Snails

[BlueBaron]

My Tank is about 3 months old now and about a month ago I found a snail in my tank. He was quite big so I wondered how I never saw him before. Now I have 4 of them. They seem to eat the algee so I left them. But is this the right thing to do, as I hear people saying snails are bad?

 

[kindaconfused]

snail are ok as long as they dont multiply incredably. if you see to many snails check around your tank and in your filter to see if there are any eggs ( pink bubbly stuff stuck to the side of something) and take it out. i have 3 or 4 snails and mine are fine and they havent reproduced at all.

 

[FroggyFox]

Right...snails are only bad if you dont want to look at them etc

 

[Fish Friend]

if you ever want to get rid of them... get a few clown loaches

 

[Exevious]

I have snails breeding like mad in my little 10 hex...
I just pull them out every week or so, and feed them to my african cichlids.
They love them!!

 

[SANND]

I've not had an over-population problem with my free-loading snails. I think they look nice in the tank so I've just left them. Occassionaly I'll throw one into the big tank with the clown loaches for a yummy snack.

 

[Exevious]

I've not had an over-population problem with my free-loading snails. I think they look nice in the tank so I've just left them. Occassionaly I'll throw one into the big tank with the clown loaches for a yummy snack.

Ya... I always leave the two biggest.

 

[BlueBaron]

Thank you guys and girls

 

[Fish Friend]

your welcome!

 

[Chazwick]

I want a snail in my tank... I think their called apple snails.. or something! Do anyone recommend them for starters? I've always been crazy about snails, i love them!!

 

[GoldLenny]

I want a snail in my tank... I think their called apple snails.. or something! Do anyone recommend them for starters? I've always been crazy about snails, i love them!!

I have three 1" Golden Mystery Snails (basically the same as Apple Snails) and they are sexed as male or female so you don't have the snail population problem that you have with many other snails which are mostly hermaphrodites so they can breed with only one snail. Also, with the Apple/GM snails, if you do get two and they are male and female and breed, they lay the egg cluster above the water line so you can easily see them and remove them if you do not want a bunch of snails. They can breath underwater and also have lungs and a breathing tube so you will see them at the waterline with their tube sticking up above the water to breathe with their lungs.

Go to AppleSnail.net for tons of information on them. There are also dedicated forums and the people there are very serious about their snails!

 

[lordroad]

if you ever want to get rid of them... get a few clown loaches

Disagree. Unless you have a large tank or plan to give the clowns to a good home when they outgrow your tank, clown loaches as snail removers is not a good idea. Also, they may bring ich into your tank, so be warned, and be sure to use a Q-tank or be prepared to treat with salt/heat or loach-friendly meds.

 

[dethjam316]

yeah lordroad, you're right on. i do wish i didn't see this recommended in every single one of these threads regardless of tank size and conditions. it happens every time here and it happens on every fish forum i've ever read, but oh well.

 

[Chazwick]

Thanks Goldlenny that really helped! I am most certainly getting a snail - they're okay with tetras aren't they? (No doubt they are... just curious!)

 

[GoldLenny]

They are OK with most fish that don't eat snails. You need to research you individual species as there are many different Tetras and some are more aggressive than others. I have some Albino Buenos Aires Tetras which grow up to 3" and they are semi-aggressive so they nip at the snails tentacles (which do grow back) but I only put my snails in the Tetra tank when I can keep an eye on them. I'm not sure about other Tetras though so do your research just like you should before adding any fish to a community tank.

 

[Chazwick]

Will do!!

 

[Fish Friend]

well... maybe one of 2 might do it ?

 

[Exevious]

I have common snails in my planted and community tanks.... I guess they hitched a ride in with the plants. They are not as big a deal in the community tank. I pick out a few every few weeks and throw them into my african cichlid tank... The cichlids love them.

I think most fish do, if they can fit them in thier mouth.
My planted tank only has a betta, and a cleaning crew. I notice I get a lot more snails from it. I think the tetra might be able to eat smaller ones. There is a definite differnce in snail population between my planted and community tanks.
And the snails never hit the bottom of my cichlid tank. No signs of snails in that tank.. I even thrown in the occasional plant, which also gets eaten by the cichlids.