# stow'away snails



## yellowfox (Nov 14, 2006)

I was curious why people don't like the little snails that some times stow'away in plant . I have about 10 now and i don't have any fish yet and the snails are doing a good job with what little agley I have. what kind of problems do thies little snails cause?


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

yellowfox said:


> I was curious why people don't like the little snails that some times stow'away in plant . I have about 10 now and i don't have any fish yet and the snails are doing a good job with what little agley I have. what kind of problems do thies little snails cause?


Overpopulation is the only problem I see.

-Pedro


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## toddnbecka (Sep 20, 2006)

You have 10 now, wait until you have several hundred...


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## cydric (Nov 1, 2006)

I don't like them because they're unsightly little slugging creatures. I don't kill them but i don't like seeing them in my tank either. Especially all the little "white" specs on my glass (baby snails). I wish my RCS would eat them.  And no, i don't over-feed.:thumbsup:


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## Xema (Mar 24, 2004)

toddnbecka said:


> You have 10 now, wait until you have several hundred...


If you get hundreds from 10 snail... you problem is not snails... probably you are having an over dosage of food or enough algae to feed them.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

I like them now, in most of my tanks. 

To control the number of them, it all comes down to the amount of fish food you put in the tank. There are some benefits to snails that I won't go into detail here, but Diana Walstad mentions them in her book. Basically, everything you need for your plants comes from fish food. When snails eat any extra fish food, they break it down into a form that is easily absorbed by plants. Similar but different than fish. Both make plant food. 

But to control them or reduce them, for about 4-6 weeks feed the fish only floating fish food whether Tubifex Cubes or something similar that is very neat and does not make much mess in the tank. Make sure you feed just enough for the fish to eat and take out any extra that the fish do NOT eat.

After 4-6 weeks you may see extra snail shells on top of the substrate. 

If you like snails and you want to watch what they can do for cycling your tank and balancing your tank, feed your fish flake food and always add a little extra. The snails will then multiply. 

It all depends what you want, and what type of tank you want to have. 

Enjoy. And when you have a chance, if you can. Post a photo. hoto:

I would love to see your tank, etc. :smile:


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## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

I introduced some java moss into my tiger shrimp tank which had pest snails eggs (planorbae) in it. I don't feed this tank often but the snail population has grown anyway. I find that physid numbers drop when you don't feed much but these little guys are thriving on something.

I use a plastic spoon and squash them...my shrimp like fresh snail meat.


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## yellowfox (Nov 14, 2006)

I don't have any fish now and Im not feeding the snails . I found 2 bunches of eggs the other day and the snails are growing. I found 2 deferent shell types some like ram horn some regular. I have a 55 gal tank here is a pic.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

Thank you. Very nice. 

Do shrimp kill snails? I am asking because when I checked my El Naturale Tank there was a fairly large snail dead upside down on top of the substrate. I thought that was weird. But there is no shortage of snails in this tank. The rest are doing fine, and I have made sure that I have added enough fish food each day to feed both the shrimp and the snails. 

I don't really know how much shrimp eat, so I may have to learn this the hard way. :smile:


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## Shrimp&Snails (Mar 27, 2006)

There are larger species of f/w shrimp that will kill snails but dwarf shrimp and amanos don't kill them IME.


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## Morbida (Aug 15, 2005)

I dont like those pest snails because they have eaten my plants and killed my apple snails. I couldnt control the population with food , they multiplyed anyway. Some people never have issues with their pest snails other then visuals.


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## yellowfox (Nov 14, 2006)

Well I think i like my little snails so far . they are the only criters in the tank right now. saw some eggs the other day and looks like they hatched yesterday. my tank has finly finshed cycling so i will be geting some fish soon. This spring Im going to put some of the snails in my pound and see how they do.


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## fish newb (May 10, 2006)

Jimbo205 said:


> I don't really know how much shrimp eat, so I may have to learn this the hard way. :smile:


I have watched Ghost shrimp go into snail eggsacks and pull out and eat the eggs/baby snails!:violin:

I have watched my "pest snails" diminish while my MTS multiply and thrive, I just got some clear shelled "rams horn" snails and they are very interesting to watch.....

