How to make an ecosphere?

[FishFinatic77]

I found some bladder snails on a piece of driftwood I bought from my LFS, and I couldn't bring myself to kill them. I don't want them in my tank either though, so I filled a little jar with tank water and put them in with some plants.
I want to set up an ecosphere for them to live in. How should I do that? How big should the jar be? What plants are the best to put in there? How do I prevent the snails from way overpopulating their jar?

 

[CassCats]

Id stick with hornwort or anacharis. Something fast growing and able to tolerate unheated water.

Id go with a 1 gallon minimum.

Maybe once a week add a piece of a wafer. Population will probably still grow anyways as they will eventually thrive off the biofilm

 

[Croissant]

Id stick with hornwort or anacharis. Something fast growing and able to tolerate unheated water.

Id go with a 1 gallon minimum.

Maybe once a week add a piece of a wafer. Population will probably still grow anyways as they will eventually thrive off the biofilm

Just out of curiosity, you have snail jars?

 

[FishFinatic77]

Id stick with hornwort or anacharis. Something fast growing and able to tolerate unheated water.

Id go with a 1 gallon minimum.

Maybe once a week add a piece of a wafer. Population will probably still grow anyways as they will eventually thrive off the biofilm

Okay, thank you. I'll see if I can find a jar laying around my house, and if not I'll buy one.
What do you think would be the best substrate for the jar? Could I just buy some play sand?
Do you think I could also add some shrimp in there eventually? How big would the jar have to be then?
Also, how often should I do a water change?

 

[JuiceBox52]

Okay, thank you. I'll see if I can find a jar laying around my house, and if not I'll buy one.
What do you think would be the best substrate for the jar? Could I just buy some play sand?
Do you think I could also add some shrimp in there eventually? How big would the jar have to be then?
Also, how often should I do a water change?

Play sand is fine

 

[CassCats]

yup play sand is okay.

A couple cherry shrimp could be okay in time too

Ive got a snail jar with Lymnea stagnalis snails (great pond snails)

 

[FishFinatic77]

Okay, thank you. How do you keep the snails from overpopulating the jar? I ended up with bladder snails and know they breed like crazy.
How often do you do a water change?

 

[CassCats]

I'll mostly top up the water on this one, water change every other week. These guys haven't bred though so... lol

 

[FishFinatic77]

So you think the breeding isn't actually that bad? That's a relief. Thank you so much!

 

[CassCats]

So you think the breeding isn't actually that bad? That's a relief. Thank you so much!

The snails i have in the jar arent bladder snails, theyre slower breeders. These are lymnea stagnalis

Bladder snails... ive left one in a pail of water. 2 weeks later there were 30 lol I didn't even feed them

 

[FishFinatic77]

The snails i have in the jar arent bladder snails, theyre slower breeders.

Bladder snails... ive left one in a pail of water. 2 weeks later there were 30 lol I didn't even feed them

What do you think I should do with these then? I really don't want to kill them if it's not necessary.

 

[CassCats]

Its no issue to keep them if you want, you can always give away to local hobbyists who keep loaches or puffers too if you find they become too much. Theyre cute, I personally like them.

 

[FishFinatic77]

Its no issue to keep them if you want, you can always give away to local hobbyists who keep loaches or puffers too if you find they become too much. Theyre cute, I personally like them.

Okay, I'll keep them and see what happens. This is going to sound so weird, but I've kind of grown attached to them. It's fun to watch them moving around their temporary little home. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[JuiceBox52]

Okay, I'll keep them and see what happens. This is going to sound so weird, but I've kind of grown attached to them. It's fun to watch them moving around their temporary little home. Thank you so much for your help!

Not weird at all I like mine too

 

[CassCats]

Snails are really cute and interesting. There's no harm in enjoying them too.

Ive got a big bladder snail in my fry tank as cleaner, I named it Gertrude!