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I have never kept a journal so I am not sure if I am going to enjoy doing this or not. I am that… I want to try things at least once type person. I spend a lot of time reading all the fantastic journals on here. Two weeks ago my bearded dragon BOOP’s suddenly passed from a stomach tumor he was diagnosed with last year. Boop’s spent nearly every minute of the day with me including the fish room. He had a shelf in front of each tank he liked to watch his fish and chase shrimp. He was probably a better plant guru than me 🤣 (you have no idea how hard it was finding info on which aquarium plants are dragon toxic) He always tried to eat them when we worked on them. For the two weeks it took me to process the worst of my grief reading everyone’s journals and posts kept me sane and filled the time I normally spent with my dragon. Thank you everyone for sharing your journey. I have had fish since around 7. All whatever I could catch with mom’s kitchen strainer in the creek when I was younger (her rule was no snakes all else I can have) and keep alive using creek water and bugs. This is how I learned anything in nature that fits in something else’s mouth is food. I also developed a weird fascination with all the nifty critters and hitchhikers that end up in aquariums. I’m the weird old lady that even finds value and cool snooping entertainment in hydra. I have been hooked ever since. went through job demands of travel so way more up and down with tanks than I want to think about I watched every video and livestream (although never in live time) the coop had. I wanted more. So I joined the forum. It’s really great as I have no one to talk fish to. Hubby only likes my giant mystery snail but loves that fish make me happy since I rarely leave the house (it’s my garden of eden why would I venture into societies current chaos) I’m new to the internet in the past few years since I retired. I used email but mostly fax before I retired but that’s it outside of works dedicated computer programs. I have never done any other social media so I feel awkward and was and I guess still am a bit intimidated most of the time trying to convey things to others in a way that seems friendly and helpful as typing seems so blunt and impersonal. I try and use a lot of the cute face cartoons. I hate offending others so I hope the cartoon faces convey niceness. Most of my fish keeping knowledge (if you want to call it that and not just ok this worked for me and this distinctly did not) comes strictly from Observations of my tanks over my life, trial error heartbreak National Geographic magazines learning about fish not aquariums and other assorted magazines in the mail. Finding the internet fish keeping prescribed guidelines baffled me and I still wonder if some of the people doing the articles ever actually kept the fish they were writing the article on. Seems fish are supposedly super delicate??? 🤣 I never knew that I always loved fish because they were so amazingly resilient. Silly me. That’s why I got hooked on Cory’s videos he seems to go with what he has seen with his own eyes and learned instead of what the internet spews and is willing to try things just to see what happens. (He also finds benefit in hitchhiking micro fauna and snails 😁) So enough about who I am…just an eccentric old lady who loves fish ….here we go…. My multi tank syndrome has taken a drastic turn since my health declined 6 years ago. Getting old stinks but is also the greatest. I cannot physically take care of large tanks anymore so now it is how many fish and different things can I keep in each tank and healthy. My current tanks that I have up and not in storage are standard 29 gal, 20long, 2 x 10g 8.75 gallon shrimp tank I got on sale and hate but guppies and snails have too many babies and it’s handy for a dozen or more things, 5G QT 2.5G QT i do not ever actually plant plants i float them tie them to something or suction cup them on the wall. Even root feeders do great that way for me. I don’t use fertilizers or chemicals I am afraid of them. I tried easy green half dose in 2 tanks and panicked after 6 hours and did late evening water changes so I could sleep. I admire the fabulous aquascapers I’m not one of them I love plants they keep my fish happy and healthy and grow well for me i stuff every tank to the gills because our water is miserable even in tanks years old with so many plants I can barely see my fish brown diatoms live on. I tried recently using jugged spring water from the store for wc and it all went away … came right back when I used hose water 🤷‍♀️ over the years I’ve come to appreciate the benefits of it though 🤪 the fish and assorted critters like it YUMMY 😋 29 g stock 11 panda corydora, 6f/1m guppy(the wolf pack and Little Boy, Nemo the nerite snail, 3 female magenta mystery snails (the wonder twins and microdot) bladder snails and some stray shrimp that migrated on a coop large sponge filter. I stopped there because my 2 longfin lemon blue eye bristlenose plecos are trying a second time he has not left the cave in 3 days other than to get a quick nibble of the green bean I put outside his door. I’m hoping it’s a fruitful spawn and may need to rehome the pandas and set up another 20 long for them? This is a newer tank set up with established filters gravel plants from other tanks and such so we are waiting for the micro fauna to establish. I think the Pandas and guppies are eating most of it so I may not get much. 20 long is my pleco pair (sweet pea and baby girl) 4 huge male mystery snails 2 magenta (the baby boys) 2 chestnut (chestnut and bandit) 10 celestial pearl danio(only one has a name she is huge and eats everything Meg as in megalodon) more neocaridina shrimp of every color than I can count. Some bladder snails (someone keeps eating them I do believe 😕) many random assorted micro fauna and a gorgeous little colony of tiny green hydra in one corner that never seems to travel or grow bigger even though I feed cpd bbs. I may actually like this journal thing. I’ll detail the rest another day and add more pictures. my pointer/typing finger is cramping at this point 🤣

I have 3 Nerites and about 10 bladder snails and counting. What are your guys favorite snails and why?

