The Puffer Forum

tranceFusion, what kind of snails do you have in there? The smudges on the front pane looks kind of like MTS. If so, we suggest not feeding puffers with them, as their shells are a bit too hard and may chip the puffer's teeth.

UberDave wrote:You could keep ghost shrimp in there. I keep them in mine until I feed them to my puffers.

I have had 3 ghost shrimp in with my fig 8 since I got him a few weeks ago.. he hasn't eaten them yet. I don't know if they are too big or what, but I haven't heard of that stopping anyone else's puffers. He loves black worms, frozen krill, and pond snails though!

spoot wrote:tranceFusion, what kind of snails do you have in there? The smudges on the front pane looks kind of like MTS. If so, we suggest not feeding puffers with them, as their shells are a bit too hard and may chip the puffer's teeth.

nah, they are pond snails.. like a football shape with a tiny point on the end. When I added the plants I went over them very well to get rid of any hitchhiking trumpets and ramshorn snails.

Hey, I'm new here but need a hand with snail breeding. I've been reading up on this site, other sites, and your posts but I have a question that I haven't found the answer to. I have a 5 gallon mini-bow that I've set up to breed snails in. I've got my heater going (around 80F) and a HOB filter and I've had fish in this tank before. My question is, the lighting hood that comes with it broke on me a few months ago and a new light bulb wasn't the solution. I've spent some solid time trying to see if my LFS can order a lid direct from the wholesaler and let's just say it was a lesson in bureaucracy. Bottom line: I can't have a light in the tank. It is right by a window though. Will the snails be able to breed with only direct sunlight coming in from the side or will they need an overhead light on during the day to ensure they breed? Thank you.

Hey, I'm new here but need a hand with snail breeding. I've been reading up on this site, other sites, and your posts but I have a question that I haven't found the answer to. I have a 5 gallon mini-bow that I've set up to breed snails in. I've got my heater going (around 80F) and a HOB filter and I've had fish in this tank before. My question is, the lighting hood that comes with it broke on me a few months ago and a new light bulb wasn't the solution. I've spent some solid time trying to see if my LFS can order a lid direct from the wholesaler and let's just say it was a lesson in bureaucracy. Bottom line: I can't have a light in the tank. It is right by a window though. Will the snails be able to breed with only direct sunlight coming in from the side or will they need an overhead light on during the day to ensure they breed? Thank you.

sorry about the double post, my compu was acting up.

I would post a new thread on this to get more replies.

In my findings snail will reproduce so long as they are in water... it's just with better conditions they will reproduce faster. I had a 2.5g at work for a betta, the betta died a few months back and I just sorta sat the tank aside in an area of very little light. When I went to bring the tank home for a baby feeder guppies I found the few snails that were left in there bred into maybe a dozen.. but once I got it home got some fresh water and a mini light they started breeding faster. Now in comparison, the 29g "food tank" I have has so many snails I can't count. All because the conditions are great.

In short, IMHO general room lighting will be fine for breeding snails. they are a no brainer breeding species that provides toooons of free food for our lovable little puffers.

Puffer?Ihardlyknower

I'm going to reply: I breed mine in a 5G tank with indirect sun light, a sponge filter and a heater to keep a good temp. That's all and my snails breed like crazy! Don't worry about lightning, indirect sun light is enough.

Thanks a lot for everyone's input. I'll keep them in high quality water conditions but minus the overhead light and I'll report back later with the results.

What's everyone's opinion on the optimum temperature for breading pond snails. I have it at 80 degrees F right now, but I was wondering what people thought about increasing it a few degrees to encourage faster snail growth/reproduction.

studmaster wrote:What's everyone's opinion on the optimum temperature for breading pond snails. I have it at 80 degrees F right now, but I was wondering what people thought about increasing it a few degrees to encourage faster snail growth/reproduction.

I have a 10 gallon tank just for snail breeding. I leave my temperature in my tank 74-76 f. I tried to breed them in warmer temperatures but I was unsucessful.