I have a 20g with enough plants that I have to trim 1/3 of the plants out of the tank every 3 or 4 weeks. There is also a big population of ramshorn and pond snails, 2 large Black Mystery snails, and 1 lone Betta. My wife loves the snails and insists that they be fed. To maintain the snail population do they need to be fed? If so, what should the snails be fed?
Snails don't need to be fed, but as long as it doesn't effect your water quality (and it probably won't) you could put a slice of cucumber or a sinking algae wafer once a week. The more you feed them, the more you'll have ;-):lol:
I have a 10 gallon snail tank where I raise ramshorn and pond snails for my puffer fish. I feed them lettuce and a lil tiny bit of fish food every once in awhile. I had the algae wafers that I tried, but i don't like the way it does in my water.
Under normal circumstances I agree that snails generally don't need to be fed. However, there really ought not be much leftover food in a tank that has one betta in it. I read how most of the betta people feed one pellet at a time, so I fail to see how the larger mystery snails are going to get enough to eat.
I would most certainly feed your snails. I would put a large pellet/wafer in there too big for the betta to eat - the snails will pile on and consume it. Do you need to feed them every day? Probably not, but I do think it would be a good idea to feed them.
Now, since the OP has large populations of pest snails, it's clear that they are getting enough to eat....but I am concerned about the mystery snails getting their share.
You bring up a good point. Many snails do like lettuce, the the other poster mentioned. I'm not sure what mystery snails like. I too had a puffer and raised pest snails, and I had no substrate in their tank, and just sprinkled fish food in the tank every so often.
Gwen
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