Plant Eating Snails!

[guppiegirlie]

Hi all, a few days ago I bought some columbian giant ramshorn snails after being told by the guy in the pet store they were plant friendly.

Well they are not!! (I know, I know, I should of done my research first) but can I prevent them from eating my plants?

I added some cucumber yesterday, which went down a treat not only with the snails but my platties and killies absolutely loved it too!

But on checking my tank again this morning, the hungry buggers have yet again been munching on my beloved plants!! Am I just going to have to bite the bullet and return them?

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Thanks guys

 

[Byron]

My research on this species of snail indicates that they will devour plants, so I would remove them.  When their natural "live" food is available, snails are not going to switch to "fake" food.
 
Byron.

 

[Akasha72]

agreed. See if they can swap them for Nerite snails. They leave plants alone and are great algae eater and colourful too
 
one of my zebra nerites
 

 

[guppiegirlie]

I was afraid this was going to be the answer, but to be honest I think I already knew it was!

I already have some red ramshorns and some little brown ones I suspect are tadpole snails. They stowed away on some floating plants I bought online! I love the little nerites, the llittle orange spotty ones are pretty too, I just thought these being big and unusual they'd of made a fantastic quirky addition to my tank!

Never mind, lesson learned, I'll be doing my research next time!

Thanks guys

 

[Akasha72]

I have two zebra's and I have looked at the orange spotty's too. I may add a couple later down the line - perhaps once my oto's pass on to the big tropical tank in the sky. I'm worried about providing enough food for them all when I also have 3 very big, and very very greedy siamese algae eaters. The competition for food is hotting up!
 
I like snails and they are a great addition to the tank ... but not the plant eating kind

 

[Kaliska]

Ramshorns are one of the worst for plant eating.  Pretty but I found pond/tadpole snails to actually be less of a tank problem even though people hate seeing them.  Most snails don't eat the healthy parts of the plants if they have enough food.  Not enough for species that can breed in your tank to go population crazy on though.  They do chow down on any damaged or dying part and may make chunks disappear that would have continued to appear green for awhile.  Improving plant conditions even when my plants had seemed fine reduced some of the ramshorn damage in that tank but I never added them to another.

 

[snowflake311]

Thats so weird. I had Rams horn snails in my Planted tanks for YEARS! Till I added Tiny Dwarf puffers and they took my snails! I LOVED My rams horn snails I kept them with moss baby tears to name a few plants. I never had an issue with them eating plants! My plants were healthy. They will eat dead or dying leaves but thats ok. Rams horn snails kept my tank so clean and algae free. NO Algae stood a chance with these snails. I was going to go by some because I miss them so much. 
 
I never had them over populate they always seemed to keep the population in check. 
 
Now Pound snails are Awful snails to have. 
 
Here is one of my snails climbing up hair or something. I found them very entertaining. I HATE nerites snails they leave awful white eggs on EVERYTHING the the eggs don't come off easy. They also poop more than a full sized Pleco. I got ones by mistake Want to trade?  
 
Want to send me your rams horn snails I will take them. 

 
This little guy would surf the Current. 

 
Are you sure you have Rams horns snails. This is one of my old Favs he was kind of blue. 
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I think you need to look into the health of your plants. Sounds like to me maybe yours plants are not as healthy as you think? As you can see in the bottom photo I had some algae in my tanks. It did not last long with my snails. A healthy planted tank should have enough Algae to keep the Rams horn snails well fed but not enough to out compete the plants. Its all a balancing act. 

 

[guppiegirlie]

I have little red ramshorns and have had them a while and as you said they have never bothered my plants and are fantastic alge eaters!

Its not those who are eating them, I bought some giant ramshorns, these are the ones who are eating my plants!

As I said in my previous post, I should of done my research as the giant ramshorns are well documented plant eaters. But I'd taken quite a shine to them and started popping in my tank a slice of cucumber and a carrot stick and this seems to have, not completely stopped them munching my plants, but seemed to have reduced it dramatically!

My fish seem to enjoy the cucumber also, especially my platties and killies!

So I think I've found a balance!

But if you would like some little red ramshorns I'd be more than happy to send you some

 

[NickAu]

 
I have little red ramshorns and have had them a while and as you said they have never bothered my plants and are fantastic alge eaters!

 
I have a bunch of red rams horns in the 6 foot tank, they seem to leave the plants alone.  Mine must have hitch hiked on on a plant and for a while the population looked like it was going to explode, with close to some 50 snails, the numbers have stabilised at around 20 now.
 
I love any snail that wont eat healthy plants in my tank,  To me these snails are beneficial and the only reason the population explodes, is because they have lots to eat.