Snail Came With Plant?

[Erisna]

So, yesterday I bought a piece of hornwort for my new betta's heated 2.5 gallon tank. I knew there were possibly snails on it, since it was in a tank with snails, but I didn't really mind if I happened to get some. I didn't notice any before I put it in my tank, but just now I looked at it and found a tiny baby snail! So, I have a couple of questions- I've never owned a snail before!

1.) How easy are snails to take care of? Is there anything special they need?

2.) Assuming my betta doesn't eat it (unlikely, the betta is tiny still!) how soon will I be able to identify my snail? I'd like to know what kind I have.

3.) How likely is it that I actually have more than one snail? I don't want them to overrun my tanks...

Thanks for your input!

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Your betta will eat if he finds it. If you have more than one, they will overrun your tank. My opinion is to get rid of that snail and buy a mystery snail.

 

[Erisna]

Well, Steel didn't eat it- I found it today after not seeing it for a while, while I was doing a water change. It's still alive, but tiny. I looked at it under my microscope (yes, I'm a nerd... but it was cool!) and its shell is all scratched up and chipped at the edges- I guess it either got knocked around during transport or Steel was picking at it until it found a place to hide. So now it's in the cup Steel came in, with a piece of lettuce, a piece of hornwort, and a little bit of eggshell thrown in for the calcium to help it rebuild its shell. =p

As for identification... it's a tannish color, and the side where I can see its spirals is COMPLETELY flat... does that tell anyone anything? It's way too small to get clear pictures of, and I forget what kind of snails the plant was with in the store... I think either nerite snails or mystery snails?

 

[juzbkool]

i was in the same situation with my planted tank.....i wash all my plants in tap water and have em soaked in potassium permanganate to remove any snails or snail eggs before adding them to the tank. despite my efforts, i found snails starting to break out in my tank. Since i keep cherry red shrimps in my tank, i couldn't use any medicines. I keep their number in control by manually removing them when i see them and also by leaving cucumber slice overnight. Next day, the snails could be all over it and i remove it.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Dont worry about it. Get rid of it, you could unleash a major problem. I had a snail problem in my old 10 gallon planted and there wer tons of snails everywhere! Luckily i had dwarf puffers at the time so they had plenty of food. And Steel is a cool name for a betta

 

[RossC]

When I got my first plants and snails I was just as interested as you are but now a few months later I hate the little buggers. Get rid of as fast as possible they will populate your tank and destroy your plants. I have managed to get rid of most of mine over time but I really wish I had got rid of them from day 1. Apart from eating algae they are a complete mennis.
Good luck

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Ou might think this is gross or abuse but the best thing to do is put the snail against the wall in your bettas tank and smash it. He will eat it, as not too many fish dislike crushed snail. Even my Rock Flower Anemone likes it!

 

[Erisna]

Um, just so you all know, the snail (the ONLY one I found in my tank) is in the small cup my Betta fish came from the store in... like I said earlier. It is removed from my main tank, and if I get tired of it I'll feed it to one of my bettas. For now, I'm keeping it. If it turns out to be a species that overruns tanks, I'll get rid of it. It can't overrun my tank from a cup...

Oh, and I'm changing the water daily because I know snails produce a lot of ammonia.

 

[crazyforcordoras]

Hmmmm. Can you post a pic? Then we could help you decide if its a pest or. Ot. In general, most snails that come with plants are pests.

 

[Erisna]

GAH. Somehow, I found a baby Pond Snail in my upstairs betta tank... The only plant it could've possibly come from was my Micro Sword- all of the others came from those snail-free packages. But I planted that WEEKS ago! Wouldn't I have seen it before now? I know those are pests... I'm keeping one in a little kritter keeper (NOT MY TANK), just for the fun of it... The others I'm going to start smashing and feeding to my bettas.

As to the other snail- I can't get a good picture of it (too small to get with the cameras I have- the only way I can get a good look at it is under my light microscope, otherwise its just a blob...) but it is a light tan color, translucent (I can see its heartbeat) and its shell is COMPLETELY flat on one side, the side with the whorls- the other side swells out into a little bulge. Does that help anything? I'll try to get a picture when it gets bigger. It's now living in the kritter keeper with the pond snail.