Snails & Ammonia

[Craster]

As we know, ammonia/ammonium and nitrites are highly toxic to fish and shrimp. However, when cycling a planted tank, it's very common to get pond snails and/or ramshorns in the tank, and they happily browse around and even breed in a cycling tank. Does this mean that snails are unaffected by the presence of ammonia or nitrite in a tank? I'm wondering whether it's worth adding in a couple of nerites to my currently cycling tank, as I think they'd enjoy the invariable algae spells that will appear.

 

[saltynay]

Species dependent they are not immune to the affects of ammonia merely pond snails are particularly hardy also grow quite large my "big momma" the original stoway which started the colony is now 14mm length shell, growing from 1-2mm in a month and a half its now too big for my assassins to attack.

 

[aaronnorth]

you dont have to add ammonia with plants. Simple adding a lot of plants will deal with any small amounts of ammonia. Then you can add a few shrimps, there will be a bit of NH3 leftover for the filter, but still not enough to be harmfull.

 

[Craster]

you dont have to add ammonia with plants. Simple adding a lot of plants will deal with any small amounts of ammonia. Then you can add a few shrimps, there will be a bit of NH3 leftover for the filter, but still not enough to be harmful.

Yeah, I know the theory from a planted tank perspective. Unfortunately that relies on gradually stocking the tank in small increments from there on out, and because I plan to put semi-aggressive fish in there, I'd rather have a filter cycled to a full bio-load so I can add them all in one go, rather than letting them establish territories that will mean aggression towards the later-introduced fish.

I've fishless cycled planted tanks before, and I'm OK with the invariable pitfalls that lie ahead - it was the snails' apparent immunity that surprised me.

Thanks though.

 

[aaronnorth]

you dont have to add ammonia with plants. Simple adding a lot of plants will deal with any small amounts of ammonia. Then you can add a few shrimps, there will be a bit of NH3 leftover for the filter, but still not enough to be harmful.

Yeah, I know the theory from a planted tank perspective. Unfortunately that relies on gradually stocking the tank in small increments from there on out, and because I plan to put semi-aggressive fish in there, I'd rather have a filter cycled to a full bio-load so I can add them all in one go, rather than letting them establish territories that will mean aggression towards the later-introduced fish.

I've fishless cycled planted tanks before, and I'm OK with the invariable pitfalls that lie ahead - it was the snails' apparent immunity that surprised me.

Thanks though.

ok

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Snails are pretty hard to kill; It's why some people consider them 'pests'. It just makes me appreciate them more.

I wouldn't add nerites yet, why take the risk of them dying when you can just wait a bit? Make sure to get a species that is actually freshwater, there are several in the trade that prefer brackish waters and don't fare well when kept out of it.