Mystery snail eggs & inverts journal

[Katherine]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea and @Guppysnail How expensive would you say it is to feed a clutch of babies? I've got my first one on the glass now and I'm trying to decide if I should attempt it or wait a while. I've already got a mostly full container of repashy and some calcium powder to add to it, a mostly full container of algae wafers, and I can give them some of the veggies I'm eating if I prepare them the right way... We're cutting back on some expenses right now and I'm trying to decide if this needs to be one of them.

ETA: It's actually 2 clutches, but I would only hatch one. And I have quite a lot of snail food pellets left too.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Katherine

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/9/2022 at 5:10 PM, Katherine said:

How expensive would you say it is to feed a clutch of babies?

First of all, congratulations!  I wouldn’t say it costs much at all. When they are newborn you can give them hard boiled egg yolk. Mine ate it but what they eat is so little you’ll never even make it through a whole egg before they graduate to other food. To measure it, @Guppysnail told me to just dip the moistened end of a bamboo skewer into the hard boiled egg yolk and whatever sticks is what you feed.  It becomes dust in the breeder box and coats the walls. Its great because the first thing they do is climb walls.
 

I have had a small pack of algae wafers and it’s been lasting a long time. I only gave them little bits of “MINI wafers” in the beginning.  The Repashy will last a good long time too. You may end up vacuuming a lot of that out until you figure out the portion. For my clutch I would put Repashy that was about 1/4 of a die 🎲. Newborns are like sesame seed sized.

It isn’t til they get to be pea sized or chickpea size that they begin to eat a bunch but even then, you can give them a green bean and it will last 24 hrs, and keep a piece of cuttlebone in there for the calcium.

Will you start a journal? 🙏 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

@Katherine it is not that expensive. I eat a lot of steamed veggies and use mostly leftovers of those and wafers etc. if you have them it something very cool to experience. Water changes do increase. 

[Katherine]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea and @Guppysnail Thank you! I think I'm gonna go for it.

On 7/9/2022 at 5:19 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Will you start a journal? 🙏

I will, and I can tag you guys in it once I get it going. I'm sure I'm going to have more questions.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@Katherine I think where you’d run into actual expense is if you plan to set up a new grow out tank. The equipment for that is what will cost you. And buying a stand for it.

[Katherine]

On 7/9/2022 at 5:26 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@Katherine I think where you’d run into actual expense is if you plan to set up a new grow out tank. The equipment for that is what will cost you. And buying a stand for it.

I was not planning to. I was thinking about raising them in my 75g community tank, starting in a breeder box which I already have. I also have a 10g already set up for quarantine which should be available before they hatch if that would be a better option. Maybe I'll go get that journal started so I don't take over yours. Whoops.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/9/2022 at 6:32 PM, Katherine said:

in my 75g community tank

I’m jealous! Haha

My base of operations here is on such a smaller scale. My qt tank is a tote 🤣 and that’s initially where I floated the incubator.

And don’t worry at all about posting here. This isn’t my thread, it’s our thread! You guys have been supporting me the whole journey! I’m so exited for you! 🎉

@Katherine The clutch will be easier to remove if you let it set 24 hr. And in my opinion the best way to get it off with minimal damage is with the test kit card (if you plan to incubate). Some people just leave them where they are and see what happens.

[Katherine]

On 7/9/2022 at 5:37 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

The clutch will be easier to remove if you let it set 24 hr. And in my opinion the best way to get it off with minimal damage is with the test kit card (if you plan to incubate). Some people just leave them where they are and see what happens.

I went back to look at the start of your journal and saw that about leaving it a day. I'll have to remember the test card trick. And I think I do want to incubate. That way I can start them in the breeder box. Otherwise I may never see them in this tank. Lol.

And the 75 is my only tank besides the QT. I've wanted one for a very long time and finally got it this spring.

[Guppysnail]

@Katherine I prefer a clear tote over a breeder box. I drill small holes in lids and one or two large enough for and airline for sponge filters. I squeeze out media from other tanks to get them good and yucky with yummies. It’s the easiest way for me if I don’t have a small available bare bottom tank at the time. 

Edited July 10, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Katherine]

On 7/9/2022 at 7:54 PM, Guppysnail said:

@Katherine I prefer a clear tote over a breeder box. I drill small holes in lids and one or two large enough for and airline for sponge filters. I squeeze out media from other tanks to get them good and yucky with yummies. It’s the easiest way for me if I don’t have a small available bare bottom tank at the time. 

So would you do straight into the 10 gallon?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/9/2022 at 8:54 PM, Guppysnail said:

prefer a clear tote over a breeder box.

Can you see into your tote well? My plastic is not very see through. I can see the fish through it but I can’t see any details (status of illness). In my case the tote is for QT.

Oh, I had an ORD moment at the LFS today. Look at this guy go! He was cruising around outside of water on a piece of plastic that was partly submerged in the tank.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Forgot to tell @nabokovfan87 I concluded the 24 hour experiment

Tap ammonia 0

24 hour aerated water w/ prime 0

Tank 0

Inconclusive? 🤷🏻‍♀️

@Katherine if you end up doing breeder box it’s less reaching in the tank to clean uneaten food and do snail welfare checks, and also you would not have to move the snails from one tank to another later. I’ve only tried the one method so I have nothing to compare it to. It was high maintenance at first because I kept feeding too much food, then i would have to clean it out. I would have to also inspect everything that came out in the white dish to make sure I didn’t suck up snails. This required a magnifying glass.

