Apple Snails

[SittingDuck]

Do Apple Snails make mince meat out of plants? