sponge filter for snail breeding
sponge filter for snail breeding
Hey there, I am going to make some sponge filters for snail breeding tanks. my question is what type of foam(brands, sizes, etc) should I purchase? I plan on using pvc pipe with airline tubing and an airstone, as well as frequent water changes. thanks in advance for the help. any comments on poret foam?
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RTR
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Re: sponge filter for snail breeding
As with all tanks, filter sizes or numbers should be related to tank size. Browse the web and/or local shops for scale ideas.
Snail breeding tanks IMHO should be pretty basic. There is nothing wrong with air-driven sponges so long as the tanks have cover glasses to minimize spray, evaporation, and noise. Good control valves are absolutely required. Airline tubing does require periodic replacement. PVC pipe IMHO is not the best choice, clear tubing is preferable for easier/better control of flow rates. Depending on water hardness, there may be internal scale build-up in small airline tubing or valves.
All IMHO, YMMV
Snail breeding tanks IMHO should be pretty basic. There is nothing wrong with air-driven sponges so long as the tanks have cover glasses to minimize spray, evaporation, and noise. Good control valves are absolutely required. Airline tubing does require periodic replacement. PVC pipe IMHO is not the best choice, clear tubing is preferable for easier/better control of flow rates. Depending on water hardness, there may be internal scale build-up in small airline tubing or valves.
All IMHO, YMMV
Where's the fish? - Neptune
Re: sponge filter for snail breeding
I use the word tanks very loosely, they are going into buckets with lids that will have small holes in it. The buckets are about 4-5 gallons each, I'll measure when I fill them up. And I'll get some clear tubes instead, thanks!
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RTR
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Re: sponge filter for snail breeding
I'm afraid I have to disagree again. Snails are a good puffer food for various reasons, bur the underlying premise is always that you are what your prey eats. Carnivores, piscivores, etc. rely on their prey to provide them with the nutrients which they do eat directly themselves. Marine puffers do consume green plants and macroalge directly themselves, so in the wild approach a more balanced diet than most freshwater puffers. FW puffers consume snails which consume algae, algae-eating inverts, and some green plants. FW puffers really need the plant material and algae consumed by snails to avoid deficiencies. Therefore snails are a mainstay in many of their diets.
Rearing snails in the dark is shooting yourself in the foot regarding nutrition for your FW puffers and even some marine puffers. A bucket with a lid is gong to live on prepared foods as often as not. All, repeat all of my feeder snails are reared in tanks with live plants, algae, cuttlebone, and vitamin and mineral supplements. You are what your prey eats. If you rear snails in the dark, you are wasting your time and potentially damaging your pet puffers. Snail breeding tanks should have at least 12 hours per day of balanced-spectrum lights to promote nutritious algae and plants soft enough for the snails to eat. Then you can feed your pet puffers highly nutritious snails.
My puffers do tend to be long-lived, and I have often wondered if that is due in part to my home-reared snails care and feeding. If you are going to rear snails at home, it is likely to be worth you time and effort to make them "good" (i.e., nutritious snails). Feeder snails (Ramshorns and common pond snails) are very easy. They should also be nutritious. They are another of those pesky things than need to be done right if done at all.
HTH
Rearing snails in the dark is shooting yourself in the foot regarding nutrition for your FW puffers and even some marine puffers. A bucket with a lid is gong to live on prepared foods as often as not. All, repeat all of my feeder snails are reared in tanks with live plants, algae, cuttlebone, and vitamin and mineral supplements. You are what your prey eats. If you rear snails in the dark, you are wasting your time and potentially damaging your pet puffers. Snail breeding tanks should have at least 12 hours per day of balanced-spectrum lights to promote nutritious algae and plants soft enough for the snails to eat. Then you can feed your pet puffers highly nutritious snails.
My puffers do tend to be long-lived, and I have often wondered if that is due in part to my home-reared snails care and feeding. If you are going to rear snails at home, it is likely to be worth you time and effort to make them "good" (i.e., nutritious snails). Feeder snails (Ramshorns and common pond snails) are very easy. They should also be nutritious. They are another of those pesky things than need to be done right if done at all.
HTH
Where's the fish? - Neptune
Re: sponge filter for snail breeding
Ok, what if I kept the buckets outside on the porch with the lids off so they get real sunlight? And put some plants in there? Also, as far as the vit and min supplements, are you talking about a liquid water additive, or a powder?
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RTR
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Re: sponge filter for snail breeding
I use fluorescent lighting indoors for snails - My outdoor growing season is too short to provide me with all the snails I have needed, and buckets in full sun can overheat badly in hot summers. For reliability and safety, indoors year-round is safer and more predictable for me. My aquatic plant supplements are all from Seachem. I have used theirs since they came on the market and have been well pleased with the results.
