Sometimes wonder where bladder snails come from...

[jaylach]

I'm one of those weird people that actually like bladder/pond snails and had a batch before introducing my cichlids which eat the things like popcorn munchies. Odd thing is that I now have a single very young snail on the leaf of a sword plant that the cichlids are leaving alone.

It is definitely a young pond/bladder. I just don't know where it came from. All plants are over a year in the tank with no additions to the tank of any kind. My best guess is that an egg was attached to a mini Bug Bites cichlid pellet. Could such an egg survive for at least months and still hatch? If not I have no clue where the little beastie came from but it is welcome.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I thought I was going to have an unpopular opinion by coming in here and saying that the bladder snails are my favourites! They're the cutest, least annoying out of all the snails I've kept. I even prefer them over nerites.

Yes, I said it! I regretted buying nerites, and haven't given them a second chance because the one turning out to be female and laying white eggs on every single surface drove me nuts.

Maybe one day. If I find a cool variety, and have a spare tank I don't mind being spotted I can move it to if it turns out to be a female.

 

[MaloK]

They are perfect in betta tanks. Bullied all the time.

Butttahhh, In a shrimp tank they... are... a... nightmare...

At least shrimps love to eat the ones you squashed.

 

[Ram419]

I thought I was going to have an unpopular opinion by coming in here and saying that the bladder snails are my favourites! They're the cutest, least annoying out of all the snails I've kept. I even prefer them over nerites.

Yes, I said it! I regretted buying nerites, and haven't given them a second chance because the one turning out to be female and laying white eggs on every single surface drove me nuts.

Maybe one day. If I find a cool variety, and have a spare tank I don't mind being spotted I can move it to if it turns out to be a female.

I've had bladder snails and mystery snails, before I ever had nerite snails. But, the nerites I must give props to because they do the most to clean up aquaruim walls and decor that I've found. Nerite snails are larger then bladder snails so it makes sense they would intake more. Of course, mystery snails are larger but they are more particular in what they eat I think. It's that or the size differences allowing each type of snail to cover different suraface sizes.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

That's weird, Jay. Spontaneously arriving bladder snails. And cichlid proof ones, even.

I've had bladder snails and mystery snails, before I ever had nerite snails. But, the nerites I must give props to because they do the most to clean up aquaruim walls and decor that I've found. Nerite snails are larger then bladder snails so it makes sense they would intake more. Of course, mystery snails are larger but they are more particular in what they eat I think. It's that or the size differences allowing each type of snail to cover different suraface sizes.

That's why I tend to like variety. Bladder snails, pond snails, ramshorns. I'd guess I have at least six different species of snails in my palludarium. Between them and the hillstream loaches, things stay pretty clean.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I'm also in the I Hate Nerites club, the eggs are made of concrete and are so ugly to look at. I don't mind pond/bladder snails at all! I've got ramshorns at the moment and they're cute too. I love how nature always finds a way to infiltrate one way or another

 

[Colin_T]

Pest snails usually enter aquariums as eggs on plants.

 

[GaryE]

I'd suspect a small colony to have survived the Cichlids but stayed very cryptic in the tank.

Where do they come from? There's a thermal vent that the souls of aquarists who never do water changes, never adapt their ideas to new data, only keep fish I consider ugly and who spam forums are pitched into when they die. The essential crustiness of those souls congeals into a certain group of crustaceans, known to us as bladder and burrowing snails, but to themselves as vengeful mulm demons. They resent the heat down there and want to get back at good aquarists.

That's where the hateful beasts come from.

 

[jaylach]

Hmm, Today I see more bladders, probably around 8-10. To me that is cool as I'm one of those weird people that actually like the things. So I guess where they came back from does not matter and that is fine.

What I'm now finding odd is hat I had a lot of the little beasties before adding my cichlids. When I added the cichlids they wiped out the snails but now the cichlids are totally leaving the snails alone. That just seems odd. I may try a bit of a test. I normally feed 5 days per week with two days with no food. I just might go for three to four days without feeding to see if the cichlids go back to munching the snails.

I would really like to see the cichlids continue to leave the bladders alone as there are some 'decorative' snails I'd like to add to the tank but Dan's Fish has advised against. Jonny from Dan's advised that once cichlids find that snails are tasty they will then attack and feed on any other types of snails. Guess I'll just have to see what I see.

 

[Boundava]

Loki made bladder snails...S/he is the god of mischief after all.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Maybe your cichlids over-indulged, made themselves sick, and never want to taste the things again, kind of like the old-time cure for kids smoking.

 

[jaylach]

Why do most hate bladder snails so much? Personally I think they are pretty cool little beasties.

 

[GaryE]

For me, only a few Cichlid species have been effective snail eaters - Steatocranus, buffalo heads were the best.

I find ramshorns seem to stay at okay populations here, but bladder snails will go insane. They will outpopulate their food sources and crash. They poop like rhinos. They are ugly. They eat fish eggs (ramshorns don't here). They can go wild all over the glass.

They chew with their mouths open, and vote for the parties I disagree with. They use no spices in their food, and they prefer cats to dogs.

Okay, it's totally subjective, but for me since I like single species tanks where the fish breed slowly and replace each other naturally, they are a plague because of their egg eating. I have experimented with setting up eggs in containers, and adding ramshorns to some, and pond snails to others. So I have comfortably confirmed the predatory nature of pond snails to my satisfaction (ramshorns ate some, but a tiny percentage. Pond/bladder snails destroyed them all).

I don't enjoy killing things, but I have to either scrap my set ups, or give every pond snail I can catch to the turtle, while crushing the rest right before I do water changes.

My 40 year old female red eared slider is a huge fan of bladder snails.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

For me, only a few Cichlid species have been effective snail eaters - Steatocranus, buffalo heads were the best.

I find ramshorns seem to stay at okay populations here, but bladder snails will go insane. They will outpopulate their food sources and crash. They poop like rhinos. They are ugly. They eat fish eggs (ramshorns don't here). They can go wild all over the glass.

They chew with their mouths open, and vote for the parties I disagree with. They use no spices in their food, and they prefer cats to dogs.

Okay, it's totally subjective, but for me since I like single species tanks where the fish breed slowly and replace each other naturally, they are a plague because of their egg eating. I have experimented with setting up eggs in containers, and adding ramshorns to some, and pond snails to others. So I have comfortably confirmed the predatory nature of pond snails to my satisfaction (ramshorns ate some, but a tiny percentage. Pond/bladder snails destroyed them all).

I don't enjoy killing things, but I have to either scrap my set ups, or give every pond snail I can catch to the turtle, while crushing the rest right before I do water changes.

My 40 year old female red eared slider is a huge fan of bladder snails.

You have a way with words, my friend.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I find ramshorns seem to stay at okay populations here, but bladder snails will go insane. They will outpopulate their food sources and crash. They poop like rhinos. They are ugly. They eat fish eggs (ramshorns don't here). They can go wild all over the glass.

I didn't know this!! They're in my pygmy cory tank, darn it. Now I need to do some snail baiting.