How To Make Snello (Snail Food Jello)
If you are like me and saw that your freshwater aquatic snail shell isn’t looking too great and want to provide them with more calcium for better overall shell health, these recipes are for you.
I have a cluster of Mystery Snail eggs that are about to hatch, so Snello is also a great option for snail babies. I have included a few recipes for you; although it doesn’t look like it, some freshwater snails can be picky eaters, so it is always nice to experiment with a recipe and see which ones work best with the least effort.
What Is Snello
Snello is an amazingly cheap and easy food you can make at home for your snails and other invertebrates in your freshwater aquarium. At first, I thought it would be a huge job, but it was quick. It provides you with quite a lot of food that lasts forever in the freezer.
Snello can be given to all freshwater snails and shrimp. I usually drop a piece or two of Snello into my community tank at night before I go to bed. This ensures the fish don’t eat it before the snails can reach it. Aquarium snails are usually very active at night, so feeding them when the rest of the tank sleeps works best.
What Is Snello Made Of?
Vegetables: Most recipes call for green vegetables, sweet potatoes, or carrots. You can buy canned beans or peas (without the salt), opt for baby food, or use fresh veggies in your fridge for too long. It all depends on the time and effort you want to put into this.
Green vegetables include spinach, lettuce, green beans, peas, kale, collard greens, and zucchini.
If you use fresh veggies, you must steam them until they are soft enough to go into the blender. If you choose to use canned products, you have to drain the contents first. Baby food is a great option as it usually doesn’t contain any nasty stuff.
Fresh crushed garlic is also a great addition to your recipe, as it helps kill all kinds of parasites. Unfortunately, garlic has an odor that eventually makes your tank water smell like garlic, which is not my favorite.
Calcium: You can either get Calcium Carbonate powder or tablets. I found it quite difficult to get calcium carbonate without vitamin D, so I eventually discovered that the fruit-flavored Eno Tums are just calcium carbonate and some sugar—what a win!
Please ensure that your calcium supplement does not contain vitamin D, as it harms your snails. I read that some people use marine calcium in their recipes, but at half the dosage; I wouldn’t recommend this as you don’t know the exact content of trace elements, and because your invertebrates will be consuming the Snello containing the marine calcium, it could cause absorption of something to become too much.
Tip: If you have snail egg clusters that you are not planning to hatch, you can remove them from your tank, freeze them, crush them, and add them back into your Snello for extra calcium.
Protein: Many people add a bit of frozen protein to the mix. It’s unnecessary, but it can definitely be added if you have it on hand for extra nutrition. Popular protein options include frozen bloodworms, ground krill, cooked fish, and eggs.
Fish Flakes: Adding fish flakes works great to provide extra yummy food for your snails and bulk up your jello. Recommended flakes would be tropical fish flakes; if you only have pellets, you can crush them in, too. The best pellets to use are pellets for carnivorous fish, as they contain the most nutrients for the snails and shrimp.
Gelatin Powder: The key to making the jello come alive. Some people prefer to use Agar Agar powder to help set the ingredients as it doesn’t come from animals.
Additional Supplements: Depending on your invertebrates’ requirements, you can add spirulina, kelp powder, or Seachem Nourish for iodine.
Some people add some fruit like strawberries, bananas, and pears; it is entirely up to you, and what your snails enjoy at the end of the day matters.
Snello Recipes
| Recipe One (My Own “Throw Together What You Have”) | |
| Materials Needed: Blender, Pot, Ziploc bag/Mortar & Pestle, Cling film, Sheet Pan, Baking Paper & Storage Container (Freezer) | |
| Ingredients: | |
| 1 Handful of fresh spinach (you can use any other leafy green) | |
| 1 Cup of other green vegetables (I used a half a cup of frozen broccoli and a half cup of frozen peas) | |
| 3 Eno Chewable Tablets/Tums (orange flavor) | |
| 4 Tsp Tropical fish flakes/Any flakes you have available | |
| 2 Tbs Gelatin powder | |
| Method: | |
| In a pot with some water, cook your veggies until soft enough to blend. | |
| Crush tums and fish flakes in a bag or use a mortar & pestle. | |
| Once the veggies are soft, add the hot veggies and water from the pot straight into the blender. | |
| Add gelatin powder and other dry ingredients and blend until smooth. | |
| Wrap a sheet pan with cling film and pour out the mixture into the sheet pan. Tap to remove bubbles. | |
| Refrigerate until set, cut into cubes, and store in the freezer. | |
| TIP: Use baking paper between layers to layer your Snello in the storage container |
The key to this recipe is to have everything hot enough in the blender for the gelatin to activate, so make sure to add the gelatin when everything is still nice and hot.