So for me I've never had a bad snail problem, hopefully you won't either. But if you do there are always puffers and loaches

-Andrew


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

Would those 2 fish eat snails but not shrimp?


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## cydric (Nov 1, 2006)

I've heard loaches like to eat shrimp as well.


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## bigtroutz (Nov 17, 2006)

My yoyo loaches dont seem to pay any attention at all to 'adult' ghost shrimp, fwiw, but they do eat snails.


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## crataegus (Nov 16, 2006)

*Why they're called "pest" snails.*

The Physa and unidentified ramshorn snail are leaving my tank tomorrow. There are about six egg masses on one panel of the tank. I know I've been overfeeding my little shell babies, but six egg masses?

I'm fairly certain they're from the Physa, but both of my hitchhikers are going tomorrow...along with the egg masses.


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## yellowfox (Nov 14, 2006)

Well I got 2 rubber or bulldog pleco, and 10 ghost shrimp the other day. The second morning I came home from work the tank was clean, clean. So I probably need to get something to eat the snails. if the shrimp eat the babys out of the eggs that would be great. The plecos dont seem interested in the shrimp or snails. But they are only 2 inches right now. I put some algae wafers in the tank should what else should i offer my new pet's.


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## bigtroutz (Nov 17, 2006)

shelled peas are good, cheap and they don't muck up the water too much. The plecos will even eat the shells some of the time, if they are big enough. One can of peas lasts for months, just put the excess in the freezer. Almost all fish love the peas, so I squeeze about 4-6 into the tank every other day or so. Leave the peas whole for larger plecos so that they don't get eaten before the pleco can find it. Rosy barbs go ballistic for the squeezed peas, but even platys, tiger barbs, rasboras, and gouramis will eat the pieces as they drift around.

Some folks offer blanched zuccini or cucumber but I find that I need to remove it before the uneaten portion becomes a mess of floating fibers (which gum up everything). I nuke it and then use a piece of the plant weight stem plants come with to sink them. I remove the uneaten portion after about 2-3 days of tank residence. A small slice will be plenty for everything but a monster pleco. Only certain fish seem to eat it seriously, eg otos, plecos, but some others will peck at it a bit after it softens. Ghost shrimp don't seem too fond of zucs.


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## yellowfox (Nov 14, 2006)

Well it appears the shrimp are raiding the snail eggs , yes , but not nearly effective enough. Im going to try to catch them with the algae wafers as they sen to like them and Im going to through them in the pond out side the gold fish and minnows will probably eat them and there is plenty of algae out there. 
Thanks for all the info and any more would be greatly appreciated


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## rain- (Dec 16, 2005)

I like all the snail species, from the small freshwater limpet (they are commonly mistaken as snail babies) to big apple snails. The pest snail species are good algae eaters and can eat algae off from places when fish can't reach. And if the substrate doesn't have lots of yummy leftover food, dead plant matter and other stuff, the snails won't multiply that fast. It helps too if you remove the biggest snails and the egg clutches you see. I use my self made shrimpy biscuits to catch snails from the tanks, it's easy to scoop out the biscuit and the snails and then drop the biscuit back to attach more snails.

The Apple Snail (Ampullariidae) Website is a good website for even people wanting to learn more about the pest snails.


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## yellowfox (Nov 14, 2006)

well my ghost shrimp have ben dyeing one by one.
The plecos dont seem to bother them . The tank is spot less since I got the shrimp and 2plecos. I have ben giving them 2 or 3 agley wafers a night they are usually gone by morning. The snails seem to love them too. 
water conditions
ammonia 0
nitrate 10
nitrite 0
ph 6.6 with co2
gh 25-75
kh 40
ammonia gos up to .25 -.5 some times then drops back down plants are growing really fast. fish seem to be fine. any ideas?


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## yellowfox (Nov 14, 2006)

new pic. of tank aredy trimed and planted one pice of rotala. i need to do the green plant in frount next.


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