My first (four) yellow apple snails!

[Spiritofthesoul]

Firstly I would like to say thanks to MFK member msjinkzd for giving my advice on keeping yellow apple snails with bichirs. Also to all of you who posted in my other thread.

Finally my LFS got a shipment of those little guys and sold them at $1 each. I got 4 of them, decent size not to become fish food.

They open up after 5 mins. My 3 little bichirs are circling it and occasionally poking them with their nostrils. I bet they are curious at their new tankmates.

After realising that they are not as good as hikari sinking pellets, the bichirs started to ignore them (good news). Here are the pics of the snails.

Do they eat Hikari sinking pellets too?

 

[Lupin]

Meh. They will eat just about anything except healthy plants. Give them caltrate from time to time or any calcium enriched foods.

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Ok thanks lupin

Calcium for their shells?

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

And also does adding aquarium salt like API salt? Heard they contain trace amount of calcium inside

 

[Miguel]

Good luck.

Mine die, all of them, eventually. I find them dead on the bottom or floating.

I think cichlids kill them.

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Update

I love those little critters so much that I asked my father to buy 4 more of them on his way back home.

He forgot that I wanted the yellow ones and got me these. What species are those?

 

[Lupin]

They're still Pomacea diffusa but the color variant is blue. I'll get you the color chart.

http://applesnail.net/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19349

 

[Lupin]

And also does adding aquarium salt like API salt? Heard they contain trace amount of calcium inside

No need for salt.

Yes, calcium will help thicken their shells. Snails with extremely thin shells are prone to injuries. Keep temperature at least 72-78 degrees Fahrenheit. A tad cold but it will prolong their life since diffusas cannot outlive 2-3 years max at most. The canaliculata complex on the other hand, can manage up to 10 years.

 

[msjinkzd]

They look to be in good condition! The blues are nice as well as the golds. Be prepared for them to breed. They will lay eggs out of the waterline. Each egg clutch can produce up to 200 baby snails, so its a good idea to remove them, crush them, and get rid of the remnants of the clutches.

A calcium rich diet is important for their shell development. I don't like caltrate as it clouds teh water. I prefer to use kens vegetable sticks with added calcium or calcium rich vegetables (frozen french cut green beans are the easiest for me).

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Thanks for the chart lupin. love those guys. Unfortunately 2 of the yellow ones died I accidently crushed one when moving the driftwood and the other got picked by the bichirs. Currently my tank has 2 yellow and 4 blues ones. I think they have already established their mark in the tank now as the bichirs now completely ignore them. I keep my tank at 82.4F since my bichirs prefer that temp. Hope it isn't gonna affect the snails. msjinkzd, do you think the bichirs would snack on those eggs?