Snails Snails Snails

[irvs]

Was down my lfs on saturday and i got quite intrested in the snail tank they had (only apple snails). My question is which snails are good and which are bad. Ive a modderatly planted tank and would like a snail or 2 to keep alge etc under control.

thanks neil.

 

[matchstickman47]

a pleco would work on the alg so much more eficiently

er if its snail... apples are fine... just dont put pond snails in ..... you will end up with a problem

 

[three-fingers]

"Problem", only if you don't like snails, in which case - why would you even put them in the tank?

Snails do no harm and are actually beneficial to aquariums, if they overpopulate (will cause no harm, but some people dont like seeing snails) the tank, it's only because they are finding enough food to do so. This is very easy to prevent: gravel clean more and/or feed your fish less food. All the snails are doing is eating algae and waste food/organic matter like dead plants - not live plants. So for every snail your see in your tank, there's less waste just lying around decomposing.


Best snails by far for algae control are nerite snails IMO . Far better than plecs.

 

[irvs]

i have 4 peppered corys and dam they do a good job of keeping the place clean, its just keeping plants and the glass clean im after, plus a snail or 2 would go well in my tank. as its only a 60l a bn plec is outta the question, i limited my stocking selection to 2inch max.
i only ever see apple snails at the lfs could some one give me some info on these size age looking after etc.

thanks loads neil.

 

[matchstickman47]

- why would you even put them in the tank?

er to feed my dp

 

[three-fingers]

Then they certainly wont be a problem even if you don't like snails so it's a moot point .

DP's are awesome .

Apple snails are very easy to look after, most important things are making sure you pH isnt to acidic (it's OK if it's only around 6.8 or something, but any lower and the enamel on the snails shell will corrode and then the shell will too) and making sure there's no nippy fish that would eat their antennae (I don't recommend keeping them with barbs or large goldfish).

Loaches are a big no-no too, and will destroy apple snails.

Apple snails should be fed properly too, food pelletd for shrimp and crabs are excellent, because of the calcium they contain, they will eat algae, algae wafers and pretty much anything really - they are all round scavengers and will even relish things like bloodworms.

Usually they are very inactive at the lfs, but once happy and acclimatised into an appropriate aquarium they can be very active and fast moving.

But nerites are much better algae eaters for cleaning the glass and broad plant leaves - you can buy them of the net if you cant get them at the LFS.