over and look really thin not like the adults I have where they are up right and NORMAL looking.

Is this just cuz they are babies still? I also have 3 mystery snails in there, they only been in there for 3 weeks and have almost made one new loop around their shells, also the adult RHS I have have made a lot of new very thick and healthy looking shell since i noticed the babies.

Any In put would be nice also my GH is 14 and KH is 8, I put some baked cruched egg shell in about 2 weeks ago.

jamesstill84 · 10-15-2009, 03:35 PM

You should feed them snail jello with a high calcium content. If you overfeed a little, they'll breed faster for you and their shells will be in better shape. I think the shells are leaning over because they're heavier than the snails can really carry. I have some that occasionally do that.

jamesstill84 · 10-15-2009, 03:37 PM

Here's my recipe for snail jello:

Snail Jello Recipe
=====================================

Ingredients:

1 Jar of baby food (veggies or fruits)
1 Calcium supplement (I use Calcium vitamin from local Wal-Mart)
1 Tsp of non-flavored Gelatin
Any fish food you may want to include
Any herbs around your kitchen

Instructions:

1) Crush up all your fish food (algae waffers, shrimp pellets, flake food, etc. (NO frozen or live foods))
3) Crush your herbs really fine (Garlic powder, Basil, Ginger, Parsley, Chili Powder, etc)
2) Crush your Calcium pill (if you're using one)
3) Heat your baby food up in the microwave for about 30 seconds
4) Stir in all your fish foods, calcium, herbs with your baby food
5) Stir in the gelatin (make sure it's mixed in real good so it doesn't clump too much)
6) Place the finished product in the refrigerator to setup

Note: Once the Gelatin sets up and it becomes Jello, it will keep longer if you place it in the freezer.
This is a good amount that should last about a month depending on how often you feed and how many tanks you have setup

You can modify this recipe to fit your needs depending on what you have available.

LVKSPlantlady · 10-15-2009, 04:26 PM

And just put some right in my fish tank, Will the fish eat it too? What if the snails dont eat it?

Will the leaning snails eventuly right themselves?

jamesstill84 · 10-15-2009, 04:29 PM

I would think the snails would eventually be able to hold their shells up. The fish will eat it too. I feed it to all 12 of my tanks.

If they don't eat it fast enough, just suck it out with your gravel vac or scoop it out with a net.

Gordonrichards · 10-16-2009, 09:43 PM

Dude, you need to feed them some pellets if you want tons of them. Go grab some crab cuisine by hikari, or any other type of sinking pellet. Even shrimp pellets. Feed them and you'll have a tank full of babies.

LVKSPlantlady · 10-17-2009, 09:57 AM

Man I tried the shrimp pellets, they did not eat them! The Mystery snails love them but the ramshorms could care less! Maybe I got a bad brand cuz I'll put a few and if it sets in one spot for too long it will grow a nasty white film all over that area... Think I was over feeding, I dont give them as many now

The lazy snails are getting bigger, they look like land snails, lol, I think they will right themselves, It does not look as bad now that they are bigger... Just since I posted this I've noticed a 3 fold increses in egg cluches! Even though I have not given them the snail jello yet, have not been to the store...

Could these lazy snails be due to the temp? Cuz I dont have a heater on this tank, I'm going to pick up a few today. It's getting chilly in KS!

tranr · 10-23-2009, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LVKSPlantlady

Man I tried the shrimp pellets, they did not eat them! The Mystery snails love them but the ramshorms could care less! Maybe I got a bad brand cuz I'll put a few and if it sets in one spot for too long it will grow a nasty white film all over that area... Think I was over feeding, I dont give them as many now

Could these lazy snails be due to the temp? Cuz I dont have a heater on this tank, I'm going to pick up a few today. It's getting chilly in KS!

I have many ramshorn snails and have NOT had any trouble with them breeding - in fact, I have too many egg sacs all over the place in my shrimp tank (where I keep the ramshorns around to eat the leftover food). The ones that I have relish New Life Spectrum's H2O wafers, Hikari Algae wafers, as well as the Mosura products.

What is the temperature of your tank (or in KS since you don't have a heater in your tank)? My tanks are at ~76'F and the ramshorns breed prolifically.

LVKSPlantlady · 10-23-2009, 04:45 PM

Well I think I found out why I had no Egg sacks for so long, I saw my kribis eating them, I watched him on and off for 8 hours the other day, and that's all I saw him doing, but since I now have almost 10 dime sized adults, before I only had 3 or 4 smaller than dime ones, he can not keep up...Plus now the lazy snails are laying eggs too, I've been seeing a lot of 4 to 10 egg egg sacks.

I'm getting ready to make the Jello now...

I did get a heater the tank is now at 76, where as before I got it I think it was in the upper 60's like 67 F 68F... It got cold here last weekend and there must have been a rush on aquarium heaters at wal-mart cuz I got the last two on the shelf!

LVKSPlantlady · 10-23-2009, 04:47 PM

oh crap I forgot about the Ca supplement! Guess snail jello will have to wait...