Holy Snail Poo Batman!

[daizeUK]

My last order of plants came with snail eggs which I didn't realise until I found snails crawling around my tank for the first time.
I kept a little tray of offcuts and stray bits of plants, checked today and sure enough there are at least two snails living in there.
Click on the picture to enlarge - see all those little brown bits?  That's how much poo a couple of snails produce over a week or two. 

 
 

 

[AlitaConejita]

Wow! So then, why are snails recommended to keep a tank clean?

 

[DreamertK]

I always thought it was diatoms.

 

 

[Gizaroo2]

@Alita, they are good algae eaters, thus can keep your glass and decor clean. But they are very messy critters. I have 2 mystery snails in my betta sorority, and they produce about 3" of poo in 2 weeks time. 

 Thankfully, with the way my filter flow is, it blows it mostly in one spot so I can spot clean and suck it out on a weekly basis. 

 

[AlitaConejita]

Good to know the difference I don't have any algae so I think I'll stay away from snails - that's a lot of poop!

 

[Gizaroo2]

Also meant to add, they need more than just algae in a tank! They need algae wafers and such too.  Of course, the more you feed, the more they poop! haha