# Snails: love em or leave em?



## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Raise your hand if you like 'pest' snails *raises hand* These poor little creatures have a undeserved bad reputation. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that they weren't "pests" until I had already purchased some clown loaches. Why might snails be better than clown loaches? Well, for one, most dont get a foot in length! Truly, most snails will stay in control if fish aren't overfed. Snails can even keep a tank cycled while you decide what fish you eventually want to stock in it! 

What snails do you keep and do you love 'em, or would you rather leave 'em?

I have pond snails (no they don't eat my plants), Ramshorns (I really like these guys), and Malaysian Trumpet snails.


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## jsenske (Mar 15, 2004)

IMO- FULL BLOWN PEST! Especially the Malaysian type! A few Ramshorn are quite charming but if they get out of control - forget it!


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I think snails are benificial to a planted tank... They eat algae, left over food & keep the substrate stured up. Some people say they eat their plants but I have found this is only true if the plants are dieing already.

I have mostly MTS in my 20G high and pond snails in my 55G tank and a few Ramshorn's here and there.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

jsenske said:


> IMO- FULL BLOWN PEST! Especially the Malaysian type! A few Ramshorn are quite charming but if they get out of control - forget it!


Oh come on, admit it -- you love 'em! ;-)


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## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

The only ones that last in pure NYC water are MTS. The others die off slowly but surely. Someone sent me some ramshorns (unintentionally with some plants) recently and they have all dissolved. Mystery Snails dissolve too. Such is life in soft water. Jeff can pipe us some oil to NYC to help with the outrageous heating bills and I will pipe him some pure NYC water to help with his snail problems.... ;-)

I noticed that Arizona Gardens is now selling nerite snails, BTW.

Andrew Cribb


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## S (Oct 1, 2004)

I have been keeping reef tanks for many years and my experience there has been that cleanup crews can make a big difference, with snails being very beneficial. While I have not purposely added snails to my planted tanks they seem to have made their way in via plants. This really doesn't bother me so long as the snails don't get out of control but I would prefer to not send any out when I trade or sell plants to others. To achieve this goal I plan to set up a small tank with puffers. Then, at least theoretically, I could place any outgoing plant in the puffer tank for a few days to remove any snails.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Oh I want some Nerite snails!!! 

My water is very soft too - I add calcium carbonate to my shrimp tank, and my 20 gallon has Onyx sand. The Onyx helps a great deal (maybe too well!).


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## gnatster (Mar 6, 2004)

I like snails, besides certain varieties being tasty with garlic butter they are a great cleanup crew and they add that intangible realness of nature to the environment we keep. Back in my reefer days one of my favorite tanks was the refugium with it's preponderance of snails, copepods, starfish and worms. What a blast watching them, like a undersea ant farm.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I could really care less one way or the other as long as I don't have a snail explosion  

They really don't bother me until I start seeing them everywhere. I have MTS, Pond, and Ramshorns. If I "had" to choose to have one type of snail in my tank it would be the Ramshorns. The Pond snails just aren't as interesting to watch and the MTS are usually hidden in the substrate.


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## Mnemia (Nov 23, 2004)

I've seen some from time to time in my tank, although very very rarely. I think some of their eggs must have come in with a plant, though I'm not sure what kind of snails I have (they're tiny and brownish/red).

I'm not sure if I just have very few and they are good at hiding or if my gouramis are preying on them and keeping their numbers in check. I've never tried to remove any because I like them and they're not even close to getting out of control.


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## thaerin (Dec 12, 2004)

I'm a mixed feelings right now. I like the malaysians, they doa good job and stay out of sight. The ramshorns and ponds are breeding faster than i'd like so i'm purging the current population and letting thier eggs hatch.

Right now I think i'd rather have more shrimp for cleanup, better job, and easier to take care of.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

I have ramshorns in my 30 and I don't mind them. There seems to be a marked population increase every once in a while, but to me, that only means free live food.

Pond snails _will_ eat healthy plants. I know that because I observed one eating holes in healthy java fern. Want to keep _Barclaya longifolia_ with them? Forget that!


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## Error (Apr 16, 2004)

i love my snails.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

I have pond snails and they don't touch my plants -- my guess is that there are several varieties of what we term "pond snails." 

Ackck Gnat, I'm going to have to add "snails are friends not food" to my sig too!


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Looks to me from the responses so far that there are a good many folks with respect for snails  I am so glad to hear it. And whew, I'm glad I won't have to start a "snails' rights" campaign!  

Thanks for the replies folks, keep 'em coming!


