Did I start WW3?

[niki090909]

Got some fish about 2 weeks ago with a snail in the bag. i know snail reproduce very fast and can take over a tank, but i though how much damage can 1 do? and besides it was just a little speck when i threw it in.

welllll.... the snail is growing, got about 3 times the size since i first got it. its only about the size of a pea right now.

problem is, i found another snail smaller then the first one.

question is.... can snails reproduce that small? meaning did the first one i threw in have babies? even though it was so small?

second question is.. if this other snail did come from the first one, and i gunna have a gallion snails now?

maybe i just got another in the tank by accident from a pet store, but i'm doubting that

thanks niki

 

[Colisa lalia]

Don't worry about the snails. If you don't overfeed your tank then you won't have any promblems. Not only will they clean the tank but they will also provide food for the fish in the tank.

 

[Avalon]

Snails can reproduce at alarming rates, almost exponentially! That one little snail can cause trouble, that is, if you don't like snails. They will eat decaying organic matter, as well as algae cells (algae before you actually see it). They can keep your tank very clean, but they are kind of ugly in large numbers. You can probably get rid of them by manually removing them, but do it quickly. If they get too large, you can remove as many as you want, but they'll keep hiding and reproducing, and you can never truly get rid of them--that is without help from their natural enemies.

If they get to be a problem, loaches and botias love to eat them, as well as some cichlids. Just don't use commercial "snail away" products!

 

[Vyache]

You are screwed if you don't like snails. Fortunately you didn't mind that one so you can't hate them all that much. You probaby got some eggs in your bag too. That would explain the new smaller snail. Most snails reproduce sexually, they need a male and a female. Some though, like Malaysian trumpet snails are live bearers, that is they have babies without laying eggs, which means they can have more babies with only the one in your tank. Count yourself lucky if its a mts they hide in the gravel during the day and come out at night to clean. I'm guessing yours is probably a simple pond snail though. What's it look like?

 

[qaffle]

I believe the little ramshorn snails reproduce asexually. Only need one. That's how i started, now i've got 30x2 tanks...

 

[Hazzamaya]

i once put a little snail in one of my tanks, but nothing ever happened.................

 

[Synapse]

WW3 is sarting here too..

Last time I came back from my LFS with some fishies I discovered a lil happy snail in the bottom of my bag, that was precisely one week ago... Now this happy little snail has laid about 150-200 eggs all around my little quarantine thank... boy is this gonna be fun to watch!. Can someone point me toward a fish speacie that would like these little snacks? A fish that would happily live in a small 5.5gal tank?

 

[niki090909]

The snail is realy small so its hard to tell what it looks like, but its just plain tanny brown in color. It came with a fish I bought at walmart (yes i did get a fish from walmart lol) so i am assuming its a common cnail of some sort nothing special.'

i'm going to let things go for now. i don't mind snails, in my 55 gallon i could stand quite a few, especially if they help to keep thing clean. I'll just keep an eye on he numbers of them so my tank doesn't turn into a city of snails.

lets say its just a common pond snail, how big do they get?

thanks!!! niki

 

[Abercrombie6202]

do u buy live plants? You know that could be the reason the snails always travel through plants into ppls aquarium i had 2 travel into my tnak that way