Apple Snails

[NottsFishy]

Hey guys and gals quick question
I have a tank that is planted with live plants (second attempt) all is going well apart from the dreaded algae makin an appearance lol.
Now i know there are many fish that eat algae but i already have a betta in the tank and i dont really want more fish in it so i was thinking of either shrimp or an apple snail but fancy a snail more.
My question is do apple snails eat plants i have seen how good they are at eating algae but havent seen much of what they can do if anything to plants.
All help appreciated greatly

 

[kelly528]

Dont quote me but I think they eat plants. Why don't you go for some nerite snails? They're quite smart-looking, good algae eaters, low-er bioload, and they only breed in brackish.

 

[nmonks]

Dont quote me but I think they eat plants. Why don't you go for some nerite snails? They're quite smart-looking, good algae eaters, low-er bioload, and they only breed in brackish.

Nerites and cherry shrimps are infinitely better algae controllers than apple snails, or indeed any fish. Apple snails do eat plants, though some apple snail species (Pomacea spp.) are worse than others. Apple snails also need a "resting" period outside the tank, and if kept underwater constantly at tropical temperatures tend to die within a year or so. Kept properly, with a resting phase, they live much longer and get much bigger.

Cheers, Neale

 

[betta fish]

My apple snails never touch my plants, they are pomacea bridgesii, an excellent species to have in a planted tank.

 

[nmonks]

As I say, it varies. I recently kept Marisa cornuarietis, which is an apple snail, despite being sold as a "ramshorn snail". It literally ploughed through my Vallisneria, eating them through at the base like a a lawn mower. A very, very bad species for the planted aquarium.

I wouldn't recommend *anyone* buy apple snails for a planted aquarium *unless* they had another (preferably subtropical) aquarium they could move them into should something go wrong. Identification to species level can be difficult, and retailers often haven't a clue which species they're selling. The fact apple snails rarely (almost never) live as long in tropical aquaria as they do in the wild is also an issue; and frankly, they're too easily damaged or killed by fish to make worthwhile in community tanks.

I've kept an bred apple snails a number of times, and enjoy them as subjects for their own aquarium. But they're a poor choice for most mixed species aquaria. Nerites are orders of magnitude better as algae removers, and Tylomelania and Clea helena do better alongside community fish. Melanoides are hands-down the best scavenging snails and very useful additions to a tank with a sandy substrate.

Cheers, Neale

 

[NottsFishy]

Cheers peeps for all youre helpful advise

I do believe nerite snails it is then lol

 

[Idlemind]

I had apple snails and them things would actually catch healthy fish and eat them, so I went with the smaller snails I think they were ramshorn and they reporduced like crazy so I would just mash them against the glass and let the fish have a neat treat,they loved them kinda population control

 

[mattlee]

I had apple snails and them things would actually catch healthy fish and eat them, so I went with the smaller snails I think they were ramshorn and they reporduced like crazy so I would just mash them against the glass and let the fish have a neat treat,they loved them kinda population control

apple snails catching healthy fish................ and eating them............. i dont think so how do you suggest that an apple snails catches a fish, healthy or not?

 

[Idlemind]

Dont know how they caught the fish but when I got up one morning to my oldest daughter screaming and crying there was the apple snail eating her goldfish, it had eaten it from the tail and was almost to the gold fishs vent and the gold fish was still squirming, so it hadnt died in the night, get all the apple snails ya want lol I wont ever have anymore lol

 

[Curiosity101]

1) I have had lots of apples snails for over a year...I'm not sure about there life span in the aquaria compared to in the wild. But...at higher average temps their lifespan IS going to be shorter anyways.

2) Pomacea bridgesii will NOT touch your plants. These are the species I have kept for this past year, and have a fully planted tank as you can see in my sig. See the following for info on how to check the breed...

Pomacea bridgesii: flat shoulders and 90° sutures (scalariform).
The flat shoulder, however, becomes less apparent in the last whorls of the shell.

3) They DO NOT and CANNOT catch fish. However they WILL scavenge fill that are dying and unable to move. This will be what happened with the goldfish. It will have taken a turn for the worse overnight, have been resting on the bottom unable to move. And then the snail will have come along. They're opportunist omnivores.

4) They're perfectly easy too keep within a small community tank (ie. small mainly peaceful fish), I supplement mine with calcium via a cuttlefish bone. And ensure the pH remains above 7. That along with a varied diet (that all of my fish get), has led to some very very healthy offspring (ask anyone on here who bought babies from me).


It's not often I would disagree with nmonks...and like I said I can't comment on the difference in lifespan (other than that a higher temperature means a shorter life). But I practically disagree with everything else he said.

Also nerites tend to clean the tank of all of the algae they like to feed on, and then often starve unless people make a special effort to feed them. I'm not saying it can't be done...so long as you supplement with veggies then it should be fine.

And finally...only buy livestock to eat algae if you actually already want the fish/snail/shrimp etc. Buying any of the above simply to remove algae isn't a good plan. A good plan would be to either use an algae scraper, or address what might be causing the algae.

 

[ALW]

1) I have had lots of apples snails for over a year...I'm not sure about there life span in the aquaria compared to in the wild. But...at higher average temps their lifespan IS going to be shorter anyways.

2) Pomacea bridgesii will NOT touch your plants. These are the species I have kept for this past year, and have a fully planted tank as you can see in my sig. See the following for info on how to check the breed...

Pomacea bridgesii: flat shoulders and 90° sutures (scalariform).
The flat shoulder, however, becomes less apparent in the last whorls of the shell.

3) They DO NOT and CANNOT catch fish. However they WILL scavenge fill that are dying and unable to move. This will be what happened with the goldfish. It will have taken a turn for the worse overnight, have been resting on the bottom unable to move. And then the snail will have come along. They're opportunist omnivores.

4) They're perfectly easy too keep within a small community tank (ie. small mainly peaceful fish), I supplement mine with calcium via a cuttlefish bone. And ensure the pH remains above 7. That along with a varied diet (that all of my fish get), has led to some very very healthy offspring (ask anyone on here who bought babies from me).

Agreed!

 

[nmonks]

In the wild they (apparently) live for some years, supposedly up to 8 years. One time I was visiting the keeper of the invertebrate house at the London Zoo, and he showed me a specimen they'd had for 5 years. The thing was huge! Seriously, the shell was tennis ball size.

The fact they don't get this big in aquaria is because they can't aestivate through the summer. They seem to need to "rest" for some months. There's been some debate about whether cooling them down for a few months mimics this effect without the need to put them in damp mud or whatever. But on the other hand, keeping them at tropical temperatures all year around does seem to shorten their lives.

Cheers, Neale

1) I have had lots of apples snails for over a year...I'm not sure about there life span in the aquaria compared to in the wild. But...at higher average temps their lifespan IS going to be shorter anyways.

 

[Richard22b]

I currently have around 40 apples snailes in my tank and they don't touch my plants. they eat algae or the excess food in the tank.

 

[Curiosity101]

Are you sure it's not more to do with the species being kept? I'm not trying to second guess you here...but if the zoo was keeping a different species then that would be an easy explanation. Or were they definitely Pomacea bridgesii?

 

[Curiosity101]

Specifically could it have been a Pomacea maculata, they do look very similar...