Ramshorn snail breeding project

[Jay]

I want to breed ramshorns as a project, how would I do it? And every one I sell is profit since I am a kid so lucky me

[Brandy]

They will breed according to the amount of food you feed, so lots of veggies like canned green beans and cucumber and so on. You will also need to supply a source of calcium, so that they have pretty shells, not all pitted and scabby looking. That can be tums, or some coral in the substrate. personally I would offer both. But I would also consider breeding mystery snails instead. They will sell better. 

[Jay]

My water already is full of calcium, when it dries, I have powder. Should I supplement some edible calcium?

[Jay]

Also I want to breed red and blue ramshorns will they sell better than normal ones?

[Brandy]

I would test your kh, but yes--you should still add a little so that they don't exhaust their supply--hopefully you will have MANY snails in your tank and you want them to grow fast. Once you see shell pitting it is too late. It is mostly cosmetic, but it will lower the value of your snails.

I have red ones, they hitch hiked in on a plant at some point. They will probably sell better, but your local market will determine the price. I see a person on my local craigslist offering them by the cupful, as puffer food, so do check around to see if they are already a flooded market.

[primerk5]

As I'm a total newb at any of this I have to ask, is it possible to use oyster shells like that which is given to chickens for calcium? 

I have apparently inadvertently begun breading mystery snails. (At least I think that is what they are) and was wondering about their shell health.

[Jay]

 

2 minutes ago, primerk5 said:

As I'm a total newb at any of this I have to ask, is it possible to use oyster shells like that which is given to chickens for calcium? 

I have apparently inadvertently begun breading mystery snails. (At least I think that is what they are) and was wondering about their shell health.

Yeah that's fine

[Jay]

7 minutes ago, Brandy said:

I would test your kh, but yes--you should still add a little so that they don't exhaust their supply--hopefully you will have MANY snails in your tank and you want them to grow fast. Once you see shell pitting it is too late. It is mostly cosmetic, but it will lower the value of your snails.

I have red ones, they hitch hiked in on a plant at some point. They will probably sell better, but your local market will determine the price. I see a person on my local craigslist offering them by the cupful, as puffer food, so do check around to see if they are already a flooded market.

My LFS has them 4$ each, I am not selling them for that much

[Brandy]

Awesome, sounds like you have a local market then! I have not seen the blue ones here, but the red ones are everywhere. One more tip--you should probably separate the colors, or they may cross breed and you will get brown or something. 

[Jay]

21 minutes ago, Brandy said:

Awesome, sounds like you have a local market then! I have not seen the blue ones here, but the red ones are everywhere. One more tip--you should probably separate the colors, or they may cross breed and you will get brown or something. 

Thanks, I will do that, my fish store is so cool, it has all fish I know of, bit they treat the bettas worse than petco

[Joshua14]

My dad has 4 snail tanks that have been running for a few years. He uses them to feed his puffer fish. I just really started a snail tank myself. Here is some advice he gave me that has gone a long way for the both of us.

Green beans. Feed them green beans. Any kind out of a can will do. I have found that when I feed anything else the snails waste gets everywhere and the tanks are always hard to keep up with in terms of cleanliness. 

I don't know what it is about green beans but their waste becomes extremely clean and manageable if that's all they eat. 

Like I said my dad has done it for years in 4 snail tanks with I bet 1000's of snails. It seems like his secret weapon. Good luck raising your snails!

[WhitecloudDynasty]

I do play with them 

I like mine with blue shell pink body leopard