Planorbid Snails

[rarefish]

I have always been proud of the condition of my planorbid snails, but I think that they might just be too happy . I have around 500 planorbid snails ranging in size from just hatched (extremely tiny) to just over an inch. I can't keep that many. They're currently in my female guppy fry grow-out tank, and it's not going to hold many more! Should I see if I can sell them locally to pet shops? I'm really not interested in killing them... I just want them to go to good homes. I've never shipped fish or snails or else I would do that. What should I do? If worst comes to worst, I have a breeder pair of large golden severums that would probably be happy to munch on them . I don't know what to do- I never did understand a snail overpopulation until now! Thanks ahead!

rarefish

 

[eschaton]

Ramshorns are sadly useless snails. Eventually you'll see some red ones (I have a nice orange one as well), and breeding them someone may want to buy them. No one will buy brown ones.

I don't have the heart to squish snails, I'm a vegan and don't like harming any living animal. But I realized after awhile they're the tank version of fruit flies...they'll reproduce as much as you let them through providing a food supply. So when I accidentally siphon some of the buggers out and they get dumped with the wastewater, I don't worry terribly.

If you don't want to kill them yourself, get a Puffer or a Loach (Botia ssp) to take care of the excess population.

One other possibility I've used in the past is a "snail prison" Basically just put a small, lidless, bare-bottom, unheated tank by a window with some fast growing floating plants and Java moss. Top it off with your tank water when there's evaporation, but don't do water changes. DON'T FEED IT. Some snails will die, but most of them will survive. Just dump in excess snails when you find them, and let the snails sort it out. Eventually the ecology will develop into something self-sustaining, with the snails surviving off of detritus in the water and dead plants.

 

[dizzied]

Few people buy plain brown ramshorns, though I've seen some takers on Aquabid.

 

[severum boy]

If you dont want to harm the snails; leave them. Planorbids will reproduce upto the point where the maixmum stocking level (in biological (food) terms, not the amount us fishkeepers want in) is reached.When they reach that and their food supply becomes limited, the population will drop. Then the food supply will increase and so on and so on. Personally, I woudent worry about them: even 500 snails have a reasonably small biomass and excrete what they clean up so they may be helping to clean the tank on a microscopic level (make sure your not over feeding though, that will lead to a huge rise in population). The sevs may eat them, but if you really dont want them, crush the small ones against the glass or buy a new tank for some puffers who will love the snails.
Hope this helps, Max.

 

[rarefish]

Thanks everyone. I had even more than when I posted, so I put most of the adults in the severum tank . It wasn't what I wanted to do, but I was getting worried about the detritus amount that was growing in amount in the tank. If I keep breeding them, will I eventually get reds and golds?

 

[severum boy]

If I keep breeding them, will I eventually get reds and golds?

I assume here we are not talking about the severums!
Chances are, no. The colour variations are caused by a mutation in a tiny part of the snails gene. You may get a colour variation, but the chances are very much against you. Have a looks at this apple snail website and go to the genetics page. This has a lot of info on what causes snail colours (ok fine, so its for apple snails, but the info should be the same for your planorbids).