Nerite growth question

So... I bought some nerites on Aquabid, and they arrived looking great! i got some black spiky ones and some black and yellow/greenish striped ones. is it obvious yet that i know nothing about snails?

well, the nerites have grown a LOT in the past week. in just one week i'd say the shell on one spiky guy has a half inch of growth on it. normally i'd think that's good, but this snail arrived with a shell that was textured only with tiny little bumps (and the spikes) and the new growth has horizontal ripples on it with no bumps. my params are great, with hard/alkaline water from the city, and the PH is between 7.8 and 8. that's just how it comes.

is there some sort of supplement i can or should use?

on a side note, i bought some plants from the LFS and asked to get ones infested with baby snails for my clown loach to munch on. some of them grew up, and i think they're malaysian trumpet snails. SCORE!

I'll post pics of everything tomorrow when i can get a hold of my roommate's fancy gabillion megabite camera. mine can't focus on snails =)

Aren't nerites so cool? I have no idea what's up with that kind of growth rate. I feed mine algae wafers and blanched zucchini and they are doing well. I had read you could add cuttlebone to your tank for them to munch on for extra calcium. I tried it and mine never touched it. Good luck with your new guys!

I use seasalt (1 tbsp per 5G) and coral-vite (it was on clearance. My marimino moss loves it!) in my tanks. My original zebra nerites have grown nicely with good shells. Granted, the seasalt contains natural buffers, Ca and Carbonates - so it gives them the minerals they need.

Glabe wrote:

on a side note, i bought some plants from the LFS and asked to get ones infested with baby snails for my clown loach to munch on. some of them grew up, and i think they're malaysian trumpet snails. SCORE!

Wellllll....don't be too excited just yet. Unfortunately the MTS shell is a bit too hard for the clown loach. :o( Sry. You really want to look for Bladder or Pond snails for them.

As for supplimenting for the snails, Calcium enriched foods are a plus. You can add some cuttlebone to the tank if you want. There are some other options for making DIY foods with Calcium powder and even plaster of paris.