Snails with live plants...

[yvez9]

I just added live plants to my aquarium.

After no less than 15 minutes, the snail was right in there tied up to a leaf...

Now i think i'm going to get rid of my snail because I don't want to lose all my plants! Furthermore I don't want the snail to lay eggs and then have many snails eating away my plants!

I ahve a 20 gallon tank, what's a good fish i can put in there to keep it clean?

 

[handsomeboy]

hurry hurry hurry~!

or else you'll end up like me: a centimeter of snail covering the gravel.

what kind of fish?

 

[clutterydrawer]

i dont get it

is this a snail you put in there as a "pet" like an apple snail or something? or is it a random snail that hitched a lift in on your new plants?

 

[Da_Oz]

I have 5 types of snails In my tanks with live plants and have not lost a plant yet to them. The larger snails will some times break off a leaf or something like that but don't kill me plants in fact they help my plants more than I can even see myself. Plus if your going to run a planted tank you will need all the help with algae you can get.

 

[yvez9]

Yes it is a snail i put in myself.

But the minute i put in the plants, the snail went right for them and broke off a leaf already.

I'm mostly afraid the snail will have babies and then run into even more problems

i put the snail in the breeding box i have and gave it a bit of food.

I think i'll get a algea eater instead.

 

[jflowers]

Hi yves9

if you have had the snail for more than six months it is unlikely you will get babies unless you have a pair as aquatic snails cant fertilise themselves (heard of it happenning in a thread on here, but very rare if not impossible. What type of snail is it? I have apple snails which are not supposed to eat plants but they do sometimes take a nibble from my java fern. Puffers and clown loaches will eat snails, but your tank is not large enough for either.

Jon

p.s. check out www.applesnail.net for loads of useful info

 

[yvez9]

I put the snail back in the tank

I'll check in about an hour where he's up to.
As for the plants, everything good

Ammonia took a drastic drop, almost none now. (I've had the tank for 2 weeks now)

As for algea, it is building up on the glass.

Could I get some kind of fish small enough for a 20 gallon that will eat this up?

 

[jflowers]

Otos may help with the algae and so would BNose plec, though they may be a bit big for your tank and they dont eat as much algae as they get older. The snail will probably eat as much as either, do you know what species it is?

Jon

 

[yvez9]

From pictures I've seen, it looks like an Apple Snail


Well I guess the girl at the pet store told me crap because I see these snails can't reproduce on their own.

So much for that
I'm not going anymore anyway, they just told me crap so far...

 

[jflowers]

Apple snail (bridgisi) Females can store sperm for six months so they can appear to produce young on thier own. Apple snails prefer left over fish food to plants, though as I said b4, mine do have the ocasional nip from a leaf. Keep an eye on the inside of your tank hood, as apple snails lay thier eggs an inch or so above the water line. If you see a clump of white/pink/red eggs, simply pull them off the hood and chuck them away (though my two south american puffers will get cross with you if you do).

Jon

 

[yvez9]

I've never seen it go outside of the water yet
anyway... what happens will happen

the snail is resting for now in an upper corner of the tank

I'll check it again later
If i see it's eating plants, I'll bring it to the pet store tomorrow and get an oto or something

 

[yvez9]

OK that's it

he ripped off two leaves now
I put it in the breeding net now and I'll return him tomorrow and get an algea eating fish instead.

 

[mandi]

Wow how strange! I have almost a dozen apple snails (I couldn't resist getting a few of every color - gold, ivory, jade, blue, chestnut...) and I've never had one touch my plants -- I keep them with java fern, java moss, amazon sword, moss balls, dwarf sag, and a dwarf lilly. The only time they "bother" the plants is to eat the algae/gunk OFF the leaves, but I've never seen them damage the actual leaf itself.

As for them breeding -- mine breed like crazy, but they lay their eggs above water, in a big white-colored clutch. I just grab a few hunks of paper towel, pull it off the lid, squish it, and throw it away. No biggie. (Though a little gross -- but you get used to it)

As for otos -- I would think they'd be ok in your tank. But they should be kept in groups of 3 or more. I used to have 3 of them along with 2 platys in a 6 gallon tank, and I had no problems.

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Is it eating perfectly healthy leaves or not so great ones? Because if it is just eating the not so great ones it might actually be helping the plants by pruning off the dying leaves. Just a thought....