Safest snails for a planted aquarium?

[broxi3781]

Hi, I have the largest biorb made. I believe it is 125 litres. I realise a lot of people in the hobby hate these, but it makes a nice wee bedroom aquarium, and it isn't over populated.. It has 7 Kuhli coaches and some plants. Nothing else, unless you count an almond leaf, the heater and an external filter. I don't want any more fish or anything that might in any way annoy my kuhli loaches, and I prefer a tank that isn't too heavily populated as it makes maintenance easier.

I would however like something that eats dead leaves, so I was thinking of buying a few ramshorn snails. Just afraid I might regret it later. I know Kuhli usually don't eat snails like other coaches. Would they eat the snail eggs? At least enough to keep the numbers check? And is there any chance of snails eating my live plants? I honestly don't know the names of all my plants. I know I have java moss, and I think one is called anubias but don't know what the rest are called.

Would there be any drawbacks to adding snails? Would a different type be better? We did have some awful white conical ones that o overpopulated like mad and had to dump all the gravel to get rid of them in a community tank some years ago, and I would not want that again, but just a few to clear a bit of the dead leaves so I am not poking about and scaring the kuhli loaches. I don't really like the big giant apparel snails.

Alternatively, I have considered a couple of shrimp, but don't know if they might overbreed either, or get in the loaches way.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

 

[Byron]

There are snails that will eat live plants. But the commonly-seen small ones that sometimes appear as hitchhikers on plants are harmless. They eat organics, which includes any dead or dying plant matter, dead fish, and most importantly fish poop, breaking it down faster for the various bacteria to handle.

Ramshorn snails are generally held to be safe for plants, but having said that I will report that I have heard from a couple members in the past to the contrary.

The common pond or acute bladder snails (these two look very much alike) are safe.

The Malaysian Livebearing Snails are very safe; these may be the conical ones you mention. MLS are probably the best snail for an aquarium because they burrow throughout the substrate. They will multiply according to the food source, so keep that in mind if you see lots of them. There is a lot of organic matter in a fish tank, and the snails are dealing with it. I have hundreds in my tanks. I certainly do not overfeed, so I know these are simply dealing with the normal organics resulting from the fish, and I am glad they are.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I have Malaysian trumpet snails, ramshorns, and a few pesty pond snails. The MTS breed like crazy and I am always throwing a bunch out. My ramshorns seem fine and no babies yet. I think I like them the best.

 

[NickAu]

The MTS breed like crazy and I am always throwing a bunch out

They only breed like crazy because there is plenty of food for them to eat,

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Mystery or Apple snails are fine.

Make sure the pH of the water is above 7.0 and the general hardness (GH) is above 150ppm so their shells don't dissolve.