# Pond/Bladder Snails



## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

I'm looking to get a dwarf puffer in the future (once the tank is planted and cycled) and obviously I'll need a steady snail population going on. I got a bunch of pond or bladder snails from the pet store today and they're really cute. I can't tell the difference but they were free so I took them anyway. I don't really know what to do with them other than put them in a container of conditioned water. 

Do they need a heater or a filter? 
What do they eat? 

I tried giving them some flakes but they haven't noticed. Platies are getting cucumber for breakfast tomorrow so I'll try some with the snails too. 

How big to they get? 

My group varies in size, some are considerably smaller than others. Still nowhere near the size of my red spotted snail though. How big must they be before they breed? 

Is there anything else I should know about them?


----------



## NAH23 (Jan 12, 2015)

They don't need a heater, filter yes, they will eat pretty much anything ( mine eat whatever my fish miss) As long as they are fed well they will reproduce like crazy. Unsure how big they get as there are different varieties as well. Put them in with the platties and your numbers will increase in no time, i started off with 3 and now have about 100 (which i thin out by throwing in the turtle tank) that i can visibly see plus many more babies.


----------



## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

I'll move some to the 15 gallon then. I'm just worried about them escaping as it doesn't have a lid and I don't want snails all over my furniture... Would it be suitable to feed them a variety of fruit and veg? My platies generally don't miss any flakes or pellets, they're a very hungry bunch lol. They're not too interested in veggies though so I think they would leave them for the snails. 

I think some have grown, they look bigger than what they were a couple of days ago. I have a couple that are fairly large (compared to others) and there are different colours too!


----------



## NAH23 (Jan 12, 2015)

Blanched vegetables work great with snails, many people will use blanched zucchini or cucumber at night as a snail trap and will remove the piece when its full of them


----------

