Cuttlebone

[Flumpweesel]

I have soft water is cuttle bone a good idea for the shrimp and snail populations?

[Robstar]

I've heard old fishkeepers say it dissolves too slow to make much difference. Have you tried wondershell? Or banquet blocks? Not sure if you are able to get those from across the pond.

[gardenman]

Cuttle bone is one of those "It can't hurt and might help" things and it's cheap. I've used it before and once it sinks it's easy to tuck into the gravel and it does slowly dissolve. How slowly it dissolves largely depends on your water chemistry. If you have very acidic water, it'll dissolve more quickly than it would in neutral water. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

In my experience, cuttlebone has had no effect on parameters and takes months to dissolve. 

I have hard water.

[Ben_RF]

I have seen various videos online of shrimp that appear to graze on it. So it might help?

Using the same thought, banquet blocks that you can get through the Co Op dissolve quicker and provide food for them. Wondershell also should help with the water quality.

[PineSong]

I use it because the chalky parts are soft enough that when soaked I believe the snails can rasp what they need and the shrimp can pick at it. I have never seen my shrimp hanging out on it but my water is rock hard to start with and they are fed Shrimpee or Hikari algae wafers regularly.