Below, I will add some additional recipes for you that include alternative ingredients as well as some protein. This will help you understand how and with what you can alter your own recipes and find out what suits you best.
| Recipe Two (Baby Food) | |
| Materials Needed: Microwave-safe Bowl, Ziploc bag/Mortar & Pestle, Container With Flat Bottom & Storage Container (Freezer) | |
| Ingredients: | |
| 2 Jars of Green Vegetable Baby Food (Beech-Nut Naturals Spinach, Zucchini & Peas) | |
| 4 Calcium Carbonate Tablets (Spring Valley) / 2 Tsp Powdered Calcium (No Vitamin D) | |
| 2 Tbs Fish Flakes | |
| 1 Packet Unflavoured Gelatin powder (Knox) | |
| Method: | |
| Empty baby food into bowl and microwave until hot; stir regularly. | |
| Crush tablets and fish flakes in a bag or use a mortar & pestle. | |
| Add gelatin powder slowly into hot baby food and stir while incorporating to avoid lumps. | |
| Add crushed fish flakes and calcium powder and stir. | |
| Pour the mixture into a flat-bottom container to set. Refrigerate until set, cut into cubes, and store in the freezer. | |
| TIP: Add frozen Snello directly into your fish tank |
| Recipe Three (Bulk It Up) – Makes 4 Cups of Snello | |
| Materials Needed: Blender, Pot, Sheet Pan, Baking Paper or Parchment Paper & Ziploc Bag (Freezer) | |
| Ingredients: | |
| 1 Cup Spinach/Lettuce/Kale/Collard Greens | |
| 1 & 1/4 Cups Diced Sweet Potatoes/Carrots | |
| 1 & 1/2 Tins Unsalted Canned Green Beans/Peas (drained) | |
| 1 Clove Fresh Garlic (crushed) | |
| 3 Tbs Ground Krill/Frozen Bloodworm | |
| 3 Tbs Fish Flakes/ Crushed Carnivorous Fish Pellets | |
| 2 Tbs Calcium Carbonate Powder (Now Calcium Carbonate Pure Powder) | |
| 2 Tsp Spirulina/Kelp Powder OR 2 Capfuls Seachem Nourish | |
| 4 Tbs Gelatin powder | |
| Method: | |
| In a pot, steam veggies until soft enough to blend. | |
| Crush fish flakes and add calcium, spirulina, or kelp powder in a bowl and mix. | |
| Once the veggies are soft, add the hot veggies and a bit of water from the pot into the blender. | |
| Add garlic and remaining ingredients to the steamed veggies and blend until smooth. | |
| Transfer mixture to pot over medium heat and stir until steamy (not bubbling) | |
| Remove from heat and pour into the lined sheet pan. Place in freezer to set. Cut into cubes (once set). | |
| Freeze overnight and place frozen cubes in a Ziploc bag for easy storage. | |
| TIP: Keep mixture in blender on the thicker side to help with setting (don’t add too much water) |
| Recipe Four (Fresh Fruit & Veggies) | |
| Materials Needed: Blender, Cling film, Sheet Pan, Baking Paper & Storage Container (Freezer) | |
| Ingredients: | |
| Fruits – 1/4 Apple, 1/4 Pear, 1 Strawberry & 1/2 Banana | |
| Vegetables – 4 Green Beans, 1/2 Medium Carrot, 1 inch Slice Zucchini, 1 “tree” of Broccoli, 1/2 inch slice Sweet Potato & 1 Handful Lettuce | |
| 2 Tsp Spirulina Powder | |
| 1 Tbs Frozen Bloodworms | |
| 1 Tbs Calcium Carbonate Powder | |
| 1 & 1/2 Packs Gelatin powder (Knox) | |
| Method: | |
| In a pot with some water, cook your veggies until soft enough to blend. | |
| Once the veggies are soft, add the hot veggies and some water from the pot into the blender. | |
| Add bloodworms, fruit, calcium, spirulina, and gelatin and blend until smooth. | |
| *If it is too cold, cook the mixture in a pot to ensure gelatin dissolves properly. | |
| Wrap a sheet pan with cling film and pour the mixture onto it. Tap to remove bubbles. | |
| Refrigerate until set, cut into cubes, and store in the freezer. | |
| TIP: Use baking paper between layers to layer your Snello in the storage container |
