Snails ask very little of a holiday week because they feed themselves, grazing biofilm, soft algae, and the leavings of the fish they live with. Your preparation is therefore about arranging that grazing in advance, securing the lid they would otherwise explore beyond, and making sure a willing but inexperienced helper cannot love them into trouble.
A Week Before: Grazing and Calcium in Place
Choose two or three smooth, rounded stones, rinse them in plain water with nothing added, and set them in a bright part of the tank where algae and biofilm grow readily, ideally a full week before you leave so a living film has formed on them by departure. These grazing stones are the snails' pantry for the week: a surface they can work over continuously rather than a pile of food dropped in at once. Add a piece of cuttlebone at the same time, wedged against a stone or partly under the substrate edge so it stays put, because snails draw calcium from cuttlebone steadily for shell growth and repair, and a piece lasts far longer than a week. Check the shells while you work; a snail with a sound, growing shell going into the week will coast through it.
The Days Before: Water, Filter, Lights and Lid
Do the week's maintenance early, not on departure morning. Carry out a partial water change several days before you go, rinse filter media only in removed tank water if it needs it, and confirm the filter is running with its usual gentle flow for a community tank. Put the lights on their timer at the normal day length, since steady light grows the biofilm the snails graze and keeps the tank's plants working in your absence. Leave the tank's net beside the tank for the checker. Then check the lid as a snail would: snails climb glass, follow the waterline, and squeeze through gaps that look far too small, so confirm the lid sits flush all round and that the openings where filter and heater cables pass are closed with mesh or a snug cut-out. A snail found dried on the floor is the one failure of the week that preparation can completely prevent, and this check is where it is prevented.
Feeding: The Fish Schedule and Nothing Extra
Portion the fish food into separate small pots, one labelled pot per day, so your checker gives exactly the tank's normal ration and no more. The snails' share of that system is the leftovers and the grazing you have already arranged, and they need no extra food of their own for a week. Write that instruction plainly, because extra feeding is the danger an inexperienced helper brings: food added for the snails on top of the fish ration sinks, rots, and fouls the water that every animal in the tank must breathe through. Add one more plain instruction to the same note: no sprays, polishes, or scented cleaners are used anywhere near the tank during the week, since airborne chemicals landing on the water surface can harm snails and fish alike.
What the Checker Should Watch For
Ask the checker to visit as agreed, feed from that day's pot only, and spend one minute looking at the tank before leaving. A healthy week looks like snails spread across glass, stones, and plants, fish feeding normally, and water running clear. The checker should message you the same day if the water turns cloudy, if a snail floats at the surface for a whole day rather than the brief float some snails take, or if a snail is found dead, because a dead snail left in a community tank fouls the water quickly and should be lifted out promptly with a net and the water checked. If your usual checker is away or a message worries you midweek, KinsLe opens Circle of Love as a way to find a local backup visitor from the free network, someone who can call round, feed from the day's pot, and report back while you are away.