Raising pest snails for future pea puffers.

[Karen B.]

Greetings!

I plan on getting some pea puffers for my 10 gallons in maybe a month’ish. I am planning ahead regarding the food as I can’t seem to find any black worms culture in Canada. So I guess it will have to be blood worms and snails mainly? And the occasional BBS. If you have other suggestions, they are welcomes. 
 

So regarding the snails, I have started collecting them from my aquariums (makes a change of me systematically squishing them!). I also always use a net at the end of my syphon when I do a WC so I can pick up any fry and now snails. I also will take out my floating plants in a container and shake them as many snails are hidden there.

I put the collected snails in a 5 gallons bucket with algea pellets few times a week, calcium food for shrimp, catappa leaves and some floating plants. It’s heated (what temperature would you recommend?) but no light (but it’s in the kitchen so it gets some light). I have a sponge filter too.  I will do weekly WC of about 30% I think. Anything else I should be doing?

Will it be able to sustain my pea puffer colony? I should have around 3-4. 
How many snails should I feed them and how often?

Can snail transfer disease to fish? My quarantine tank is full of snail, my betta has been in it (with trio meds) for two weeks now, would it be safe to harvest them?

Thank you!

[FrozenFins]

I feed lots of snails to my beloved pea puffer. His diet consists of frozen blood worms every other day, and snails on days I dont feed. 

I keep the snails in my exsisting tanks and pull them out as needed for my pea puffer. I feed about one or two per feeding. So I'm looking at 2-5 snails a week.

Live BBS is also another great option.

[JettsPapa]

I have two pea puffers in a moderate to heavily planted 40 gallon breeder tank.  I drop snails in as I come across them, without any schedule.  I got some pearl weed together to sell yesterday evening and probably added a dozen that I'd picked off the plants, or wound up in the bottom of the pan I was working in.

Only one of mine will eat frozen bloodworms, and not every time I feed them.  They both seem to be doing fine though.  Between the snails, the thriving colony of cull neocaridina shrimp, and probably the occasional amano shrimp larvae they stay fat.

If all that isn't any help to you, I think you're probably going to more trouble than needed in your shrimp bucket.  I suspect it would be just fine without any filtration as long as there are plenty of live plants.  Also, since you said they're in your kitchen it certainly doesn't need a heater, assuming you keep the temperature in the room comfortable for you.  I don't run heaters in any of my shrimp and snail tanks, and the temperature in the house fluctuates from 60° on cold nights to the mid 70°'s on warm afternoons this time of year.

Edited February 16, 2022 by JettsPapa