Snails: love em or leave em? - Shrimp & other Invertebrates

Piscesgirl · 03-03-2005, 01:46 PM

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.

jsenske · 03-03-2005, 03:24 PM

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

trenac · 03-03-2005, 03:44 PM

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.

Piscesgirl · 03-03-2005, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsenske

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!

pineapple · 03-03-2005, 04:12 PM

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

S · 03-03-2005, 04:30 PM

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.

Piscesgirl · 03-03-2005, 04:31 PM

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!).

gnatster · 03-03-2005, 05:47 PM

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.

MatPat · 03-03-2005, 05:49 PM

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.

Mnemia · 03-03-2005, 06:02 PM

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.