I imagine @Guppysnail hatched multiple ways and can give the pros and cons of breeder box vs tote?

Edited July 10, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

On 7/9/2022 at 9:10 PM, Katherine said:

So would you do straight into the 10 gallon?

Depends entirely on substrate and filtration. I would if it was sand. Coarse gravel is impossible to vac with them and baby snails poop so much it’s not funny. I would do tote. It’s just easy that way. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/9/2022 at 7:02 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Inconclusive? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just means it's coming from the tank then. Not the water.

I heard a stat yesterday. Not sure on accuracy, but essentially that 85% of the ammonia comes from respiration of the fish.

On 7/9/2022 at 7:02 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

It was high maintenance at first because I kept feeding too much food, then i would have to clean it out.

When things get like this, I'll usually feed, an hour later vac out the extra. If you want to feed them later in the day, fine, but that's how I worked out how much to feed as oppose to trying to dump in a lot of food and letting it sit all day.

[Torrey]

On 7/9/2022 at 8:21 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

When things get like this, I'll usually feed, an hour later vac out the extra. If you want to feed them later in the day, fine, but that's how I worked out how much to feed as oppose to trying to dump in a lot of food and letting it sit all day.

This is how I feed all my fry. It means I am using a tiny nasal suction, or an airline tube connected to a big medicine syringe 2x/feeding: suction out debris/partial water change, feed, an hour later suction out leftovers.

With newborn fry just done absorbing their yolk sac, they get fed every 3 to 4 hours. By 2 weeks, I am down to feeding every 4 to 6 hours during the day. Trade-off for the extra work? Better health

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/9/2022 at 10:21 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

When things get like this, I'll usually feed, an hour later vac out the extra. If you want to feed them later in the day, fine, but that's how I worked out how much to feed as oppose to trying to dump in a lot of food and letting it sit all day

This works well with fish. Newborn snails need constant access to food though. I had to gauge what they would eat in a day.

 When I put food in for baby snails they often won’t seek it immediately. They would wash the walls for awhile and then “maybe” go for the food hours later. Also I had to work as well so I’d need to put food in the morning and then head out.

Been getting 0 ammonia readings The last few days so it seems things have now normalized in that tank and all but 4 tiny snails were transferred out. 🙂

Edited July 10, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Katherine]

On 7/9/2022 at 9:13 PM, Guppysnail said:

Depends entirely on substrate and filtration. I would if it was sand. Coarse gravel is impossible to vac with them and baby snails poop so much it’s not funny. I would do tote. It’s just easy that way. 

It's bare bottom with a sponge filter. They would be the only inhabitants besides a few bladder snails.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Katherine

[Guppysnail]

On 7/10/2022 at 9:17 AM, Katherine said:

It's bare bottom with a sponge filter. They would be the only inhabitants besides a few bladder snails.

That sounds like the perfect setup. 🤗 I would skip the breeder as it will be more of a pain than anything useful in your situation.  Straight in the tank. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/10/2022 at 9:17 AM, Katherine said:

It's bare bottom with a sponge filter

That should make it easy for you. Seal gaps in the lid. 😉

On 7/9/2022 at 10:13 PM, Guppysnail said:

baby snails poop so much it’s not funny

One great thing is the terra cotta dish. They spend most time in there with the food and the waste gathers wherever they spend time which makes cleanup simple with the turkey baster.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/9/2022 at 10:21 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

85% of the ammonia comes from respiration of the fish.

I heard that too. Weird right? You’d think it would mostly be from fish pee.

[nabokovfan87]

Well I mean, hopefully they aren't producing waste 24 hours a day, but they are definitely breathing all day. It makes sense, I just didn't realize that was a source of ammonia in particular.

https://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~woodcm/Woodblog/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Wright-and-Wood.2012.Resp_.Physiol.Neurobiol..pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3059970/

So many interesting things to learn.

Edited July 10, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/10/2022 at 7:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

So many interesting things to learn.

I learn something every day on the forum for sure.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Baby snail tank maintenance hacks

Here are a few things I learned along the way when keeping baby snails.

1. Buy a quality turkey baster. Not the dollar store one. You can suck stuff (waste and leftover food) into the cheap one but it will just drip back out before you get the turkey baster out of the tank. Spend $8-$10. I have the Farberware one with the red bulb.

2. This bucket from dollar tree. It has a spout and it pours nice. It’s just about 2 gallons and is perfect for that 10 gallon tank’s water change.

3. Paint cup thing from dollar tree. For whatever junk you remove with the baster when snails are big enough to keep track of. (Initially you’ll want to use a white dish.)

 

4. Water diverter. Make it out of a juice or soda bottle. Use it during water changes or all snails will experience a tornado. Young snails don’t have good suction like adult snails. Also keeps substrate from getting disturbed. Props to Foo the Flowerhorn. 

 

5. Terra cotta dish. Keeps the food from getting lodged in the substrate or blown all over the tank during water changes etc. @Guppysnail patent pending. 
 

6. Plant weight. For holding that green bean in place. Also a @Guppysnail tip!

Edited July 12, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

7. Duct tape. For sealing off the gaps in the lid. When snails get bigger, craft mesh can be used 

8. Plastic spoon. Best way I have found to remove a baby snail from a wall or move them around while keeping them in sight. (They can disappear in turkey baster)

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

9. Little white dish. Place siphoned debris into it to ensure no snails were removed too. Also good for snail welfare checks (are they ok?) and also can be used as a mold to make Repashy.