Re: are apple snails fragile?

[Dave M. Picklyk]

I'm going down to the coast to go to a Big Als...they seem to carry them
often. As for crawling out of the aquarium, how sealed does the cover have
to be?---I have just a standard hagen plastic canopy (modified for more
lights) with cutouts for the filter and heater etc. We don't want to find
snails in our kitchen cupboards eating all our cornflakes or anything.

Btw, how fast do they clean up hair/thread algae? The stuff that I had on
the driftwood and a few java ferns is slowly spreading to the new plants.
Can it get too much or too late for pomacea to clean it off?

Thanx!
Dave.

"LeighMo" > wrote in message
...
> >I've tried to get apple snails from every pet store and they all don't
stock
> >any. They all say that these snails are hard to keep, never had success,
and
> >get damaged in shipping.
>
> They can be damaged in shipping, if they are not packed correctly. They
don't
> need to be shipped in water, but you do need to make sure they don't
rattle
> around too much. If allowed to bounce around too much, they'll hit each
> other's shells and crack them. I mail mine in small boxes, wrapped in
damp
> newspaper. The only problem is in the summer -- sometimes, if it's very
hot
> (over 90F), the poor snails cook. Short periods of cold temps don't
bother
> them, as long as they don't actually freeze. They can survive for weeks
at
> temps just above freezing (though they will of course not be very active).
>
> Other than that, they are very hardy critters -- so much so that in
tropical
> areas, they've grown wild and become a pest.
>
> >How fragile are these snails? How easy are they to keep? Any water
> >conditions that adversely affect them?
>
> They are as easy to keep as any snail. They don't like soft, acidic
water;
> like most snails, they need neutral to hard water, in order to build their
> shells (and keep them from dissolving.) And they can't be kept with fish
that
> will bother them, such as clown loaches. Even a small loach can pester an
> apple snail to death. And they should be kept in covered tanks;
otherwise,
> they may climb out of the tank and fall. (One of mine did, and was fine;
I
> picked him up and put him back in the tank the next day, when I found him.
But
> he could have cracked his shell.)
>
> I don't know why your local stores would think these critters are
difficult to
> keep. All the stores around here have them, including the giant chains
like
> PetCo.
>
>
> Leigh
>
> http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

[LeighMo]

>As for crawling out of the aquarium, how sealed does the cover have
>to be?---I have just a standard hagen plastic canopy (modified for more
>lights) with cutouts for the filter and heater etc. We don't want to find
>snails in our kitchen cupboards eating all our cornflakes or anything.

LOL! That's not likely. If they get out, you're likely to find them crawling
on the floor, likely along a baseboard. They won't get far, being snails.

It doesn't have to be sealed that tight. Just tight enough so that the adult
snail (which is about the size of a brussel sprout) can't easily get out. The
one time I had one escape, I had too big a gap around the filter tubing. It
had crawled up the tubing, right out of the tank. I made the gap smaller, and
haven't had a problem since. (IME, juvenile snails don't try to climb out. I
think it's the females looking for someplace to lay their eggs that climb out.
They need to lay their eggs above the waterline -- which, in a fishtank, is
often on the underside of the hood.)

>Btw, how fast do they clean up hair/thread algae? The stuff that I had on
>the driftwood and a few java ferns is slowly spreading to the new plants.
>Can it get too much or too late for pomacea to clean it off?

IME, no. The kind of algae that grows in the glass, and black brush algae get
tough and unpalatable when they get old. But hair/thread algae seems to remain
tasty no matter how old it is.

However, you can't depend on algae-eating creatures for perfect algae control.
An algae problem in a sign that something is out of balance in your tank. You
should try to fix that, in addition to making use of algae-eaters.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

[LeighMo]

>As for crawling out of the aquarium, how sealed does the cover have
>to be?---I have just a standard hagen plastic canopy (modified for more
>lights) with cutouts for the filter and heater etc. We don't want to find
>snails in our kitchen cupboards eating all our cornflakes or anything.

LOL! That's not likely. If they get out, you're likely to find them crawling
on the floor, likely along a baseboard. They won't get far, being snails.

It doesn't have to be sealed that tight. Just tight enough so that the adult
snail (which is about the size of a brussel sprout) can't easily get out. The
one time I had one escape, I had too big a gap around the filter tubing. It
had crawled up the tubing, right out of the tank. I made the gap smaller, and
haven't had a problem since. (IME, juvenile snails don't try to climb out. I
think it's the females looking for someplace to lay their eggs that climb out.
They need to lay their eggs above the waterline -- which, in a fishtank, is
often on the underside of the hood.)

>Btw, how fast do they clean up hair/thread algae? The stuff that I had on
>the driftwood and a few java ferns is slowly spreading to the new plants.
>Can it get too much or too late for pomacea to clean it off?

IME, no. The kind of algae that grows in the glass, and black brush algae get
tough and unpalatable when they get old. But hair/thread algae seems to remain
tasty no matter how old it is.

However, you can't depend on algae-eating creatures for perfect algae control.
An algae problem in a sign that something is out of balance in your tank. You
should try to fix that, in addition to making use of algae-eaters.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/