# What to feed nerite snails?



## Leah

I have some nerite snails (Clithion Corona) that have done such an excellent job of cleaning the tanks that they are in that I think I had better feed them. I saw a post on here before on this topic, but cannot find it now. One suggestion that I remembered was spinach, so I tried that, but they did not touch it. Other suggestions, please?

(Have to comment that I feel mildly guilty about trying to take good care of these while routinely offing any pond snails I see....)

Thank you,
Leah


----------



## ZID ZULANDER

I use carrots or cucumber..


----------



## 10gallonplanted

Algae wafers are the easiest way to feed snails. Cucumber, zucchini, squash, pees without shells.. Uhh almost anything except soy lol.


----------



## Leah

ZID ZULANDER said:


> I use carrots or cucumber..


 I know it's astounding that I have to ask, but do you just put in thin slices of the carrot? Raw?

Thanks,
Leah


----------



## Leah

10gallonplanted said:


> Algae wafers are the easiest way to feed snails. Cucumber, zucchini, squash, pees without shells.. Uhh almost anything except soy lol.


Thank you! I'm afraid that the betta in one of the tanks will eat the algae wafer--I think I've read about people having problems with that--but I'll use that in the other tank.

Leah


----------



## ZID ZULANDER

yes raw. I use the baby carrots as they will sink easy and its not too much but you could just cut off a piece and put it in there.



Leah said:


> I know it's astounding that I have to ask, but do you just put in thin slices of the carrot? Raw?
> 
> Thanks,
> Leah


----------



## somewhatshocked

When my snails (all varieties - especially Ramshorns, which love to eat the heck out of my Frogbit) don't have enough crud to eat, I make snail jello and it's worked out pretty well for a few years. I recommend googling for recipes you prefer.

Here's mine, in case anyone wants to give it a shot:

1 tiny jar of low sugar (unsweetened, if possible), low sodium, organic baby food that's high in calcium and protein - usually carrot or green veggies

2 handfuls of organic spinach

Half a crushed up cuttle bone (or a couple teaspoons of calcium powder if you're feeling spendy)

Add your favorite flaked fish food and sinking algae pellets (or even seaweed)

Bit of water

For later: 1 packet gelatin

To make it: Mix it up with a blender. Once mixed up nicely, pour into a microwave-safe container and heat it up. Then stir in a packet of gelatin until dissolved. Try hard to avoid any bubbles. 

Stick in the fridge until solidified, cut into tiny little cubes, drop in a zip top baggy and freeze. 

Take them out and feed as you see fit. I usually drop a small cube into my tanks with tons of snails every couple days. After a few hours, I use a turkey baster to remove whatever's left (rare for leftovers). All my critters love the junk.


----------



## asukawashere

I just use Ken's veggie sticks with calcium. Easy to get, easy to drop in the tank, and snails love it.  As do my shrimp. And plecos. And mollies.


----------



## deleted_user_12

somewhatshocked said:


> When my snails (all varieties - especially Ramshorns, which love to eat the heck out of my Frogbit) don't have enough crud to eat, I make snail jello and it's worked out pretty well for a few years. I recommend googling for recipes you prefer.
> 
> Here's mine, in case anyone wants to give it a shot:
> 
> 1 tiny jar of low sugar (unsweetened, if possible), low sodium, organic baby food that's high in calcium and protein - usually carrot or green veggies
> 
> 2 handfuls of organic spinach
> 
> Half a crushed up cuttle bone (or a couple teaspoons of calcium powder if you're feeling spendy)
> 
> Add your favorite flaked fish food and sinking algae pellets (or even seaweed)
> 
> Bit of water
> 
> For later: 1 packet gelatin
> 
> To make it: Mix it up with a blender. Once mixed up nicely, pour into a microwave-safe container and heat it up. Then stir in a packet of gelatin until dissolved. Try hard to avoid any bubbles.
> 
> Stick in the fridge until solidified, cut into tiny little cubes, drop in a zip top baggy and freeze.
> 
> Take them out and feed as you see fit. I usually drop a small cube into my tanks with tons of snails every couple days. After a few hours, I use a turkey baster to remove whatever's left (rare for leftovers). All my critters love the junk.


wow thats awesome ive never made my own cubes i like your crack jack


----------



## somewhatshocked

My apologies! Meant to include a photograph of snail reaction to the jello cubes I make. This is in a "rescue" tank that I tend to over feed and they still go crazy over it.

Here's a phone shot (taken less than a minute after dropping it in) of Ramshorns, soon-to-be berried cherries, some shrimplets that don't show up in the pic and even some MTS that crawled out of the sand for a nibble:










Shortly after that image was snapped, about a hundred Ramshorns and pond snails were trucking it to om nom nom.