So I put 6 of my home grown Otos in my "Angry Man" tank. They've been in there a few months. Used to see them quite a bit on the sliced cucumber I leave for them, rarely on the hikari algae wafer (mind they were all raised on both). I don't see them often otherwise and recently less than that. Because of the existence of those two foods my bladder snail population has exploded (not to unmanageable stages but absolutely more than I would like). I remove them from the tank when they are in large groups on the foods but they just keep coming. My 3 horned Nerites do a good job of keeping back algae and occassionally munch on the cucumber. The Black Neons even poke at the Hikari. Today I saw one of the Otos flashing around the bottom of the tank, not swimming right. After a long car chase I was able to HAND CATCH the little one who was put in isolation. Shortly thereafter they passed. 😞 There was no outward signs of illness. The only thing of note was a less than rounded belly and instead of being white it was pink-ish as if from the inside not outside. My sad thought is that it died of starvation? My concern with this tank is that maybe I can't put anymore algae eaters in here- maybe I should pull my Otos (if I can catch them)- and put them back in general population of the Accidental Oto tank. I spotted 2 of them, who were attached to wood and seemed ok at the time, no idea where the rest were camping out- my Otos tend to be nocturnal. They have no competition for food in the Accidental Oto tank- I think there's too much competition in the Angry Man tank. What do my forum friends think? Should I move the Otos out? Pic of the Angry Man tank for reference attached. (2nd pic is more recent)

This thread is to document the setup, care and lifetime of my newly created 20 gallon long Walstad deep sandbed tank! I've been planning this project for a while now, and after assuring that the cabinet the tank was destined to sit on was sturdy enough, I took advantage of the latest Petco sale. My husband was a total enabler on this one, which was fun! I've been fascinated by Walstad tanks (and other dirted tanks that use plant-only filtration) since I restarted in this hobby a few years ago, and though all of my other tanks are dirted, none of them have that deep substrate or the no water changes / no filter rule. So this will be a new experience. The planned live stock will be a colony of bloody mary neocaridinas, a vampire shrimp, and perhaps some rabbit snails (among my usual hitchhikers). Edit: It's come to my attention that what I'm doing is slightly different than Diana Walstad's method, but the idea is still the same. After spray painting the back black, I was sure to center the tank and the runner it sits on as best I could. I might have to move that hyena picture above it... it looks off center now! This is the brand of dirt I chose to use. I've never used it before, but I couldn't find the cheapo stuff I used before. I didn't bother sifting the dirt, I just pulled out bigger pieces of wood if I found them. I spread an inch deep layer and pressed it down, and then sprinkled some crushed coral over it, as my water has pretty low Kh. I then sprayed the dirt down with a spray bottle to get it wet, before capping it with two inches of Black Diamond blasting sand - my go to substrate, I like the black color and how cheap it is. I didn't bother washing it, because I'm convinced it doesn't matter. I used a wooden skewer with an inch and three inches both marked off, so I could ensure I had the proper layer depths. Now to fill 'er up! I put a ziplock bag on the sand to soften the water flow. Worked like a charm. As it began to fill, I sorted out the air pump and bubblers. I used Aquarium Co-Op's black airline tubing that they sent me in my care package, and I gotta say it hooks up like butter. Very nice. The bubblers are these fancy ones that came with my Eheim pumps. I wanted lots of flow for the vampire shrimp, so I added two bubblers. Time for hardscape. I'm keeping it simple, and just used some slate pieces I had sitting around. And then it was time for more filling. This time I used a bowl to disperse the water flow. I filled it almost all the way, and then decided it was planting time. I grabbed out a bunch of Val from my 29 gallon. Here's how it looks with the plants in. I do intend to get some moss or maybe Susswassertang. If my new pink flamingo crypt settles in the 75 well I might put some in here too. But for now, I'll let the val fill in The first inhabitant - a pink ramshorn hitchhiker. I'm sure there's eggs on the plants, too. It's getting too warm to safely order livestock here in AL, so this has all summer to get grown in and seasoned. I'll post updates on plant growth and whenever I add a new plant for now.

