Mystery snail is a non-aggressive peaceful aquatic snail. They have good eating habits which make them the first choice of the hobbyists. Mystery snails eat tank algae as well as other food.
Mystery snails have a strong sense of smell which helps them to find out the location of food. Sometimes you will see that your mystery snail is overeating.
They finish the food very fast after putting it in the tank. And if the food is calcium rich, mystery snails will consume a large amount of it.
Overeating makes the mystery snail fatty which creates a problem to fit them into their shell.
However, in this article I will discuss how mystery snails overeat and how often you should feed them.
What Do Mystery Snails Eat?
Every pet has a different eating habit. It is better to study about pet eating habits before purchasing one. Mystery snail is an optimistic scavenger and eats various types of food.
Generally mystery snails are familiar as an algae eater. But they eat other food also.Except algae mystery snails eat meat, plants, biofilm and vegetables.
As mystery snails eat both meat and plants they are known as omnivores. Also mystery snails need to eat calcium rich food to keep their shell strong.
Mystery snails use their radula to consume food. In radula there are thousands of small microscopic teeth which help to scrape up the plants.
However, they eat vegetables such as zucchini, cucumber, lettuce, carrot as well as spinach. Furthermore, aquatic snails also eat fish flakes, algae wafers and pellets.
In many pet store mystery snails are available as aquarists like to keep them to get assistance to keep their tank clean by eating tank algae and fish leftovers.
Can Mystery Snails Overeat
Yes, mystery snails can overeat. Because it is like other animal and it have very strong smell sense to search the food. If it get too much food it will consume a lot of food.
Also if the food is calcium rich they will consume a lot of food. As a result it will face oversize and stomach ache problems.
How to know if a Mystery Snail is overeating?
Mystery snails’ feeding habits vary in their different types as well as ingest also. That’s why you need to monitor your mystery snail feeding behavior.
If you have a baby mystery snail you can put a tablespoon of fish food or 1 lettuce leaf and monitor closely how much you eat your snail within a day.
If you see that your snail finishes the food very quickly, add another portion. In this case if you experience the same result, you can decide that the mystery snail is overeating.
Or if your snail is big, put in more food and observe the feeding time. For instance if you experience that your snail finishes the food very quickly you can think that they are overeating.
Also observing your mystery snail size you can understand that your snail is overeating.
However, do not keep your snail hungry. Always put the correct number of food for your mystery snail. You should keep more food in a new tank over a tank that has algae, plants and biofilm.
And the truth is that a big mystery snail will consume more food compared to a small mystery snail.
Also keep in mind that overeating makes a mystery snail fat very fast and as a result they can not fit properly into their shell. Because their shells need time to grow bigger.
How Often Should you Feed your Mystery Snails?
Mystery snail consume various types of food. You need to focus some point to know how often should you feed your snail.
Your feeding time can vary depend on snail size, number of snail in the tank, tank situation, feeding amount etc.
Generally, it is advisable that you feed your mystery snail two times daily and as much as they can consume within 1 or 3 minutes.
To observe how much time it takes your snail to consume the food, first put 1 or 2 tablespoons of food such as fish food in your tank.
It will help you know how much food they need per day. And you will feed your mystery snail following the time and food quantity.
Also if your mystery snail is big it will consume more food compared to a small mystery snail. This situation you should put more food for your snail.
However, sometimes hobbyists keep a large number of mystery snails. For instance, you should put more food for mystery snails.
And if your tank is new you need to put in a big amount of food.
Otherwise, if your tank is full with plants, algae, and biofilm you can put a little amount of food for your mystery snail. Because they will consume the plant, algae also.
How Long Can Mystery Snails Go Without Food
Mystery snails can go without food for some time or some hours. If the mystery snail does not feel comfortable it will go back to its shell and stay without food until the environment is ok.
Also it can sleep 13 hours without eating and moving. And after waking up it will start eating and moving.
However, generally mystery snails can live without food for a week. And if you do not put any kind of food for your mystery snail they will eat dead plants, dead fish, biofilm and algae.
Also if your tank is new and they do not get this food source they will eat your live plants. Finally, if your tank do not have any kind of food around 2 weeks your mystery snail will die for hunger
By the way, you should feed your mystery snail properly. Though mystery snails can live without food for one or two weeks but do not keep them hungry, because mystery snails are similar to other pets.
Final Words
Mystery snails are just like other animals. So it can overeat if it gets too much food. As well as overeating have a negative impact on the mystery snail. It increases sanil size and faces problems fitting into its shell.
Also mystery snail face stomach aches because of overeating. That’s why you should put the right amount of food in the tank so that they can not overeat.
And if they do not get excess food they will not overeat. However, always take care of your aquatic snails and put necessary food in your snail tank. And feed calcium rich food to your snail to make their shell strong.
Do not keep them hungry or overfeeded. Always keep focus that your snail consumes around 10 percent food of its weight.