F8's made a discovery - and some questions

[Limi310]

Tonight my F8's have discovered that ghost shrimp are food . I am so proud! They were all sharing very nicely *thumbsups

To those of you that keep these guys, how often do you feed them? I've been feeding every day alternating between frozen brine shrimp and blood worms. It doesn't take very much for their little bellies to get nice and round. I've been trying to breed snails in my 10gal (not the dwarf tank) and no luck so far, they keep disapearing - do killies eat snails? I think I will ask that in the Killi section.

And how quickly do they grow?

Thanks!!!

 

[MOsborne05]

Mine haven't grown very much and I've had them for 4-5 months now. I feed mine every day, a mixture of baby shrimp, bloodworms and flake. They also get 6-8 snails once a week and a mussle, right before a water change. When I make it to the lfs I always pick them up some ghost shrimp, which they love

The secret to snail breeding is overfeeding, so its better to have a seperate tank for them. Before I overfed, the eggs used to disappear too. I'm not sure if it was the betta or the snails themselves, but once I started overfeeding they multiplied like crazy. Also, warmer temps make them breed more because they are more active so keep the tank around 78 degrees.

 

[Limi310]

Hmmm...where to fit a snail tank...........I guess I could just try it in a bowl or jar. I am going to have to go to the lfs and pick some snails out of their plant tank. When I said they are disapearing, I also meant the whole snail is gone. I had 3 in the 10, but now I can't find any.
Feeding sounds good then, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overdoing it............they are so cute it's hard to resist. I'm going to get more ghost shrimp this weekend.

MOsborne: Just out of curiosity, what are the dimensions of your tank? Wondering how it compares to my 37, footprint wise and all. Thanks!!!

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

i always have ghost shrimp and snails in the tank for them. but i just got done feeding them bloodworms for the first time! they really liked them. i just defrosted a small part of a cube by putting it in a spoon and adding a couple drops of warm water. it was awesome. mine havent grown lengthwise yet, although their bellies are much rounder. i had this one (he's slow) who couldnt figure out how to eat it at first and the other two just slurped them up. mine discovered ghost shrimp the first night. i had about 10 at first but now there is only one, that hides in the plant all the time. he probably saw what happened to his buddies and wised up.

 

[punkrockfish]

recipe for breeding snails: take a big jar or plastic container, fill with water, add some snails, put some boiled lettuce, algae wafers, bunch of flake food, or whatever you got some extra of b/c snails eat anything. the more you feed, the more they breed. do some water changes so it doesnt get too dirty, and then wait for the snails.

 

[MOsborne05]

LOL, I have a slow puffer too yahoo. The other two are gobbling up all of the food and he's still swimming around looking at me

My tank is 36"L x 12"W x 20"D

 

[f8fan]

I can't get snails here in Maine so I do the best I can with other crunchy food.
Here's my feeding schedule for my little guys...
one night I feed them frozen krill with a few freeze dried bloodworms.
next night I feed them freeze dried krill with a few freeze dried bloodworms.
next night I feed them just a few freeze dried krill.
next night I don't feed them at all and let their little tummies clear out.
then back to the frozen krill, etc.
The point is, I make sure one day a week they have no food to clear out their systems. They really need crunchy stuff in their diets. Bloodworms are a great treat but way too high in protein for a staple food, and mine wont touch flakes.
Your little puffers are so tiny and cute! Mine are all full grown (3 inches).

 

[Limi310]

Oh, I forgot to say the frozen brine shrimp is enhanced with spirulina, so they are getting veggies too that way. Once I get a stable snail supply going I will try those. I'll probably go this weekend and get some of that frozen krill and a variety of things because my dwarfs will only eat bloodworms so I want to get them to try something else. The F8's don't seem to be too picky.

I didn't feed them tonight to clear out their systems......their bellies were still a bit round from that ghost shrimp last night, it was a rather large one. The only thing that was left of it this morning was a bit of the shell.

Thanks for the snail tips punkrockfish, I am going to try that.

 

[Fishchaser]

yeah that helped me out alot too i just started a breeding snail tank and i will use those tips