I think snails are and have been inspiration for cartoons....I mean what other animals can do this....

Who loves repashy? Bristlenose, snails, shrimp, platy, and of coarse me! That’s who! Did a repashy feeding this morning and I have become a huge fan of this food. I made cubes using this tray I slice all of them down the center but not all the way through so I can feed big chunks to adults, half portions to juvenile, and easier to shreds after thawing for fry.Also made rods @Guppysnail showed me this.Placed all in the tanks what an amazing food. Will be ordering different verities next food order at ACO.

I just call them pest snails maybe their pond snails? I know there are 3 different types in the photos, I know mystery snails what are the other two? One of them get about 1/4” big on average but the pic with my finger for reference is the biggest one I’ve ever seen. The other type I’ve never seen get bigger than 1/8” . I breed them for my pea puffers and figured I should find out more about them, starting with what they actually are. im also wanting more mystery snails I’ve hatched a couple clutches before and really enjoy it. I’ve never added calcium to the water before because my water is so hard (I’ll need to get a test kit for this) but I’m sure I need to since this is a snail grow out tank 20G (10) mystery (100+) pest snails. I feed the tank veggies, waffers, pellets, flake, vibra bites, and crab cuisine. Any tips on raising snails?

I have been noticing how some of my critters behave towards/treat Ramshorn snails in their tanks. This is what I have found: - Amano and Neocaridina shrimp play basketball by dribbling the little guys. - Pea puffers do target practice. - Betta and sparkling gourami knock them off the plants and tank walls. - Kuhli loaches do the power skating/ice hockey mean shoving. - Corydoras pretend not to see them and bulldoze them. - Bladder snails make fun of them and don't do much more than pure on-the-spot humiliation. Has anyone else had the pleasure of watching their own aquarium sports channel?

Aquariums hold many more living things than fish. What is in your tank? I caught this grass shrimp last week in a ditch while collecting banana plants.

So I have decided to upgrade my betta Mr Darcy's tank (plus his tank mates, neo shrimp, mystery snail & nerite), from a 5gal to a 10 rimless (with clear lid). I need some advice before the change over ... My tap water runs at a Ph of 8.0 and Mr Darcy and the snails seem to have done fine, though the plants and the neos I think don't like that ph. So, for the new tank, I've decided to go with the Fluval Stratum, capped with a pea gravel, for a substrate. I read that the Fluval Stratum lowers ph quite a bit, like possibly into the 6's, which might be good for the neos. One of my questions is ... will the Ph lower gradually or fairly quick? I am trying to plan this out. Can I stick the fish/etc in right after scaping? (I have established sponge filters running almost a year in current tank). Or do I need to let the tank sit for a bit without critters then drip acclimate them? I've never used this substrate so I am just a little anxious, as I don't want to harm the critters or the plants. Thanks for your patience in reading this and any advice! ~Jennifer pic of current 5gal for tax

How do you get a snail to release their hold on the glass without hurting them? I'm trying to tear apart my son's 10 gallon guppy tank; Current population is being moved to my 40 gallon community tank. The guppies were easy peasy but the nerite has a tight hold on the glass and I can't get him to release.

Hello Nermz, So I have two tanks, a 29 gallon, and a 125 gallon. I have ran them snail free (other than nerite) for long time. Both tanks are moderate to heavily planted. With all the plants, I have to battle algae here and there. It's never been out of control as I feel I do a pretty good job keeping things balanced. Recently, I decided I wanted "pest" snails. I am calling them "pests" just because people will know I am referring to bladder, ramshorn, and MTS. I want them to back up the other algae eating animals and help out with some of the leftover fish food and dead plant matter in the tank. I do not find them to be pest but rather a great janitorial staff when I have had them in past. With that being said, I have thrown some of each in both of my tanks and have been patiently waiting to for the population explosion. I finally have started seeing them reproduce in my 29 gallon. That tank has cherry barbs, cardinal tetras, panda corys, and neocaridina. In my 125, I have a large community of fish. Bolivian Rams, multiple types of small tetras, platys, a few swords and mollies, bristlenose pleco, a few otos, a few roseline sharks, zebra danios, golden wonder killi's, harlequin rasboras, a few different varieties of corys, an angel fish, 2 blue acaras, and 3 african dwarf frogs. It's heavily stocked and heavily planted. It's colorful and there is a lot going on, but there is no aggression and water parameters are good as I stay up on the maintenance. The fish are thriving and breeding. However, the population explosion with the snails has not happened. In fact, I am fairly confident something in there is eating the snails as I have put in quite a few bladder and ramshorns and I have not seen them since. I didn't think any those types of fish ate snails. Any thoughts on why they are disappearing in this tank? Do you know if any of those fish would eat the snails? I knows it's a larger tank so it may take more time for me to see more of them, but I was only able to find one snail tonight out of about 100 that I have put in. The tanks have lids, so I doubt they are coming out. Perhaps because there are so many fish in the tank there isn't enough left over food to support a large colony of snails? Thanks.