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

I'm talking about these:
http://perso.infonie.be/pomacea/physas_uk.htm

Pay no attention to the last line of text there. People avoid those in planted tanks for good reason.

I have two _Neritina reclivata_ in my 20 long and they have been model citizens. They're fun to watch and it looks like they do a good job too. N. natalensis have been a bit tougher to find...


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Although this isn't the best picture, if you look next to the shrimp, you can see one of my pond snails. Looks pretty similar to the link you have except the point is slightly less, but not really visible in the the picture. Color varies with the amount of calcium in the tank, heh. Maybe I'll try to get a better picture of one of my critters tonight 

Anyone else have pictures of their pond snails and can indicate whether they've been eating the plants or not?


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## robitreef (Jan 4, 2005)

I just noticed snails in my tank after it's been up for one year. I currently use RO/DI, so I am surprised they are getting calcium for their shells. They are real tiny and not that noticeable (yet). I have clown loaches and a puffer, so hopefully they will snack on them if they become too prevelent. I understand they are supposed to be good for aerating the substrate. much like earthworms do in the soil.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Do you use straight RO/DI? If not, I would think that maybe you are reconstituting it with enough calcium/minerals that they are ok. Or, maybe not! Maybe that's why the lack of snails over the last year? I personally do find that they are beneficial to a tank.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

I really like the MTS's, but in all honesty, I'd rather not have the Ramshorn and Pond snails in the tank. 
The first reason being, I don't like to send them out with plants since many people really get annoyed with it (even though you warn them), and I guess they just look sort of messy in the tank when they're hanging off the plants, etc. That's probably just me, though.... ;-) 

I do keep all of the types listed above in unoccupied tanks (like you mentioned PG) to keep the bacteria going, which is a great thing. 

Edit: I forgot one of the most important reasons - they eat my Cory eggs.... :|


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## Osteomata (Jan 11, 2005)

Can anyone address the difference between Goldan Apple Snails and Golden Mystery Snails? Same thing? I am hearing conflicting info about there plant eating. I ask because I have a single specimen, and while he crawls onto plants, I have not yet detected damage to those plants. Im a bit nervous about it though, and trying to decide if I should drop him off at a LFS.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

I would suggest www.applesnail.net for specific info about applesnails. It is my understanding that Golden Mystery snails are Apple snails, but that there are different species of Apple snails, some more likely to eat plants than others. I've actually seen some pictures of very pretty blue and purple apple snails, and I think one day I am going to get some!


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## kretinus (Jan 19, 2005)

I just realized something today, I've always had a good population of trumpets in all my tanks and an outbreak or two with common pond snails, but one tank, I've seen them dwindling. No clown loaches, no blue gouramis, just a large pair of angels and a pair of smaller ones. I'm in the routine of "popping the snails" when they get to be too much, and apparently I've taught the angelfish a bit more than the popping sound means a snack, they appear to be actually snatching snails off the plants and glass.

They grab the exposed part and swim around munching on it, they even seem to be getting the entire snail out of the shell.

How cool is that?


I wonder if I could teach them to go after algae .....


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## OakRaid (Mar 17, 2004)

I don't have snails in my tank now (that I can see anyway)
Don't think I would want them, just because I have heard they will eat the eggs from any egg layers you may have in your tank .. Would much rather have the fry than snails.
Dave


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Sorry it's blurry -- I'm not much of a photographer and then my camera batteries gave out before I could try to take a few more. But, this is my type of pond snails.


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## MTechnik (Feb 17, 2005)

So, I am very torn on snails...

When I first went wild, I figured I'd add 3 good sized snails to eat algae. Well, at petsmart I found two brown and one white apple snail. Good looking specimens.

Here is one of the brown ones:









And here is the white one:









They both had cool peach colored spots around their feet and antennae. They have two cool sets of antennae, one close to the mouth and one further out for scouting. It seemed that if noone were nipping at them, that they would just keep going.

Snails keep a makeshift air bladder in their shell to keep near neutral buoyancy too. This means you could see a huge hawnkin snail hanging off of the edge of a cabomba stem or tip of a sword leaf. They'd also jump off of the cabomba for the heck of it. Adventuresome!

They were great, rolling around, picking at everything, not eating the plants...

Until one day... they were eating my precious cabomba!! How dare they!!

Thieves!

So out they came immediately and went into a bucket (with water, open top). Well, they didn't survive the 36 hours till they found a new tank home. I was quite sad. To the point of getting a 5 gallon tank for them.

Now I have some more snails in the 5 gallon, 6 ramshorns (4 are 1-1/2") 1 apple snail, and one generic pond snail.

