Snails And Plants

[LSchoures]

Hi everyone, I'm brand new here and thinking about changing up my well established freshwater tropical tank.  I'm thinking cherry shrimp and snails but are there any plants that snails won't completely destroy?  I only have access to the more common snails like trumpet, mystery, apple etc. thanks!!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Depends on the snails.  I have assassins and they don't eat plants at all.

 

[Baccus]

Plants with thicker leaves should be fairly safe from snail attack.
Plants like Anubis, Java fern, narrow leaf Java fern, needle leaf Java fern and Windelov Java fern. Valisneria can also work with snails
Plants with thin delicate leaves or fragile stems I would avoid

 

[baker360360]

+1 above

I've got apple/nerite/ramshorn /pond/mts snails with java moss , java fern , anubias nana and some grass plant.

Nothing has been eaten. The snails are often on the leaves cleaning them and lying eggs

 

[SarahR]

Most of those species if not starving seem to leave healthy plants alone, though as someone else mentioned I would still avoid any exceptionally delicate (or expensive!) plant species. Apple snails (the "mystery" snail species sold here in US) do eat duckweed like it's candy however, they will float at the surface methodically sucking in as much as they can, and they have huge appetites. So if you like having duckweed, keep some growing elsewhere to replace it!

 

[Donya]

The terms "apple snail" and "mystery snail" are not species specific and can refer to many Ampullariid species. I'm not sure which Ampullariids are legal in Canada at this point; most are now illegal in the USA and Europe. Basically all Ampullariids that have made their way into the hobby over time except for Pomacea diffusa/bridgesii tend to be very general plant eaters or at least plant maulers, as sometimes they will chew the leaves to death without actually eating the plants (common for the tougher things like java moss and java fern). However, P. diffusa is far less inclined to damage most live plants. 

 

[SarahR]

Thank you, and yes- the "Apple/Mystery" snail species I have and am referring to is P.Diffusa. I have no experience with any of the others.