What do river snails eat, and how are they fed in artificial breeding?

The river snail is a common freshwater snail in China, mostly inhabiting lakes, rivers, ponds and paddy fields, and it is also a common ingredient in local specialties such as luosifen (river snail rice noodles). It is an omnivorous animal with a fairly broad diet, but it only feeds on tiny, soft food that is easy to scrape off.

In natural water bodies, river snails mainly eat algae attached to the surface of stones, muddy bottoms and aquatic plants, such as diatoms and green algae, and they also feed on organic detritus, humus and some plankton in the water. They use the radula in their mouths to slowly scrape off food; they move sluggishly, and their food intake is not large but continues over a long period. In waters with luxuriant aquatic plants and abundant algae, river snails have a sufficient food source and generally grow better.

In artificial breeding, they can be fed agricultural by-product scraps such as rice bran, wheat bran and soybean cake, as well as chopped vegetable leaves, melon and fruit peels and other green feed; some farmers also add a small amount of animal-based bait to supplement nutrition. Feeding should be done at regular times and in appropriate amounts to avoid leftover bait accumulating and spoiling the water quality. When the temperature is too high or too low, river snails' appetite weakens, and the feeding amount should be reduced accordingly.

It should be noted that river snails are relatively sensitive to water quality and prefer water bodies with sufficient dissolved oxygen and no pollution; when water quality deteriorates, they often stop feeding, and in severe cases they die in large numbers. Therefore, the key to raising river snails lies in cultivating the water: only by keeping the water body clean and the bait fresh can river snails feed and grow normally.