Are snails really that bad?

[mistercoffee]

I found a snail in my 10g planted tank and I'm wondering if they are really that bad? Everyone seems to hate them on here, I think the little guy is cute lol.

What's wrong with snails?

 

[unwritten law]

eat plants and can over populate the tank pretty quick.

 

[Lotus]

I don't mind them. Mine have never eaten plants. I find them pretty good for cleanup.

 

[mistercoffee]

Since my OP I have noticed I think 2 parent snails. So I have 3.

As for them eating plants, I have tons in there I don't really mind if they do. They do seem to be cleaning up. As for overpopulation I think my Yellow Gourami and Molly can take care of that.

They do look pretty cool though.

 

[jo3olous]

im sure theyll get eaten eventually

 

[mistercoffee]

im sure theyll get eaten eventually

lol oh yeah, especially when my Gourami gets to be full size. He's only about 3.5 inches right now. I hope he doesn't eat em all though, I kinda like the little snails.

 

[joy613]

I like to have snails in my tanks. they are a good indicator if you over feed you can expect a population explosion, or if they try to get out it is important to check the water. I don't have that many soft stem plants but I only find them munching on the dieing leaves, but they don't bother the healthy plants so they make my water changes a lot easier.

 

[DesignsOnYou]

I've heard the same thing about them, that they won't eat healthy plants. I don't think they harm anything, some people just don't like them crawling all over the glass. I left mine in until it became a clown loach snack.

 

[bunker_1]

I like them. for the same reasons. I will take anything that will help keep the tanks clean. And like Joy said, you know which tanks are being overfed pretty quickly.

 

[ncspuppy]

Two years ago I had a snail problem in a 10 gallon tank. I bought a plant for the tank, but it must have had snail eggs because not too long later, I start seeing a bunch of the little guys. I thought they were okay at first, so I left them. I don't think my fish were eating them, and there were so many of them. I would pick them out of the tank, but eventually I just took the fish out, went through the gravel and plants, removing all the snails, and then put everything back together. A few are okay, but that tank was loaded with them.

In my large tank (55 gallon) I see one every now and then and I pick it out.

 

[TMony]

They sure are little workers . . . I kind of like having a few of them around

 

[mistercoffee]

Yep they are little workers, I already have 5 snails crawling around and tons more eggs.

Lol I don't really mind actually. I will wait a bit and move some to my 20g.

I do wonder though, how can you tell what kind of snails you have? They're cool little suckers.

 

[teevee]

I LOVE my snails! They're fascinating to watch. I even caught them doing it once. LOL Snail p0rn! LOL Sick... but alas, yeah, they're pretty fascinating.

 

[mistercoffee]

I LOVE my snails! They're fascinating to watch. I even caught them doing it once. LOL Snail p0rn! LOL Sick... but alas, yeah, they're pretty fascinating.

Yeah my snails have been doing it since noon... and it's 3:30... lol. Wish I had that kind of stamina.

 

[teevee]

LOL!!!!!!!!! My dog just belched. She's classy. Sorry, but that was random and totally not fish related....

Back to snails...... Yeah, the snails, they gots da stamina.

 

[mistercoffee]

How can I tell what kind of snails I have?

 

[TMony]

Can you post a picture or two?

 

[tom91970]

You probably have common pond snails. Either that or ramshorn. If you want some Malaysians I'll give you all you want.

Lots of good infor already posted so I won't bother repeating it...

 

[mistercoffee]

Can you post a picture or two?

I just tried but they are in the corner right now. I'll try again later.

 

[Lotus]

Check here for ID pics of snails: PG: Snails - They aren't so bad - PlantGeek.net