Fry tank with snails?

[ccg]

Hello everyone,

I recently turend my 10 gallon tank into a fry tank, so far so good. They were kept in a net for 4 days and are now loving all the space they have. Would it be safe to keep some snails in the tank to clean up any extra food as there tends to be a lot of it.

I have never had snails in any of my tanks so I have no experience with them, they will not in anyway hurt, eat, or kill the far will they?

Thanks,
cg

 

[longhorn13]

i have snails in both my caucatoides and bristlenose fry tanks and they haven't harmed the fry at all. they create more waste of course, but they also take care of any uneaten food. snails or no snails, i don't think you can go wrong either way.

 

[Kittycat]

I also keep snails in my fry tank. I deliberately introduced them to clean up uneaten food. They do poop a lot, but I prefer that they convert uneaten food to poop for me to easily clean up, than have uneaten food rotting in there (esp decomposing live foods) without them. When I have new, very young fry, they haven't learned to pick food from the bottom yet and are not too good at swimming catching falling food, either, so there's bound to be a lot of excess.

I suggest you get smaller types of snails, though, some of them might get too big for fry tanks (e.g. some apple snails). Mine I got free from stores that have the pest type. Just be careful not to transfer them or their eggs to your other tanks, or you might have a population problem. Eggs might be hard to see in a big tank with decorations/plants, but in my 2.5 and 5 gallon fry tanks, I can see them on the glass/silicone and get rid of them.

 

[ccg]

Last night I picked up an apple snail, I did a bit of raeding and realize they can get to be a pretty big size, but I have a 20, 35, and a 55 gallon, so as soon as he out grows his fry tank he'll move on to bigger and better things

He has been eating like non stop since I put him in there, and you are right, they do crap a lot! But that is much easier to clean up then any un eaten food etc. So far so good, pleased wtih the work hes doing!

 

[Kittycat]

Glad to hear that, ccg. Good thing about the crap is, seeing a lot of it motivates me to do water changes more often, hehe Good luck!