Freshwater Snail Id

[The-Raven]

I guess I had a hitchhiker on one of my plants from the LFS, it's since spawned about a dozen or so... what is it, how big can i expect them to get, and should I try and keep the population under control?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Looks like a common pond snail;

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=75554

.

 

[The-Raven]

thanks - that does look a lot like it, incredibly smaller, but yeah. I just hope they don't self-fertilize and take over my whole tank, i'd hate to have to remove them...


when i had a saltwater tank, the snails bred by pretty much burrowing into the glass, which rendered my tank non-reusable afterwards... I suppose/hope these fellas won't cause that

 

[black angel]

Those things breed at an immense rate and are hard to get rid of. Take them out as you see them or you will have millions of them polluting the tank.

 

[The-Raven]

Those things breed at an immense rate and are hard to get rid of. Take them out as you see them or you will have millions of them polluting the tank.

From the link above: "Pond snails grow larger than Physids and seem to be more easily controlled"

is it wrong?

i guess it is odd since they spawned and none of the snails are even close to a 1/4 inch in size, maybe it's not a pond snail

 

[juicebox]

i think yours is a small species of ramshorn snail. they are hermaphrodite egg-layers and apparently the eggs are super-hard to find. you should probably try to remove them before they start laying more eggs! or you could get some snail-eating fish to take care of the problem.

 

[The-Raven]

i think your species will stay small, though i can't exactly tell. ramshorn's are hermaphrodite egg-layers, but they're good for your tank!

the shell looks a lot like the pond snail, but not nearly as large - i'm positive it's not a ramshorn

hmm, they're probably the bladder/tadpole ones, in which case i shoudl remove them

 

[juicebox]

i think your species will stay small, though i can't exactly tell. ramshorn's are hermaphrodite egg-layers, but they're good for your tank!

the shell looks a lot like the pond snail, but not nearly as large - i'm positive it's not a ramshorn

hmm, they're probably the bladder/tadpole ones, in which case i shoudl remove them

oh, sorry! i'm not too good at identifying snails and it just looked like a ramshorn from the picture.

 

[The-Raven]

i just looked around the tank, and i think it'll be impossible to get them all... some of them are so tiny... and if there's even one left in the gravel somewhere, i'll just be picking out a dozen or so every week

 

[juicebox]

i think most fish will eat snails if there's nothing better to eat, but there's a few that eat them even when there is other food! i think most loaches and most labrynith fish will eat pond snails. goldfish eat them, too.

 

[The-Raven]

i think most fish will eat snails if there's nothing better to eat, but there's a few that eat them even when there is other food! i think most loaches and most labrynith fish will eat pond snails. goldfish eat them, too.

hmm, a loach.... good idea

 

[guppy_man]

i have a HUGE population of them in my tank, well i did have a HUGE population, my dwarf puffers soon cleared them up

 

[Gankutsuou]

Dude.... GET RID OF THOSE THINGS FAST!
They came with my water wisteria by pure accident... started at about 12....

they had enough to start the snail militia by day 3 that i really noticed them...
oh gosh. and being me, i tride not to kill them. moved em all to a small tank thingy, wqhich they stunk up so bad i had to kill them. Now i have only one, and he;s growing at an amazing pace. from the size of a period on a piece of paper to the size of... well... half a neon... in two weeks. But he's the only one left... i hope...

 

[The-Raven]

can anyone suggest a fish that might help get rid of this pest snail?

 

[Lynz781]

Perhaps it's a mini mystery snail. I have one at the moment:

They stay small (1/4 of an inch), eat algae, and don't do damage to live plants.