My First Snail

[auntiebuttons]

On Saturday I added another 8 fishies to my tank. I now have 3 black mollies, 3 balloon mollies, 2 plecs, 4 black tetras and 4 silver-tipped tetras.

Just been to check for floaters and I had a snail at the top corner of my tank. My husband disposed of in our neighbours garden (hehehehe). Is there any way of preventing snails? Are they good for the tank? The snail had an orange swirly bit and was brown/beige patterned on top.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

well i guess thats your every day garden variety pest snail well snails are bad and good

BAD:
- can multiply faster then rabbits !! soon you gonna see more of em coming
- certain species consider eating plants as a priority and you end up with snail infested/ravaged plants
- A loot of snails == a loot of snail poop, if your filter might not be able to handle the bioload and spikes might occur
- there should be more bad things about em but i dont know em all

GOOD
- can offer a mediocre amount of algae eating power,
- some snails are really pets like apple snails
- snails like malaysian trumpet snails help airate and circulate the gravel because they burrow around the substrate


in general snails can be eradicated but hard... i guess in all opinion alone it is easier to keep em under control by not overfeedings, snails tend to reproduce more when there is a lot of food in the tank. There are biological means of controlling snails like puffers for example but compatibility and size of tank is an issue

cheers hope this helped

 

[Snowbrumby]

I have two snails in my little tank - don't know what they are - but they have been great little cleaners and haven't produced any offspring thankfully.
I read somewhere that certain types of fish are good at eating snails, if that helps. Can't remember what type but might be worth a look?

 

[gadazobe]

"I have two snails in my little tank - don't know what they are - but they have been great little cleaners and haven't produced any offspring thankfully."


You might have just the 2 now - but, believe me, you'll get more. If they're ordinary ramshorn snails, they don't need each other to reproduce. They're hermaphrodites

 

[sinistral]

In addition to what the previous posters wrote, I view snails as part of the fauna of a planted community aquarium. I think they contribute to a "natural" look to the tank, though many disagree and view them as pests.

They can be eradicated (some loaches will eat them, for instance). However, usually eradicating them can be just as troublesome as not-- the pitfalls typically include introducing a snail-devouring species of fish which may be completely unsuitable for the tank (either due to size, incompatibility with other fish, special care needs, etc), introducing medications to the tank which can produce a large amount of decaying snails, or a certain quantity of troublesome labor (putting a lettuce leaf in the bottom of the tank right before lights out at night and disposing of the snail-covered leaf in the morning). The trouble will depend on your tolerance for these activities.

I find that the absolute best way of keeping the snail population under control was mentioned by kenneth_kpe in his very helpful post-- not overfeeding. Snails can multiply exponentially under this condition.

I view the overall snail population as a helpful gauge of the right amount of feeding.

 

[Snowbrumby]

Hermaphrodites - that doesn't sound good Is there a snail pic site I can go to to try and find out what type I have?? Had this pair for a about 3 months now and they are still the only two snails in the tank.

 

[nightlife20]

depends what snails they are...

little ones that come in on plants imo are bad news... i always check my plants beofre they go anywhere near my tanks.

on the other had i had two golden apple snails.. they were great.. didnt eat my plants just used to give out free rides to my 2 crabs.. and my plec used to hitchike off it...

always used to be fun watchin them go slowly all the way to the top of the tank then let go an fall down

 

[loafybones]

I heard that if you drop a bit of lettuce in to the tank and leave it for a bit, all of the snails will go onto it and you can just take the lettuce out complete with snails.

My fry tank was over-run wih the b*stards but I got my hubby to scrape them off with the glass cleaning thingy and they seem to have all gone now, and all of the eggs I hope!

"Had this pair for a about 3 months now and they are still the only two snails in the tank. "

Just you wait, you'll get more!!!

 

[Snowbrumby]

My snails are big ones and a nice golden, yellowish colour - not the little brown ones that I've seen on some of the plants in lfs. They also don't eat the plants, they climb and clean them but don't eat them.

"always used to be fun watchin them go slowly all the way to the top of the tank then let go an fall down"
Mine do that too - it is funny to watch, but sometimes my little Cory doesn't get out of the way in time and get landed on

 

[nightlife20]

it is funny to watch, but sometimes my little Cory doesn't get out of the way in time and get landed on

hehehe yeah... used to be my frogs with that problem



my new frogs are atm gettin squashed against the glass by my hoplos when i give out bloodworm lol


frog this size <---> hoplo this size <--------------------------> u see the problem?