65 gallon planted tank, ph neutral, ammonia and nitrites under control - tank is a month old and stable: Don't want to add any more fish. But wouldn't mind some shrimp or snails to add interest. What shrimp or snails would you recommend in my case? What is the ammonia/nitrite footprint for such creatures? Do they harbor parasites, disease, etc? Tnx!

Hi Everyone! I'm attempting to create a 5g snail tank to feed my puffers. It's been set up since March and has bladder and ramshorn snails in it. They cleaned the tank pretty quickly and I started to see die off awhile ago so I started feeding them algae wafers to try to get the population to increase again. I'm battling ammonia now even though the remaining snails make quick work of the wafers. I'm still seeing die off for some reason. I just can't get the population up! I feel silly because I thought this would be a breeze. What am I doing wrong? How do you successfully raise a large supply of snails? What's causing the Ammonia? The algae wafers? Tank parameters: Ph: 7.2 Temp: 78 Ammonia: .25 consistently even with water changes Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 10 Ammonia from the tap: .5

If I humanely killed the snails by Freezing them could I grind them up in a coffee grinder with vegetables to make a homemade food? If so would it be nutritious?

Caramel would like to show off for you nice folks. He is an eight month old. I’m average size female with average size hands. Thumb is for size reference. Mystery snails fed an appropriate diet in ideal snaily environment can reach 3 inches...... feed your snails 🙂

So Im preparring for a 75G Brackish water aquarium for a Green spotted Puffer. My plan is to start a 20 Breeder to hopefully supply me with some of the food intake. My question is How hard is it to hatch a snail Clutch if ai was to order 1 online?

I received 9 new plants 3 days ago and got them planted. So far I have found 16 hitchhiker from them and I have them hard at work on part of the tank I cant reach, more bang for my buck 🙂

I came home from vacation and found this on the lid of my 5G. I’m sure it’s Mystery snail eggs but the question I have is must I have a male and a female to hatch? I only have one mystery snail in this tank along with two nerite snails and 3 cherry shrimp. TIA.

Happy Wednesday! I'm thinking of getting a couple Endlers for my 5g but it's also a snail breeding tank and has a few shrimp in it. Would that be a problem? Is there a better choice of super hardy, colorful little fish to add?

Do goldfish eat snails? Particularly rams horns? I’m trying to breed them in all my tanks for my pea puffers and wasn’t sure if my goldfish will eat them.

Hi folks 👋🏻 I'm Julia, nice to join your CARE community! This will be a journal of my fish-keeping journey in Canada. Having a weak memory I need a place to keep track of my mistakes (and hopefully successes in future) and forum seems to be a nicer, safer place than Facebook group. Will start documenting my first *stressful* month into the hobby tomorrow and share my story 🐟

My tap water is soft. 30 TDS. 1st photo Tap that sat overnight. 2nd My regular tanks that have Driftwood and/or catappa leaves 3rd My Shrimp tank after adding Baking soda to raise Kh back up. Wood and catappa I was given 2 nerite snails. I'd like to add a few snails and leaf litter to a couple tanks. In my shrimp tank I also use Aqueon Shrimp Essentials for minerals and have success w/molt and babies . I'm concerned that about Ph craziness and how I can at least maintain a Ph of 6.8. Is Seachem Equilibrium something I should consider or other additives ? I know its not good to chase parameters but these are rather low. It's been great for breeding my cory metae and bristlenose but w/wood and leaves I worry it will get too low.

A customer dropped off a garden tractor for repairs. When I went to check the mower out I fond this guy crawling across the top of the seat. Before I could find a container, the snail was nowhere to be found. I don't now if this was the greatest looking garden snail I will ever see, or a lost opportunity for a free aquarium snail. What do you think?

Day before yesterday I was peering into my 10 gallon with my habrosus colony (have had some sadness there recently so have been following closely…that’s another story), and I noticed that my Corys had spawned!!! On a ramshorn snail!😂😂😂. I just let it alone…I’m trying not to mess with the tank too much, just good maintenance these days…and lo and behold today, that lovely ramshorn made an appearance at the front of the tank, with that delightfully cute Cory egg still hanging on! I am not going to fetch the egg out. Planning on my 10 gallon box of nature to take its course, but this little duo made me smile today. Hope it does for you too! Take care all!