----------



## Leah

Thank you for all of the suggestions! I love the recipe for the homemade food and the photo of the snails and shrimp glomming onto some of it. I'm not so good about cooking for myself and the other human inhabitants of the household, however, so I'm not going to try it at the moment. I think it will be my excuse to order some food from Ken's.

In the meantime, they haven't touched the carrot pieces that I put in there, so there might be more algae left than I can see. At least I know they aren't starving....

Thanks,
Leah


----------



## gtu2004

somewhatshocked said:


> When my snails (all varieties - especially Ramshorns, which love to eat the heck out of my Frogbit) don't have enough crud to eat, I make snail jello and it's worked out pretty well for a few years. I recommend googling for recipes you prefer.
> 
> Here's mine, in case anyone wants to give it a shot:
> 
> 1 tiny jar of low sugar (unsweetened, if possible), low sodium, organic baby food that's high in calcium and protein - usually carrot or green veggies
> 
> 2 handfuls of organic spinach
> 
> Half a crushed up cuttle bone (or a couple teaspoons of calcium powder if you're feeling spendy)
> 
> Add your favorite flaked fish food and sinking algae pellets (or even seaweed)
> 
> Bit of water
> 
> For later: 1 packet gelatin
> 
> To make it: Mix it up with a blender. Once mixed up nicely, pour into a microwave-safe container and heat it up. Then stir in a packet of gelatin until dissolved. Try hard to avoid any bubbles.
> 
> Stick in the fridge until solidified, cut into tiny little cubes, drop in a zip top baggy and freeze.
> 
> Take them out and feed as you see fit. I usually drop a small cube into my tanks with tons of snails every couple days. After a few hours, I use a turkey baster to remove whatever's left (rare for leftovers). All my critters love the junk.


do you mix the gelatine with a little water first or just dump straight into the microwave-safe container and stir?


----------



## boothie

Good share for the snello. I have a question about it. I have konjac powder, ground eggshells. Wondering about using the konjac instead of the animal based gelatin and the ground eggshells (also calcium carbonate) instead of the cuttlebone. The benefit of konjac is that it does not require heating. Probably mix all the dry ingredients,including the konjac and slowly pour into a bit of water while mixing. Has anyone tried this?


----------



## jrh

Just made this recipe last night.

The only baby food I could find that I knew was safe was pure carrots. Added organic greens, calcium, flake food, and algae wafers and a little water and blended til it was nice and gross looking.

Then into a corelle bowl and microwaved for 1min. Then slowly added the gelatin, mixing everything around with the back of a spoon. This was the most tedious part.

Then I spread it into a sheet and let set till firm. I haven't cut it up yet, but that shouldn't be a problem.

I'll have to wait till the shrimp/snail tank lights go on before I can see if the shrimps and snails like it. 



gtu2004 said:


> do you mix the gelatine with a little water first or just dump straight into the microwave-safe container and stir?


----------



## WaterLife

boothie said:


> Good share for the snello. I have a question about it. I have konjac powder, ground eggshells. Wondering about using the konjac instead of the animal based gelatin and the ground eggshells (also calcium carbonate) instead of the cuttlebone. The benefit of konjac is that it does not require heating. Probably mix all the dry ingredients,including the konjac and slowly pour into a bit of water while mixing. Has anyone tried this?


Well I haven't used Konjac powder before, but found this info about it. http://www.journal.au.edu/au_techno/2002/jan2002/article6.pdf
Seem like it should work, but haven't used it myself so don't know how well it works.

Agar Agar is also a common gelatin alternative. It doesn't have to be boiled/heated either and can set at room temp in an hour or so usually from what I've heard. Though placing it in the fridge or freezer would set it faster (not sure if lower temps would make the gel harder). I have not personally used this either so I don't know how easy it would be to mix the ingredients, but sounds like it would work okay.

Regarding crushed eggshells in place of cuttlebone, they are both Calcium Carbonate so they both are the same thing. You can use crushed oysters shells or coral as well. Though might be worth mentioning that smaller crushed up pieces have more surface area so they dissolve faster if you are leaving them exposed to the water.

By the way, this thread was last commented on back in 2012, 4 years ago.


----------



## PickieBee

Mine don't seem to like snello or carrots but really enjoy blanched zucchini and peeled lima beans. They never get a chance at shelled peas because the Amanos grab them and run away with them.


----------



## Saxtonhill

Will try and make that "Snail Jello" recipe


----------



## kozlany

I've never had a nerite eat anything other than algae.


----------

