Opinion on ramshorn snails

JennySolano said:

that’s an awesome tank in your profile pic!

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Thanks, its 6ft long and 2.5ft wide. All fully automated for ro water changes built in overflow so only needs filter maintenance couple times a year and feeding.

Tiger burp said:

I would prefer to have a constant population, nerite snails don’t breed in freshwater correct? @PheonixKingZ

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This is correct. They will lay little white eggs, but they will never hatch.

OMG THEIR LITTERLY SO AMAZING AND INVISIBLE AND CUTE AND HAOW COULD YOU EVEN ASK OMG THEIR THE BEST SNAIL EVER!!!!!
sorry for my little freakout lol

JennySolano said:

Wow! New to the hobby & haven’t seen that. Does water continuously flow in and out or is it on a timer?

We had to come up with efficient water change system after getting 90 gal tank with a sump below. 25 ft hose siphons waste water into toilet & pump in water conditioned in a Coleman Cooler moves same temp water back to tank.

Not as cool as your system but beats hauling buckets.

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Yeah soon gets old quick mixing water and pouring buckets! You sound to have a ingenious method to water changes! That's got to save the back breaking work.

So I'm a engineer hence by my 3rd tank I wanted automation. There is 2 8 gallon header tanks above with a automated valve on a timer. That opens dropping into the tank. There is a overflow routed to a drain outside to change the water out, then a second timer kicks a booster pump through the ro and fills the headers back up until full (can monitor the filters with tds input before and after the ro filter) . They sit for a day or so getting to room temperature and evaporation of any chlorine before the cycle goes again. It currently does this 3 times a week.

JennySolano said:

Awesome! Did you invent this technique? Ingenious.

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The header idea with overflow setup came with the tank from its previous owner but the automation and timing controls were my evolution from the manual method. Had some set backs but seems to be working well last couple of years. Had this tank 4yrs now.

I like ramshorns as they have nice colourings and nice shells.

Apple snail may grow too big for a 5 gal but I’ve never had Apple snails so am unsure how big they will grow to so might be worth researching that just to be sure.

An you are correct that nerites do not breed in freshwater but they do lay eggs and some consider the eggs a little unsightly but I did not mind them to be honest.

Lastly, fish do not eat snail eggs at all.

Tiger burp said:

Thinking of getting some , any advice or tips is welcomed

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Personally I see them as a pest usually hitching a ride on a new plant.
I wouldn't get them unless you have something to control the population or simply want a snail tank.
Horned nerite are a nice little snail, good cleaners too.

There are three sorts of ramshorns.

There are the tiny ones which grow no bigger than a few mm/fraction of an inch and are the pest snails which come as hitchhikers on plants.
Then there are larger snails with various different coloured shells. These are usually purchased as ornamental snails.
Lastly is the Colombian giant ramshorn, a light and dark brown striped snail. This grows over 5 cm/2 inches and has a reputation as a plant eater.

So what I am looking for is a brown spot algae eater and something that doesn’t get too big

Reds in one tank and blues in the other is the aim. Though I keep finding reds in the blue tank. Doesn’t happen the other way round. Reds seem to be the default offspring.
I figure once they’re divided properly I can move any excess to snail tanks and sell em on.

Some ramshorn snails can be very pretty, colour-wise.
The larger ones certainly have much visual appeal to those who like snails.
Their feeding habits do contribute to waste management.

However...

Contrary to the snail propaganda machine, they will eat plants.
Whilst it's true they'll eat decaying and dying leaves, a snail's definition of 'decaying' or 'dying' is much broader than ours. Plants flex in the water and the slightest bit of natural damage is a dinner bell to a hungry snail.
Ramshorn snails, as evidenced by their prominence in those 'problem snail-infested' tanks, are prolific breeders. This is a factor that needs to be managed. Remember, they all start off tiny and then grow.
The coloured varieties appear to have been specifically bred, to appeal to the market, just as dwarf shrimps have now been bred into a variety of colourful strains. Just like shrimps, however, breeding different colours together will have the young gradually reverting back to their original colouration. Whilst shrimps may take several generations for this to occur, because of the proliferation of snail eggs and subsequent young, this colour reversion take take less time.

For me, Apple Snails are also a definite no-no, as this will munch on any plants, damaged or otherwise.

So it's the Nerites and only Nerites for my planted tanks.