Apple Snails, Algae and Veggies :)

[Moonflower]

hello

i've had a ten gallon freshwater tank set up for about a year an a half now that currently houses one dwarf gourami, one honey gourami, two guppies, three neons and an otoclinus. i'm currently considering an apple snail (Pomacea bridgesii, the non-plant-eating one) and i was wondering about a few things: 1. will he fit in without any major tank disruptions, and 2. if he does: i know that you're supposed to occasionally feed bits of fresh lettuce and spinach to snails, are these good for the other fish too? the honey gourami constantly picks at the algae in the tank (never makes a dent in it, unfortunately) so i wonder if he would enjoy some veggies. i'm HOPING that a snail could assist in keeping some algae under control, the oto is horribly picky and refuses to eat the prevalent form of algae in the tank, which seems like your standard annoying green fuzz. i've tried several other methods of keeping algae to a minimum: light's only on for six hours a day, no direct sunlight, attempting to grow a few aponogeton plants, the darned oto, etc. but as summer approaches the big green patches keep spreading.

any advice/suggestions/comments are greatly appreciated

thanx,
Heather

 

[Bangin]

I have some apple snails, and I can tell you that they don't really assist with the algae cleanup. They may eat some now and again, but they primarily eat the zucchini that I weigh down. I've fed them lettuce, cucumbers and spinach, but they seem to prefer the zucchini. My gouramis tend to nibble on it, too. The number one cause of death in apple snails is starvation. They cannot live on 'algae'/plants alone, so you must weigh down veggies. I enjoy watching them munch!

 

[Teelie]

Mine eats pellets I feed to my Cories. I'm debating dropping in some lettuce for the snail to eat. I doubt the Cories will be very interested though I'm sure my Bettas will be. They always are.