snails

[rosierabbit]

i asked in 'chit chat' and they sent me here. will snails be ok with my fish (the fish in my signature)?? also is the whole snail breeding thing a mega huge problem ?? and will they be fine in a tropical freshwater tank? thanks

 

[rosierabbit]

hello??

 

[Lateral Line]

IMHO snails are nothing but pests, so my only experience with them is hauling hundreds of the damn things out!

I don't really see why you wee sent here from chit chat, generally snails are bad news for plants! There is another thread on chit chat about snails right now...

 

[AquaNut]

Actually, I'm the one who suggested she post this here... so that allnatural would see it! She was asking about golden applesnails, not the invasive pond snails nobody wants. Rosie- allnatural is N. American... he'll probably be on later in the day.

 

[rosierabbit]

*bump*

 

[allnatural]

OK, I'm here.

Applesnails are tropical snails. They need a temperature above 68F. I am not familiar with the barbs that you have in your tropical tank. You need to be concerned that your fish may nibble on the snail's body if they have already killed some of your other fish. If you have live plants, you will want to get the applesnail Pomecea bridgesii. They do not eat live plants. These are common in the fish stores. They come in several colors, including the blue that you see in my avatar. A common name for the gold ones are "Golden Mystery Snail".

If you decide to get one, you will need to supplement it's diet with bottom feeder food like algae wafers or shrimp pellets. They cannot live on algae alone. They can get quite large - larger than a golf ball.

As far as breeding. Applesnails have separate sexes. You would need a male and a female before you would get fertile eggs. Pomecea bridgesii lay their eggs in a large cluster ABOVE the water line. I leave at least 2 inches of air at the top of my tanks. These clusters are very obvious, and can be removed and discarded if you don't want the babies. If you do want the babies, the cluster must be left out of the water.

See www.applesnail.net for more info.

OK, now about those other snails.... I like them all, and I'm proud of it! Even the ones that you have TONS of. I have all planted tanks, so I'm not sure why they are "bad news" for them. The common pond snails do the BEST job of cleaning up the algae and other gunk in the tank. I especially like the tadpole snails that appear to swim through the water

Ok, I'm done now.....

--Tim

 

[Kossy]

OK firstly I don't know much about plants so im gonna start reading here to find out!!! I have plants in my tanks

IMHO snails are nothing but pests, so my only experience with them is hauling hundreds of the damn things out!

Ok they are pests however I find if you sqaush (cull) them on the glass then your fish eat them (Free food) it may take ur fish a while before they start trying them but it happens and its good

 

[AquaNut]

I've never disliked having snails in my tanks, either, but I gave up snails when I started keeping loaches. There are no loaches in my 45 gallon tank, however, so maybe it's time to start with snails again.

Btw - I just want to mention that snails are great escape artists. I used to have a gorgeous snail (cannot remember for the life of me what kind of snail it was), and one day it went missing. I never could figure out what happened to it. I thought that even if someone got hungry and made themselves an extra large order of escargot, I should still be able to find the empty shell. Weeks later, I found it behind the aquarium cabinet on the floor.

 

[Alien Anna]

OK, now about those other snails.... I like them all, and I'm proud of it! Even the ones that you have TONS of. I have all planted tanks, so I'm not sure why they are "bad news" for them. The common pond snails do the BEST job of cleaning up the algae and other gunk in the tank. I especially like the tadpole snails that appear to swim through the water
--Tim

Tim,
I bow to your superior knowledge here, but the wild snails infesting my tank are not the benign cleaners you seem to describe - they've decimated my plants and my Amazon swords are covered in little holes where they've been nibbled. Not only that, but my poor plec has to fight them off every time I feed him. They look disgusting - sometimes there is such a pile of them on my gravel, it looks like a writhing mass!

I'm not sure of their species, but they are trumpet snails of some kind. They are long and grey and grow to about 1/2".

I also have Golden Mystery/Apple Snails and I'm quite keen on them. They don't eat plants and I'm hoping they might out-compete the wild varmints. No sign so far.

 

[allnatural]

Shew! I must be lucky not to have gotten those plant-eating snails! I have several varieties and all of them so far have been nice. I do have the Malaysian Trumpet Snail that burrows into the substrate - they come up at night to feed on algae. They are also good cleaners, but have not attacked my live plants -- yet. Maybe you could send them to AquaNut to use as loach food!