Do Snails Eat Algea?

[hollanda88]

I need to get rid of some algea on the substrate and plants, the 3 bn plecs and 5 ottocinclus can't manage it all, would a snail eat it?

andrew

 

[Curiosity101]

I think of my snails more like little sheep than anything else. They'll mow the algae down so it's a very thin layer, but in my experience don't normally completely remove it. Unless it's hair algae, they actually pick off the entire strand then.

 

[hollanda88]

I think of my snails more like little sheep than anything else. They'll mow the algae down so it's a very thin layer, but in my experience don't normally completely remove it. Unless it's hair algae, they actually pick off the entire strand then.

Are they likely to breed too?

 

[Curiosity101]

Depends what type you get, but yes.
If you get apple snails and you get a male and female then they will breed, but they lay the egg sac above the waterline so you can simply remove it if you don't want any babies.
If you get something like Ramshorn snails then they breed like crazy, leaving little blobs of eggs all over the place. I had them on leaves, glass, filter, heater...etc

Edit: even though the ramshorns laid alot of eggs, I never had any snails survive to adulthood, so my guess is they all got eaten.

 

[hollanda88]

Depends what type you get, but yes.
If you get apple snails and you get a male and female then they will breed, but they lay the egg sac above the waterline so you can simply remove it if you don't want any babies.
If you get something like Ramshorn snails then they breed like crazy, leaving little blobs of eggs all over the place. I had them on leaves, glass, filter, heater...etc

Edit: even though the ramshorns laid alot of eggs, I never had any snails survive to adulthood, so my guess is they all got eaten.

It would be golden apple snails, might just get one later on today then and see what affect it has

andrew

 

[saltynay]

Some species of apple snails are aggressive plant eaters over being algae eaters so if buying look for ones which are

1) In a tank with a plant and check for any holes in the leafs or slight shredding of the leaves
2) In a tropical tank many LFS keep them in coldwater tanks which makes them slower so they do not eat as much which in turn means the leaves attain less damage so may not be visible.
3) I would also ask at the desk if its ok if the snail eats your plants to return it the next day and make sure you mention this to someone of actual authority as opposed to the general guy working there.