Feeding one pipipi snail

[Jayjayel]

Hi,

My 1.5 gallon fishbowl has 4 residents:

3 opae ula (had them since 2011)
1 pipipi snail (had her since 2015)

Many months ago, I moved them from a tiny vase to their current 1.5 gallon fish bowl. The opae ula are doing well, growing big. I had the snail in it's own container and was feeding it for a while, then a while ago I moved her into the 1.5 gal bowl. She has since devoured all the algae and now I am worried she's starving.

I have my fluorescent light on for at least 12 hours a day to try to grow more algae. I even removed some of Mustafa's macro algae and just left a few strands (which are reproducing well still) in hope that more algae would grow on the glass. But alas, my one single female pipipi snail is keeping the fishbowl spotless.

I am inclined to feed her, but I worry about the risk of increasing "organic pollution" in the fishbowl for the opae ula in order to feel my snail.

Am I just being overly worried? Maybe there's enough algae in there for her to eat?

Or maybe it's ok to feed her, and the "organic pollution" will be absorbed by the macro-algae, which I can simply thin out every so often to keep the load in balance?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Here's a photo of their home:

Note that there's only a few strands of macro-algae in the fishbowl now, as it was just growing way too much.

As a side note: I have been leaning back and forth on buying them more friends. I'm thinking of buying 10 shrimps from this site, so I'll have a total of 13 shrimp in this 1.5 gallon bowl. (From the product page description, it seems fine. I read a lot from Fuku Bonsai and it seems the shrimps enjoy having more shrimps around.) I just haven't pulled the trigger because I worry I won't be able to recognize my original 3 anymore... but if it makes them happier... Any advice?

[Jayjayel]

Here are photos taken just now. I blocked out the lighting, so there's less reflection off the glass/glass mountain inside to see more easily. In the earlier photo, the glass mountain was a bit green. Now it's completely spotless and clear.

[Mustafa]

If you feed your shrimp every 2-4 weeks there should be enough for the snail to live on, too. Biofilm is not always immediately visible, but it provides food for the snail continuously nevertheless.

[Jayjayel]

Thank you so much. Good to know. She's still alive and hopefully well so far.

[Mustafa]

Glad I could help.

[Jayjayel]

My lone snail is still doing well and growing bigger, so you are definitely right, it must be eating something that's not visible to my eye haha. I have a new question now about algae growth in my tank, I will make a new post.

[Mustafa]

My lone snail is still doing well and growing bigger, so you are definitely right, it must be eating something that's not visible to my eye haha. I have a new question now about algae growth in my tank, I will make a new post.

I'm glad the snail is doing well.

[Jayjayel]

Thank you! I'm sorry, I'm back with questions. My snail has been growing bigger, but I noticed that she has markings on her shell that sort of look like stretch marks. These marks are mostly near her antennae and perimeter of her shell where she's grown the most, the center of her shell doesn't have these markings. I am wondering if there isn't enough calcium in my shrimp bowl for her shell growth. Here's an image from Google of what my nerite picea (pipipi snail) looks like, and the ones in this photo don't have the "stretch marks" that my snail has.

I read Mustafa's advice regarding snails needing "dissolved calcium carbonate from the water column" from another thread. I have this product from before (http://www.amazon.com/Kent-Marine-Conce ... detailpage) when I briefly kept my snail separate from my shrimps, I am wondering if it would help my snail right now, or if I should find some cuttlefish bone, or use egg shells, or something? I already have crushed corals as my substrate, though due to the fact there is a glass mountain in the center of the shrimp bowl, I don't have a whole lot of substrate, so perhaps that's my problem?

I already have a Nitrate and Ammonia test, but I am wondering now if I should go purchase a calcium or PH or KH test, as perhaps I don't have nearly enough substrate as a buffer in the first place?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much in advance.

P.S. I get bugs entering my shrimp bowl from the tiny air holes drilled into the lid because they are attracted to the light. I've been fishing some of them out here or there, but when I'm out of town for a week at a time sometimes, I'm fairly sure that some have decomposed in the water during that time. My guess is these dead bugs will be a source of ammonia even if I'm not feeding my shrimps? Thanks

[Mustafa]

You don't need any tests really. Just let the tank be. As for bugs falling into the tank...they'll just become food. No harm done unless it's way too many.