Snails In Our Tank

[N4T4SH45]

We noticed a tiny snail the other week and then we didnt see it for ages. The other evening however, we noticed six of the little beggars!

Are they a nuisance and do we need to get rid of them? We guess they came in hiding on one of the plants we bought some time ago.

Any assistance would be greatly recieved!

Thanks

 

[b.c.f.c]

yes probly came on the plants a pic would be great if possible but you should be able to identify which 1 it is from this

get rid as soon as possible as they will quickly multiply and take over the tank and its a right nucence to get rid of them once they have multiplyed in to 100 plus and even more.
i have just found 2 in my tank and ive transfereed them to an emty 2 gal for the mo till i can be botherd to dispose of them or i may even keep them in this little tank to live happily .

 

[CBBP]

Salt will kill'em...

 

[b.c.f.c]

hmmm im not sure about salt , theres more easier ways of doing it, if i was you id get them out now so you dont have a prblem in the future.
one way of getting rid of them is to either pick them out or put cucumber or lettuce in the tank over night and many of the snalis should be on there by morning but you will have to do this a few times to get success and it can take a while so this too isnt the best method.
another way if you tank is big enough and you have room is to get a fish which will eat them ie clown loach

 

[MHunt]

Are snails not useful as a cleanup team, eating alge, waste food etc?

 

[wodesorel]

Not really....

The small pest species will soon take over a tank (they reproduce like crazy!) and can seriously alter the water parameters and will end up making the tank look horrid.

The larger species that need a mate to reprouce and lay their eggs above the water line won't cause a problem with infestation, but they are messy little buggers that need to eat a lot and poo even more. I have five, and while I love them to death, I don't recommend them to someone with small tanks or someone who isn't up to at least weekly vacuumes. (I spot gravel vac every other day just to keep the tank looking halfway clean, and tear everything out every two weeks and do about a 75% water change - and that's just for vacuuming the gravel!)

For cleaning up algea, there are fish that do a way better job than any snail would. And as for a clean-up team, I like ghost shrimp, myself. They'll clean up what even the snails leave behind. Snails also need to be feed large amounts of fresh (or mushy, depending on the species) veggies in order to grow correctly and be healthy.

Snails are facinating creatures, and with a little bit of handling will come out and crawl over your hands. I think they're cool. But they are a bit more work than people think they are.

 

[MHunt]

I'm certainly not planing on cultivating the snails, and i do remove some every now and then when doing a water change. I have seen the big yellow apple snails at one of my LFS's, they look quite interesting.

 

[wodesorel]

The big yellow ones are usually harmless and fun to watch. There's two primary species of yellow apple snails - briggs and canas. Canas are now illegal in the US because they're slowly taking over the southern states and destroying wetlands and rice crops. Canas will eat anything green - alive or dead, and never seem to get full. They're like cows. They also get to baseball size and need at least 10 gallons to themselves. Briggs won't get much larger than a golfball, and won't eat live plants. They'll clean up the dead and rotting leaves, and they need their veggies mushy from either cooking or freezing. www.applesnails.net is a good sight to learn how to distinguish the two species for beginners. It's really not that difficult - briggs' shells come to a sharper point, while canas look very curvy.

 

[MHunt]

From the one's i've seen they look like the cana's you've been talking about. think i'll leave them out of my smallish community tank. 10g for the snail, 8g for the fish is my calculations are right!

 

[downsouth]

I used to have problems with snails off and on and have tried a few methods of removal. The ones I have tried are:

1. Cut back on your feeding, excess food in the tank means snails (this one worked the best)

2. Clown loaches will devour the little snails

3. Cucumber overnight, pull them out in the morning (not very effective)

Good Luck

 

[N4T4SH45]

They look like Ramshorn snails..... we have since bought some clown loaches and havent seen any for a while!

 

[MHunt]

I could keep a couple of clown loaches happy for a little while on the snails in my tank. That said i don't really have enough space left in my tank. And i don't think my cockatoo cichlids would be too happy about sharing the bottom of the tank with the loaches.