I think I may put a cuttlebone in the tank to help with the hardness and calcium. Does anyone know how much to put in if I have no filter and how often to put a piece of cuttlebone in. The tank has no filter, is about 1.5 gallons not filled up all the way, I change about 50% of the water every other day, and if it contains a snail and an african dwarf frog. Is a cuttlebone a good choice for increasing the calcium and hardness? Will it shock or harm a snail or adf?

kara please dont post multiple topics about the same exact thing! whats a cuddlebone?

Depending on the pH of the water and other factors, the cuttlebone may dissolve from very slowly to moderately. In my tanks, oyster shell dissolves so slowly that it does almost nothing. But, you want to avoid having it dissolve too much. For that reason, since your tank is so small, I would add a piece of cuttlebone maybe an inch long and the standard width of the ones they sell for caged birds. See if it changes in volume over time. It would also be helpful to monitor your pH and hardness levels before and after and as time goes on. You can just plop the piece of cuttlebone on the bottom after rinsing it.

Cuttlebone is from a cuttlefish which is a cephalopod like squid and octopi. It's actually not a bone (cephalopods are invertebrates and lack bones). It's mostly calcium carbonate so it leaches calcium. Here's a nice link on it:
http://www.vetnetwork.com/exotic_pets/arti...t_type_ID=birds

thanks for the link robyn. what are the benefits of having a cuttlebone? more calcium?

i have never used them and have never had siftshell develop in any of my turtles. i dont consider it a necessity at all, they should be getting ample calcium from a proper pellet diet (i only use pellets since live food can easily introduce parasites and disease, and it is healthier anyways). people use it for their turtle to be able to go over to it and actually bite it, but like i said they shouldnt have to, you should give them a proper diet to begin with.

i feed my fish shrimp pellets, flake food, algae waffers, frozen bloodworms, and frozen/live brine shrimp.

Reptile Guy, Kara was talking about cuttlebone to increase the calcium in the water for a snail. I agree for turtles, you can try to get them to eat more calcium-rich foods. For snails, it's a bit more difficult to get them to eat what you need. Also, it's the acidity and low hardness of the water itself that actually eats the shell away on snails in low pH, soft water. My apple snail had some pits in his shell from that too. I add oyster shells but they didn't really dissolve over time.

so if you add cuttlebones to your tank, it will help snail shells from getting pits in there shells?

i dont have a lot of experience with snails, but yes a fast dissolving source of calcium, like a cuttlebone, will increase the calciun levels in the tank, therefore helping out the snails with available calcium to use for their shells. i wouldnt know what all causes holes and pits to develop, although i have seen what you are talking about.

all of my snails are unwanted pond snails. im probably going to feed them to friends snapper! :lol:

its a little late, but i used cuttlebone for birds, gives them something to chew on, get calcium and trim their beaks.