Are There Any Snails That Do Not Self-Populate?

[sbenbow]

As the title says really.
 
I know a lot of snails can be asexual (they can reproduce just by themselves) but are there any varieties that are not?
 
I don't want a snail explosion in my tank, so I have been deliberately keeping away from them - but was just curious if there were any that wouldn't multiply if I had just one in the tank.

 

[mitch70]

Nerite snails need brackish water to reproduce so if you are freshwater you will be fine. They also make great algae eaters. You will though get lots of white snail eggs on ornaments and sometimes glass and they can be very hard to remove.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Assassin Snails as far as I know do not reproduce by itself.

 

[Chad]

Assassins do reproduce but it's quite slow and they are sexual so if you don't happen to get a male and female they won't. The eggs are really cool looking, little square pillows with a yellow dot in the middle.
 
Nerites are probably the best choice in my opinion in terms of non-breeding snails.
 
However, having snails isn't a bad thing. Over population of snails is a relative term and the numbers are really based on how much food is available to them.

 

[DerpPH]

true. Snails are indicators of health in an aquarium. If they start to die on their own things are gonna get bad. If they breead alot then it is a sign you are overfeeding.

 

[Donya]

Snails are indicators of health in an aquarium. If they start to die on their own things are gonna get bad. If they breead alot then it is a sign you are overfeeding.

 
This is not necessarily the case, although Planorbids (ramshorns) fall into that model more than Physids (tadpole snails) or Thiarids (MTS), which are the two other main groups that can overpopulate. Thiarids in particular can withstand some pretty horrendous conditions. All three groups of snails can also survive and reproduce on such small amounts of food that a tank doesn't really have to be overfed to support populations that some people might find annoying. Sometimes a bit of normal algal growth is enough to sustain a strangely large population of Physids or Planorbids even for sparsely fed tanks when there are no competing fish (e.g. suckermouth catfish). While overfeeding is a common culprit of sudden snail population booms, it is not the only reason why a tank might end up with a lot of snails.