What is this snail

[SarahBeth]

This snail hitchiked on some plants we bought. It's big for a pest snail so I'm wondering if it's something else. Any ideas of what this could be?

 

[FranciscoB]

Pest snails come large and small. Several genera in several families. Your snail is called by some, a rams horn snail (Family Planorbidae). Lays gelatinous egg masses everywhere, but inside the tank (unlike apple snails which do it out of the water). Cute and okay, as well as prolific. Not a major concern.

 

[Uberhoust]

I have purposely added these snails to my tanks, and I am glad I did. They don't seem to get out of hand and the fish get live food from time to time as the young snails hatch. They are pretty mobile and cover all areas of the tank.

 

[Sgooosh]

they eat diatoms like crazy as well. in the beginning of my tanks there's always walls covered in diatoms and I move these guys from the big tank to help me with it

 

[sharkweek178]

I actually think ramshorn snails are pretty nice looking. It's a little unfortunate that my assassin snails seem to get them more effectively than they get the pond snails. I have a big old blue one that I actually moved into another tank because I didn't want the assassins to get it. I like the goldish brown ones too.

 

[vince82]

I actually think ramshorn snails are pretty nice looking. It's a little unfortunate that my assassin snails seem to get them more effectively than they get the pond snails. I have a big old blue one that I actually moved into another tank because I didn't want the assassins to get it. I like the goldish brown ones too.

Same battle here. Did not bring in the big guns (assassin snail), I just remove the pond snails manually and leave the ramsnhors.
Every time I spend time looking at it I take the shrimp net and grab any pond snail that is easy to catch. I dump them in a flower pot as fertilizer.

 

[sharkweek178]

Same battle here. Did not bring in the big guns (assassin snail), I just remove the pond snails manually and leave the ramsnhors.
Every time I spend time looking at it I take the shrimp net and grab any pond snail that is easy to catch. I dump them in a flower pot as fertilizer.

Sometimes I put in some catfish pellets that I normally feed to my corys. The corys don't feed much during the day and the snails seem to love them. So I put a few in and in an hour or so, I scoop them out with all the snails they attracted. I wrap them all up in a paper towel, put it in a plastic bag then step on it.

 

[sharkweek178]

So here are a couple of my ramshorn snails. One was riding old Blue.



Then I look a few moments later and they switched!

 

[SarahBeth]

That's funny. These rams horns aren't too bad. They fit right in my shrimp tank.

 

[Sgooosh]

That's funny. These rams horns aren't too bad. They fit right in my shrimp tank.

yep! most of the pest snails are basically slow-moving freshwater shrimp. they eat the same things, scavenge, and breed just as fast as the shrimp

 

[SarahBeth]

The bladder snails are evil. They multiply by the hundreds.

 

[sharkweek178]

The bladder snails are evil. They multiply by the hundreds.

The best way to control them is to limit their food sources. Overfeeding the fish is a big one to watch for. Also controlling algae and removing dead leaves and other plant matter helps.
Assassin snails can help too. But here's the dirty little secret about assassin snails. They actually prefer to eat leftover fish food to other snails. So if you overfeed, not only will the pest snails proliferate, the assassins won't do much about it.

 

[sharkweek178]

So here are a couple of my ramshorn snails. One was riding old Blue.

View attachment 320907

Then I look a few moments later and they switched!

View attachment 320908

It is with great sadness that I have to announce the passing of old Blue. He is survived by some other snails. He is interred in the nearest garbage can. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the sharkweek178 Beer Fund.