[tkc187]

My Astrea and Margarita snails keep dying, and I don't think it's because of old age, I think it's because of lack of nutrition for them in the aquarium. My FO tank has been up and running for over 6 months and the fish are healthy.

Has anyone tried or heard of feeding the snails a slice of cucumber?

Please don't flame me for asking, I haven't tried it yet... and if this is an outragous idea, then what can I feed my snails to keep them alive?

[leebca]

You don't/didn't mention the size of the snail population. However, snails usually will 'level off' their population based upon the available food. If the aquarium doesn't have the food for them, then you don't need them. However, usually, there is some microscopic algae and organisms in the aquarium for some to live on.

If all the snails are dying then you could be a victim of getting snails that are not technically tropical. Many of those snails come from Florida or Mexican waters which are cooler. In our tropical marine aquariums, these snails slowly cook to death. It takes just about 4 to 8 months for these kinds of snails to die. That could be the problem.

I should think the algae eating snails would prefer microscopic algae to chunks of vegetables.

[tkc187]

Well, I have a 25 gallon tank and I want to have 15-20 snails...

[tkc187]

The source of the question is because I was told by a freshwater owner that he feeds his snails garden cucumbers, and you should see the size of these things!!

[leebca]

Snails produce nitrogen waste. That is, the more snails the less fish the system can support.

Most aquarists keep snails for the control of micro algae and other micro life. So we don't tend to talk in terms of wanting to keep alive a certain number -- we keep what's needed. If the system can't support the snails, we are happy because that means the marine system is stabilized, likely mature, and doesn't provide enough nutrients to grow the things that snails eat.

As I mentioned before, the snails we keep eat microbial lifeforms. We usually don't invite the snails that eat macro algae, for example, into our aquariums. Those kinds of snails would eat algae sheets, Nori, and even Romaine lettuce and perhaps cucumber. But the herbivore snails we tend to keep eat very small algae.

You can probably tell us! See if your snails will eat the cucumber. Just don't let it stay in the aquarium for too long of time, or rot there.