We are in the so-called mountains of Maryland, on a low spur off of Great Catoctin Mt. This is also part of the flyway, so we have quite a selection of feeder birds and migrating flocks, wild turkeys, plus numbers of raptors ...plus buzzards. You have not lived until you have cleaned up the decks (>1200 sq. ft. of them) after a few buzzards drop in to bathe. Buzzards have the worst droppings around. I don't mind wild turkeys on the the roof, the occasional hawk or owl pellets, even an odd black bear or mom and cub in the back yard (a friend had one on his well elevated deck, higher than ours), but buzzard lime is the most revolting material around. We do not do fountains, bogs, or even large bird baths anymore.
We are in the so-called mountains of Maryland, on a low spur off of Great Catoctin Mt. This is also part of the flyway, so we have quite a selection of feeder birds and migrating flocks, wild turkeys, plus numbers of raptors ...plus buzzards. You have not lived until you have cleaned up the decks (>1200 sq. ft. of them) after a few buzzards drop in to bathe. Buzzards have the worst droppings around. I don't mind wild turkeys on the the roof, the occasional hawk or owl pellets, even an odd black bear or mom and cub in the back yard (a friend had one on his well elevated deck, higher than ours), but buzzard lime is the most revolting material around. We do not do fountains, bogs, or even large bird baths anymore.
Where's the fish? - Neptune
Re: sponge filter for snail breeding
I thought you meant supplements for the snails instead of the plants!! Haha oops, silly me. I have some cuttlebones lying around so I can definitely throw one in there. My parrot hates them, she is convinced that cuttlebones are evil things that must be immediately disposed of( she throws them out of her cage, and then yells at them on the floor until I pick them up, crazy freaking bird.) I have an extra tube light fixture from a reptile cage that I am not using currently, so I can find some way to mount it above the buckets. And pick up some plants on Friday or Saturday. Do you have a recommendation on the species of plant I should put in there? Preferably one that is really hard to kill and grows quickly? As well as the type of bulb to put in the light, I think it still turns on but I'm sure the UVB has run out on it.
I was just up in Maryland a few weeks ago, there are a TON of birds, I was kinda shocked to be honest. I joked with my mom on the phone and told her she needed to go visit up there, she LOVES bird-watching. Buzzards are the fungus of birds, I worked for a wildlife rehab for awhile, so I feel your pain on that!
I was just up in Maryland a few weeks ago, there are a TON of birds, I was kinda shocked to be honest. I joked with my mom on the phone and told her she needed to go visit up there, she LOVES bird-watching. Buzzards are the fungus of birds, I worked for a wildlife rehab for awhile, so I feel your pain on that!
Re: sponge filter for snail breeding
So the snails came in, and I'm not too happy. I ordered both pond and ram shorn snails, both breeding groups with eggs. Well, I asked her to make sure to keep the 2 different kinds separate. That didn't happen at all. Everything is all mixed up, and I have no idea what to do about that. I can try to remove the bigger ones that I know are either ram shorn or pond, but what about the eggs? When the package got here, the bag was really warm so I had to get them out of there ASAP. Thoughts?
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RTR
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Re: sponge filter for snail breeding
You will have to hand-sort, but that will be a forever task. If you have enough buckets and tanks just sort as well as you can and once they start breeding, set another container with 3-8 adults of each species and develop pure containers of each to use as your future breeding stock of each type. Eventually you can use up the original mixed containers and re-set then as species-only containers.
Generally if you run snail tanks for years, one species will out-grow the other (which is unpredictable) so long-term pure species is the best way to go.
I do keep cuttlebone in snail tanks. I also keep at least one near the bird feeders. But I do have a supply of cuttlebone - a niece was in Mauritania for some years and she and her students collected them on the shore in quantity - huge cuttlebones. After a few days sun-drying, they were almost weightless and quite inexpensive to ship back here in some quanties.
Generally if you run snail tanks for years, one species will out-grow the other (which is unpredictable) so long-term pure species is the best way to go.
I do keep cuttlebone in snail tanks. I also keep at least one near the bird feeders. But I do have a supply of cuttlebone - a niece was in Mauritania for some years and she and her students collected them on the shore in quantity - huge cuttlebones. After a few days sun-drying, they were almost weightless and quite inexpensive to ship back here in some quanties.
Where's the fish? - Neptune
Re: sponge filter for snail breeding
well I sorted as best I could, I think I got atleast the majority of them sorted and put the majority of the eggs in with the ramshorn. While I was sorting I saw them lay quite a few, so I think the majority are probably those. I guess we will see in a few months:)