Snails

[BiddyBudsMom]

Hi All,

I just came across this board and have a few questions. I have had tropical fish for years and have had pretty good success. However, I have never had snails. Well, we decided to get a few snails for our inside tank in hopes of them breeding for our outside small fish pond. We have had them for a few months and they have been doing great from what I can tell. Well, finally the other night, we found them mating or what we thought was mating. Then a few days later, the smaller snail was completely upside down and didn't move. I know that many times they will do that for a few hours so I told me husband to leave it over night. The next morning it still hadn't moved. My husband went to pull it out as we decided it was dead but he said it appeared empty so I said go ahead and put it back in for decoration. I just figured the other fish must have eaten the remains. The shell stayed in the same exact spot for 4 more days and then this morning, I go to feed the fish and poof the shell was gone. I asked my husband if he took the shell out. He was like No, why? I started looking around and sure enough both were alive and moving all over the tank. Is this normal? Did it kind of like hybernate or something? To me this is way to strange! I am so happy it is alive because believe it or not, they are named and it was my favorite (Shell-ey and Weirdo, don't ask my 13 year named them.) Does anyone have any experience with breeding snails? If so, any info is very much appreciated!

Thanks,

Carolyn

 

[bodyshop20]

Get the snails out of the aquarium, They will breed like rabbits and over take the tank, They also pollute the water as much as clean it, So no point in having them.......... Trust me on this.
It took me a few months to rid the water of them, They became a pest

 

[FrAnK3333]

snails are very easy to breed. They breed liek crazy and all you have to have is algue. Easier then convicts.

 

[BiddyBudsMom]

I have heard they breed like crazy but I have also heard that convicts/ciclids will eat them too. Our plans is to have a bunch if possible so we aren't worried about them over populating. However, I have found out we have the slow breeding type so it sounds like they will not over breed. We figure if we get too many. we will take out of the fish and transfer them and break down the tank if needed as we have another 30 gallon stand by tank we can set up.

So did I hear right that snails can hybernate for weeks and sometimes months? That seems so strange to me and I was shocked when someone mentioned this.

Thanks for the info everyone!

Carolyn

 

[LoachLover]

They are easiest to breed when you're not trying

 

[BiddyBudsMom]

That is so funny! I heard they will lay the eggs near the surface too and sometimes above the water and to let my water go down. Is that correct? We did see tiny little dark greyish brown circles in the corner of our tank down the top two inches. Any chance these are the eggs? None of the other corners have these circles.

Carolyn

 

[FrAnK3333]

Convicts are not knowen to eat snails its loaches that are. Snails arent bad for the water. They can be a pest tho. Put a lettuce leaf in the tank to get rid of them.

 

[jflowers]

http/www.applesnail.net

Breeding snails is fun. Use the above link to ID yours and if they are pomacea bridgisii dont worry, eggs are layed above the water line and can just be plucked out if you don't want them. If they are common pond snails, you could get over run.

Most of the botia sp. are known for eating snails, but dont get clowns unless your tank is huge (5-6' in length).

Jon

 

[dragoon459]

why the heck would you want to breed snails anyway?
the mess up your tank water and they look like crap

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

Hey! That's a great idea.

If you really don't know how well they breed and are afraid of what's been ascribed to above, then may I suggest something?

How about setting up a seperate snailarium? In this way, you would have many more advantages than letting the snails breed in one of your main tanks. You could then find out their reproductive rate, what they eat, and how they 'get down to it'. You could also monitor how much waste they produce and then figure how much of a bio-impact they may have on your main tank/s if introduced.

Good luck and best wishes.

PS, I was snail-less at one time too, and are now the proud owner of a snailarium; producing four species of snails.

 

[dragoon459]

??? ??? ??? ???

 

[FrAnK3333]

Ive actual seen people have snail only tanks. Idk why tho.

 

[BiddyBudsMom]

Thanks jflowers for the link. I think I have identified the type we bought! And I love the snail tank idea. We have an extra 20 gallon tank and my daughter and I were discussing it and I think we might do this! Sounds like fun to us!

Carolyn

 

[xrenegadex]

do all loaches eat snails?