Snail?

[bugsy66]

I have one very lazy small bristlenose pleco. How cute they are and how aweful they are at cleaning. I have a discus so this is they main reason I have a bristlenose. But they sure are not good cleaners. I have had one in the past and they do not clean the glass at all.

So, I would like to ask about the snails. I don't want a snail population in my tank at all but would like to know about getting "one" of those big snails for cleaning the glass??

Anyone have any suggestions??

flying fox, reg pleco, oto cats, chinese algae eaters none of these I will put with my disucs.

 

[Puffdaddy]

mystery snails

 

[showjyr]

Mine cleans the glass very well, but be careful because they have that little trick of going from one to tons. Trumpet snails work well too and won't multiply as fast, they also burrow in the substrate and clen up any junk.

 

[Puffdaddy]

Actually mystery snails are quite different from ordinary pond snails as they are not A-sexual like pond snails. Mystery snails take 2 to breed and they do this out of water. Just lower the tank water by 3"-5" and the snails will breed over time. Below is a pic of there eggs. If you have Mystery Snails and don't want more than you got, then just remove the eggs if you ever see any. They take about 2-3 weeks to hatch.

 

[three-fingers]

Trumpet snails work well too and won't multiply as fast, they also burrow in the substrate and clen up any junk.

Actually, trumpet snails breed just as fast if not faster than pest snails, you just never see them because they are in the substrate during the day and often night too. They give birth to live young and are hermaphrodites like some of the species commonly referred to as 'pond snails'.

I would vote for a mystery/apple snail (same thing) Pomacea bridgesi, they are really active and good at scavenging uneaten food and algae, but they wont eat your plants (unlike some other species also named 'apple snail'). You can get some really nice colour variants too, my favourite is my purple striped apple snail.

Another option is a nerite snail, the eggs cant develop in freshwater so they wont be a problem, and you need a male and female to breed them too. There are some really nice variety's of them, although it's not uncommon for shops to sell brackish or marine species of nerite snails for freshwater tanks. You cant go wrong with a tiger nerite or a ruby nerite . Nerite snails are much better than apple snails for eating algae off the glass, but they don't like scavenging on the gravel or sand and rare venture off the glass or stones. They wont eat your plants either .

If in doubt, why not buy both?