The ramshorns also seem to have a habit, when that size to eat nice healthy plant matter. This is unfortunate.

I am currently trying to get them to breed so that I can have a ever-replenishing source of food for a couple of dwarf puffers 

-MT


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## thaerin (Dec 12, 2004)

if ya need some more ramshorns or those bloody pondsnails MT, you can have mine =\ Been trying to purge my tank of the lil son of a guns. Having trouble balancing feeding my bottom feeders and overfeeding the snails. The population is outta control so I've said screw it and am getting rid of em. Besides, they eat my fish eggs =(

Heck, your in West Chester? your not that far away from me either. I can give you plenty of breeding size snails if ya want.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

MT - they were very pretty snails! I'm so sorry they didn't make it in the bucket  sniff sniff


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## robitreef (Jan 4, 2005)

Piscesgirl,

Sorry for the late response, but with reference to RO/DI, I dont add any elements to the water. I used to add electro-right, but haven't in awhile. I am going to switch to tap once I get my pressurized CO2, and fresh PC bulbs in place. I didn't notice any snails yesterday. Maybe my loaches already ate them up?


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## glenhead (Jan 29, 2005)

Ah, so that's what those little snail critters are - pond snails! I have a few (that I know of) that I'm allowing to live in each of our three tanks, and when the population achieves critical mass (a number that fluctuates based on some indeterminate whim) I snag the itty-bitty ones, crunch them, and the Tetras get a goodie.

We also have a pretty good flock (herd? (gaggle? (pride? (rage?)))) of Maylasians, which I like because of their reputation for keeping the substrate nice and snurfled.

The pond snails spend quite a bit of time on the plants, and I haven't seen a bit of damage from them - maybe y'all need to have a better crop of algae for them!


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

Robitreef -- I'd say it is very likely that your loaches already made a meal out of them. I would like to put snails in my 55, but it makes me feel bad because they don't have a chance with the loaches in there.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

The snails in your picture are indeed the ones I'm talking about. They decimated a mature Barclaya in a friend's tank. They won't always eat plants, but are definitely a risk. 

I'm actually thinking of setting up a small tank to culture them as live food. Anyonhe ever attempted something similar?


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

*No me gusta snails.*

I don't like snails. No matter what I do, and how controlled the feeding, you'll always find a snail on the glass in the tanks that have been infected with this relentless vermin. 

Malyasian trumpet snails are a pest too, but not as bad visable as the typical pond snails, and ramhorn snails.

-John N.


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## rain- (Dec 16, 2005)

Even though the posts I am referring to are old, I thought I should chime in. Piscesgirl and Cavan Allen are both speaking of Physids, bladder snails, belonging to genus Physidae. You might even have the same exact species.

The difference in plant eating pest snails and plant caring pest snails (eating only algae and decaying plant matter) seems to be something else than the species. All the pond snails (Lymnaeidae), bladder snails (Physidae), ramshorn snails (Planorbidae) seem to be capable of eating plants too. But in many cases they will only eat decaying plant matter.

I see all my snails as pets, not pests and they don't seem to destroy my plants. Maybe it's partly because I don't let the population get out of control and I don't leave dead leaves or uneaten food for them.

And apple snails / mystery snails. _Pomacea bridgesii_ is the apple snail species which is plant compatible for the most parts, _Pomacea canaliculata_ and other larger species will devour plants. And I think only _Pomacea bridgesii_ is now allowed to be shipped from state to state in US, but you need to apply permit for it anyway. _P. canaliculata_ and _Marisa cornuarietis_ wont get the permits, since they are considered plant pests by USDA.

For example Rainbow Snails has the permit for _P. bridgesii_ (like most of the breeders do nowadays, but before buying snails from ebay and a seller you don't know, better to ask if they have the permit (they should add a copy of it with the snails) so there won't be any problems): The Snail Store by Rainbow Snails

You can find more information about the "pest snails", apple snails and shipping permits from The Apple Snail (Ampullariidae) Website


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## dyckster (Nov 28, 2006)

I was really frustrated with the ramshorn snails in my tank. I suspected them of eating my plants but it could be that I was just blaming them for my lack of success with some high light species in a low light tank. 

Anyway, I bought a puffer and he took care of my ramshorns in a few months. I was little worried that he had also gotten all the MTS because I hadn't seen any around but I guess they hide really well. I turned on the lights in the middle of the night once and I had MTS on nearly every square inch of my plants! 

I don't mind these guys keeping the algae of the leaves as long as that is all they are doing.


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