Uh oh. A snail.

[Ash Paws]

So I just added an elodea plant to my ten gallon tank, and guess what I found.

The tiniest baby snail.

I don't know what to do with it. Can they multiply on their own? I don't have the guts to kill it!

 

[NickAu]

Can they multiply on their own?

Most likely yes.

The tiniest baby snail.

Cool you got a free snail, lucky you, snails are very beneficial to the tank as they consume waste.

I don't know what to do with it.

I would just leave it be, I love snails.

 

[Ash Paws]

Okay, good. I just remember when I was younger we had a crazy snail explosion in our tank... really hope this doesn't happen again.

I had a mystery snail for a while then it died. It will be nice to have a snail around again.

 

[NickAu]

Okay, good. I just remember when I was younger we had a crazy snail explosion

And you will this time also, The snails will breed like crazy if there is lots of food in the tank, once the food is gone they will start to die off.

My 2 foot and 6 foot have literally hundreds of so called pest snails in them and thats fine by me as I never see them during the day, they usually come out after lights off and do their thing.

 

[Sarah73]

Most likely yes.


Cool you got a free snail, lucky you, snails are very beneficial to the tank as they consume waste.


I would just leave it be, I love snails.

No fish "consume" waste unless they are starving (ghost shrimp). Snails just pick up food from gravel that other fishes miss. Picture? Likely a bladder snail.

 

[Ash Paws]

Here you go

It was so hard to take a picture of him because he is so tiny.

 

[Sarah73]

Mmm that little one can produce axsexually.

 

[Byron]

Snails are your best friend in the aquarium. As has been mentioned, they eat everything and anything organic that is dead (meaning, these type do not eat live plants, only dead or dying leaves, fish excrement, dead fish, and obviously fish food missed by the fish).

They will multiply according to the amount of their food, so always recognize that if they are in high numbers, they are eating organics to get there. That is a good thing from the perspective of organics being consumed, which breaks them down so bacteria can more readily deal with them.

 

[Ash Paws]

Okay thanks! I was glad you said that because most people would say to get rid of the ones that multiply like crazy. If I get a lot of them I probably won't mind though.

 

[NickAu]

No fish "consume" waste

That is correct no fish will consume waste but snails are not fish.

 

[Ash Paws]

Here you go

It was so hard to take a picture of him because he is so tiny.

Turns out this little guy has actually grown into a nice little mystery snail! The pet store where I got the plant from had just mystery snails in the plant tank so I'm not surprised I got a little one!