Food for Snails

[kungen]

Hi Ron,

To counter a growing algea-problem I'm considering to add alot of snails of different species. I've got Nerita, Trochus, Turbo and Astrea so far. Is this a good selection?

My main concern is that when they've taken care about the algea, I don't want them to starve. Is there something that you recommend my feeding them later on?

Thanks alot!

Hans

[longra]

Try spirulina tablets.

[rshimek]

Hi Hans,

One way to get around this problem is to add the snails sparingly over a period of several months. Add a few, and then wait a couple of weeks. If you still have an algal problem, add a few more and so on. When you reach a point that your system has a small bit of diatom growth visible on the glass after the end of a lights-on period, then you have reached the capacity of the snails you have. They should persist indefinitely and still keep the algae under control.

Keep in mind that the snails you are purchasing will eat diatoms, but really, most of them will rarely eat any other types of algae. In other words, don't get into the trap of adding these snails to control, for example, green filamentous (aka "hair") algae or dinoflagellates, or cyanobacteria. They won't eat it.

If you find you have too many snails, return some of them to the LFS or trade them to another aquarist. There really isn't a food that they will do well on other than their natural one.