Growing Algae For Nerite Snails

Hello friends! For the past several months, I've been trying to grow algae for my nerite snails. They primarily eat algae, biofilm, diatoms, and rotting plant matter, but my aquarium doesn't really grow much algae.

So I put a jar with water, rocks, and liquid aquarium plant fertilizer (that is safe for fish and snails) in a windowsill. I started this back in January I think, and at first I got some diatoms in the jar, but no algae. Finally as the days started getting longer, I got some algae! Hooray!

Hello, green water!

Usually aquarists are trying to get rid of algae because they don't find it aesthetic, but I'm trying to grow it to make sure my snail friends have healthy food!

So today I moved a couple of rocks from the jar into the aquarium, and switched another rock from the aquarium into the jar to grow more algae.

The rock in the front right side, and the second rock back on the left side, are the algae rocks

I'm so glad this finally worked. Nerites are all wild caught, since humans haven't quite figured out how to set up an arrangement where their babies will hatch, though they keep trying. So they are notorious for not being very interested in human food offerings, the way that other snails are. Sometimes my two might snack on a green bean or a calcium chip, but not often. They primarily eat the catappa leaves and mopani wood, in addition to what little algae, biofilm, and diatoms appear in the tank.

Macha enjoying the mopani wood

Sanglainn enjoying a calcium chip

So if you've ever thought about purposefully growing algae for your snail friends, it works! It just needs sufficient sunlight. :)

The aquarium today

Thanks for reaching and have a wonderful day!