Best set up and food for snail tank question

[Zorix]

Hi everyone!  I'm new here.  I have some snails I'd like to grow out fast and breed.  I considered putting this topic in the fish breeding forum but wasn't sure if that was the proper place.  I have kept some ramshorn snails for a few months in various containers and fed them various vegetables like carrots and lettuce over time.  They don't grow that fast and I am probably going to pick up a dedicated 2.5 gallon tank for them today and give them a better environment.

I was looking here since (since I have ordered before and like the product and service) for decent food for them.  I saw some comments about some other food being used for snails without a problem but I thought I'd ask here what everyone's opinion is for food that will make the snails healthy and grow fast.

I know these are considered pest snails but I do like the look of them and they are fun to watch, but also I have a turtle that likes to eat them.  I placed a few in the turtle's tank a while back and they do a really good job of hiding until night time to avoid being eaten (they are smarter than I thought).  But the turtle has slowly picked off the bigger ones throughout the day digging through the rocks.  I would like to keep resupplying the tank with bigger ones more often.

I know this is a longer post but really just looking for advice to have the best chances.

Thanks everyone!

[Brandy]

Give them ample calcium and sinking fish food and they will multiply. Protein is helpful I find, though they like veggies too. If I were going to set up a snail only tank, I would use driftwood set vertically, and skip plants mostly, and leave myself plently of room to vacuum the gravel, then feed like crazy.

[OceanTruth]

I'm with @Brandy. Feed as much as your system can handle. Snails eat anything, so no special food is required. Just feed whatever sinking food you have on hand. I do notice they REALLY pile onto algae wafers.

[Zorix]

Thanks!  I had not considered driftwood, do they eat it?  Wouldn't vacuuming the gravel remove the really tiny snails that have recently hatched?  I have found overfeeding in smaller containers made things very cloudy rather quickly too.

[Brandy]

If you are vacuuming weekly just a part of the tank you will still have more snails than the tank can hold very quickly. If you don't vacuum, without plants you will have toxic water parameters in a tank that size and you will need to change water very often.  

When trying to amass a large amount of anything (money, snails, water in a bucket) there are 2 schools of thought. You can spend a lot of time trying to eliminate every tiny ineffecient leak in your system, or you can dramtically increase production and not worry about the "leaks". In snails, as in life, it is usually easier to do the latter.

The driftwood is food also, as is whatever grows on it. 

[Zorix]

Thank you for the excellent explanation!  I really appreciate it!

[Colu]

I feed mine shrimp king snail pellets to help with calcium and minerals to help keep there shells in good condition