Are spixi snails preditory?

I can now confirm from my own observations that Spixi are predatory against Ramshorn. Several times I have caught a 1cm Spixi half way in a Ramshorn 2cm shell, while the Ramshorn had retreated deeper inside. I was hoping to keep them together in my invert tank, but I'll probably keep just the Spixi there, and move the Ramshorn back to my nano community tank. I like both my Spixi and Ramshorn, but will just have to keep them apart from now on I noticed the Spixi have a defensive advantage over the Ramshorn, as the Spixi seem to have a flip top lid then can close over their shell, while a Ramshorns soft flesh stays exposed. Spixi move about 10 times faster than Ramshorn, so they probably have stronger muscles as well. This tank has no gravel, so I'm able to fairly test if MTS and Spixi have any problems with each other, and thus far they seem to coexist just fine. Spixi seem to treat MTS like another rock in the tank, and are seen cleaning the MTS shell without investigating it's contents.

crazie, Spixi don't eat the mini-ramshorns with those flat against the glass shells. I put 7 adult spixis in a 30gal tank full of those 3mm snails, and they didn't go for them even after weeks of waiting, and underfeeding the tank. I actually watched Spixis crawl right over those 3mm ramshorns without even a pause.

in the end, the only way I could kill those little snails was to remove all my fish and spixis, drain all but 3" of the water, then treat all the plants and gravel left in my tank with a double concentration of H202, or 1 tablespoon of H202 per 2 gallons of water (still in my tank), twice over the course of a 24 hour period (with filter and lights left off). it sounds like a lot of work; but now all those little snails are finally gone, as well as whatever algae traces were there, and I didn't have to uproot all my plant formations.

I have Spixi's in my 20 Gallon planted tank... My problem is that they seem to be dieing... Should I be giving them some sort of Calcium? I have heard of using the "vacation feed tabs" that you buy for fish. I don't have any pics of them, but, their shells seem to be deteriorating rapidly! They don't look as nice as they did when I hatched them, & I don't seem to be having as many eggs/babies in the tank either. Is there a chance that my new aquisition might be eating them or something? The newest in the tank are 2 Black Kuhli Loaches... They are still young & I don't see them that often, go figure... I put them in a tank with dark substrate... :icon_roll

Anyway, Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to give!

Sorry I didn't leave the parameters of my water. I'll have to get them tonight. I know for a while I neglected the tank when I bought my house & I was doing repairs to it... That probably has the most to do with it!

... Seeing it was Valentines Day, I didn't get to check the parameters of the water lastnight. I'll have to check it out tonight!

I did notice that I do still have about 10 Spixi's out of 20 or so left in the tank... I thought they had all perished except 4-5 of them. As far as the Calcium goes, will it effect the fish & Shrimp? I have Cherry shrimp, Ghost shrimp, a couple Cory's, a couple Ottos, a SAE, & a 4-5 Tetras of some sort in there. It is planted, with only one type of Hygro (I was told it was Sunset Hygro, but I have yet to see alot of the Red coloring that it should have...). I'm looking into getting a coulpe more types of plants in the tank, now that I have time to care for it.

I do appreciate the help you guys are giving me! I hope you don't think I'm a Butthead! :icon_redf I just haven't had ANY time to do anyting other than getting the new house in order.

There's also a nice amount of calcium in Sera Raffy Mineral pellets meant for turtles. But the most important thing is to keep pH over 7 if you want to keep the snail shells intact. Are you adding CO2?

Since you seem to have some inhabitants which would prefer pH under 7, maybe you should try to keep the spixis in their own tank in which you could use coral sand as the substrate which raises both pH and GH (in the long run the effect might lessen, but still it's better than just regular sand and easier than adding baking soda and calcium after every water change). Well, you might already have hard tap water and the pH stays over 7 naturally if you don't add CO2, then it would be even easier.

But if you want to keep the snails in a tank with pH under 7, it's really important to offer them calcium in their food, Sera Raffy Mineral I mentioned is a nice one because it floats and usually only snails are interested in those floating pellets (well, shrimp will be too). Weekend feeders are the same, but since the sink, shrimp and fish will be interested in them too.

There's also special home made snail food available from hobbyists in which they have added calcium and other yummies. You can find some at least from aquabid.

Well, that's all I could say before seeing the water parameters.