Lots Of Question About Mystery Snails

[finchgoldfishkeeper]

i recently purshed 2 snails one being a black mystery shell with a white shell and a golden golden mystery snail with a brown shell.

First off why does my golden snail keep his atenae tucked in his shell around his eyes like a ram???

Second why is my black mystery snail's activitymcuh less than the golden one???

Third i hav read alot about the importance of calcium to snails can i jsut put jurassic cal into the water of the tank or does the calcium have to be in sinkable???

Last the goden snail has almost a crustyness to the tip of his shell will this affect him at all???

[Fishmerised]

A good source of calcium for snails is cuttlefish bone (like birds use to sharpen their beaks) you can get it cheaply at the pet store. Soak it in very hot water for 15 minutes or so until it gets waterlogged and sinks. You can just put in in the tank and it will dissolve slowly plus the snails can eat it if they need to.

Some snails stay well hidden or protected until they figure out they are safe from pecking fish, etc, and different snails have varying activity levels at different times.

I know what you mean about the crustiness on the tip of the shell, one of mine has that too and I believe it is due to calcium deficiency when small, or if I'm thinking of something else it could be due to sucking catfish such as plecos or SAEs sucking the shell too much. All you can do is make sure the snails have plenty of calcium and keep them safe from predators.

One thing that surprised me about snails is how much they eat, they like peas and zucchini, algae wafers and sinking pellets such as Wardleys Shrimp Pellets (their fav) and Nutrafin Basic Bottomfeeder Pellets. Good luck with them.

[finchgoldfishkeeper]

thanx ill try to find some of that cuttle bone

[alexiscool]

You could always feed them turtle food. it is full of calcium

[finchgoldfishkeeper]

i actually hav turtles so that would work great

[Lady_Dodecagon]

The best thing that I have found to keep the calcium levels up in your tank so that your snails will grow strong, healthy shells is to use Kent liquid calcium, I used to put about 10 drop in my snail tanks every night.