Free Ramshorn snails for my friends at MyFishTank

Vyache

Vyache

Large Fish
#1
Oct 22, 2002
378
0
0
46
Redding, Northern California
www.vulturesroost.com
#1
Hi everyone! I've got a 20 gallon tank full of baby great ramshorn snails. There are about a hundred and fifty in there and are the size of small marbles. They hatched around September 1st. I've never shipped animals in the mail before, but I'm willing to try if some of you can give me some advice.

Anyway, I can ship you some of my snails if you pay for shipping and packaging. While supplies last!
 

Gnome

Gnome

Large Fish
#2
Oct 22, 2002
211
0
0
Shadow Moses Island
#2
Re: Free Ramshorn snails for my friends at MyFishT

[quote author=Vyache link=board=comments&num=1034960091&start=0#0 date=10/18/02 at 07:54:51]
Hi everyone! I've got a 20 gallon tank full of baby great ramshorn snails. There are about a hundred and fifty in there and are the size of small marbles. They hatched around September 1st. I've never shipped animals in the mail before, but I'm willing to try if some of you can give me some advice.

Anyway, I can ship you some of my snails if you pay for shipping and packaging. While supplies last!
[/quote]
What's ramshorn snail good for?
 

Vyache

Vyache

Large Fish
#6
Oct 22, 2002
378
0
0
46
Redding, Northern California
www.vulturesroost.com
#6
I just siphon vacuumed the tank into a five gallon bucket. It was friggin' filthy! After I dumped most of the water out of the buckets I noticed that it was teaming with life. Infrotrusia smorgesboard from adding all kinds of spinach to a 20 gallon tank with nothing but snails. Kind of cool, I poured some of the water in with my new betta fry. That should tide them over until my microworm culters are ready. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the floating snails were mostly dead ones, I poked at them and their trap doors wouldn't shut all the way.
 

Q

qaffle

Small Fish
#7
Oct 22, 2002
30
0
0
#7
Not sure but

From what I know ramshorns don't have trap doors. They just pull themselves into their shells. and occasionally mine do float along the top sometimes, if ya push them to the sides they just might reach out and grab on.
And in shipping a snail, I would think that you could stick them in a little bag, put a little bit of water in the bag and ship it first class. Want to make sure everybody gets some living ones? Stick a bunch of them in the bag, I'd assume one would make it alive.

BTW, I have a ton of snails in my tank, you shouldn't have to go out of your way to feed them; they probably will get enough food from your fish feedings.

BTWW, when my snails die, which isn't all that often, they usually end up on the bottom of the tank not the top
 

Vyache

Vyache

Large Fish
#8
Oct 22, 2002
378
0
0
46
Redding, Northern California
www.vulturesroost.com
#8
You must be thinking of a different kind of snail than I am speaking of. These are Great Ramshorn Snails. They definitely have little pieces of shell that close when they pull into their shell. I think that almost all aquatic snails do. They also defininately float when dead, maybe not at first but gases are produced as they decay and bubbles get trapped in their shell. Perhaps a larger snail would sink but these are small still. I picked out each individual snail in the tank and put them into either a "live snail" container and a "dead snail" container. I left them alone for a while and only two that I put in the dead container came out of their shells and started moving around. I vacuumed the tank and most of the snails that were in the gravel got sucked up into a bucket where I moved them into the live/dead containers. I think I actually removed every snail in the tank!
 

Vyache

Vyache

Large Fish
#11
Oct 22, 2002
378
0
0
46
Redding, Northern California
www.vulturesroost.com
#11
Hmm. Ok, I think some were dead and some alive. Just in case, I put them into my clown loach tank. Most of them are empty husks now but there are still a few crawling around in there.

How easy is it for snails to get out from under gravel? I'm sure that I've accidently buried a few when doing water changes.
 

N

nonamethefish

Large Fish
#15
Oct 22, 2002
338
0
0
34
#15
hmmm...if you have so many!thats quite interesting


Well, if you ever do get ot shipping.....its good ot put them in a closed container with air hole(those for cream cheese) lined with paper towels(damp) or tissue paper to protect the snails shells from damage. Don't put more than one in the same box, becuse if they roll, they may chip each other.

opps..already been said!


One sure fire way to tell a snail is dead is to sniff it.....if it smells like.....well, needless ot say, you WILL know!
 

J

jonni_li

Medium Fish
#16
Nov 7, 2002
59
0
0
Sunny SD
#16
i think you can get ramshorn snails for free at your lfs. there usually are so many in their plant tanks anywayz. or maybe it is just the ones here that i have seen. the petco here's plant tank also seems to be infested by malaysian trumpet snails. So maybe u might wanna check with your lfs for free snails...will save u a little on shipping and handling.

P.S. Just in case, i am not saying that i don't appreciate Vyache's generosity in offering us snails for free, but i'm simply just suggesting another way u can get snails if u don't want to pay shipping and handling.
 

Vyache

Vyache

Large Fish
#17
Oct 22, 2002
378
0
0
46
Redding, Northern California
www.vulturesroost.com
#17
The Petco in my area sells full size ones of the type I have for $1.60 each.
Unfortunately I don't have as many as I had before. They are slowly dying off of overcrowding. I've put about ten in each of my tanks but I'm already overcrowded with fish so I don't expect them all to make it. Interestingly enough, there are a few that are doing quite well in my tank that has a dozen clown loaches in it. They are apparently not the voratious snail eaters I've heard they were.
Margarine tub with holes in the top sounds like a great idea and although someone already mentioned wet paper towels, The combination of the two is the best idea yet. Thanks!
 

Vyache

Vyache

Large Fish
#19
Oct 22, 2002
378
0
0
46
Redding, Northern California
www.vulturesroost.com
#19
The snails have all found homes now. I only had that one die off; they all seemed to do ok after that. They were growing very slowly in that small tank. I put a single one into a ten gallon tank with some mollies and its more than twice the size of the others even though I gave them all kinds of lettuce and zuchinni to eat and never fed the one in the other tank anything special. Anyway, I did a big fish transfer over to my dad's 240 gallon tank and the snails went over there. They will probably be slowly eaten by the red finned blue botias in that tank but thats ok, they deserve snacks. I needed the twenty gallon tank that the snails were in to use as a hospital tank. I have some clown loaches that have been sick for quite a while now and I have decided to seperate them from the other fish, (who are not getting sick for some reason), and curing them once and for all with a series of medications until they are well again.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.