Algae waffers

Jazander

Hello again,

So I just got back from the pet store where I puchased some algae waffers for my balloon mollies. In my excitment to feed them to them I just kind plopped one in. Then thought it looked like alot of food to give them in just one feeding. Should I be breaking them up next time? They have made a mess of it All over the bottom of my tank. I just added a snail as well, so maybe he will clean some of it up?

DKRST

Welcome to the forum! Speaking from experience: if you have snails and overfeed, you'll have lot's more snails soon!! Seriously though, you don't want to overfeed, it can hurt your water quality quickly. That's particularly true in a new tank.

Jazander

So one algea waffer for 3 mollies is too much then? I thought one snail would just stay one snail?!

Boredomb

That depends on the type of snail. I Think anyways. I had one bladder snail that I noticed at the beginning and now there are tons. (also don't overfeed so I don't know those little guys are feeding off of) I also only had one ramshorn snail that is currently MIA but it just stayed at one.

alidawn15

Did you purchase the snail or did it come in on a plant?

DKRST

Assuming you have a new tank setup(?), I'd personally recommend some flake food at least temporarily. Not because it's better, but it's easier to add a few flakes, let the fish eat, add a few more, etc. and not overfeed. You should always leave them a little less than completely full of food.

The algae wafers are just harder to adjust the quantity since they often need to soften before they can be consumed. Harder to get the feeding level just right. More food=poor water quality and possibly stressed fish.

SinCrisis

it is totally dependent on type of snail. Apple snails found in the stores will not breed alone, but you may have purchased a pregnant one. They can hold eggs for a while. The eggs would be laid at the waterline to stay moist, if you dont want more snails, scrape off the eggs or push them into the water. Many snails found on plants that are small and hitchhike into your tanks are differnt, some will breed on their own, IME, pond snails will breed with themselves and MTS will do so as well. MY ramshorns also breed with themselves but i have heard a lot of reports that many ramshorns cannot breed alone so that one just depends on what kind you have. All of the snails will feed on extra algae wafers, i feed my fish algae wafers and the portions are always too big, i just leave it for my MTS to clean up. I also have around 50 mts snails, all from 1 snail a couple years ago. As long as you are not making food too easily accessible, they will control their own population.

Boredomb

Those snails came with my plants. LoL

eileen

Back to the algae tablet. I break mine in a tiny piece these tablets expand a great deal.I would only feed these every few days. I mix it up so they do not get the same food all the time, dried brine shrimp, dried bloodworms, tropical fish flakes or you can make up your own mix like I do and mix differant flake food together with the above freeze dried stuff. TetraAlgae Vegetable enhanced crisps,TetraVeggie Flakes, TetraVeggie Wafers extreme are also good. The Hikari Algae wafers are sort of big in the bag. Just break off a small piece to feed your fish.

I buy alot of my fish stuff at www.fostersmithaquatics.com as they have good prices on stuff over the aquarium stores. I just order my filters and other stuff to save money on shipping. They carry their own brand of stuff like Neutralize,Colonize,Stabilize that is the same as more expensive brands.I buy the big bottle of Neutralize to conditon tap water. If you have not heard of this foster smith
aquatics. I recommend it. I bought my bio hang on back filter from them their brand really cheap and they have filter pads their brand for a reallty good price also. Sorry to get off the subject of the algae tablets.

sik80

depends what size algae wafer it is. Mine are about 2cm across and I only ever feed a fraction of one to my community tank as they seem huge.

As already pointed out a varied diet is important. Don't rely on one type of food. I have 5 different dried foods plus frozen and occasional live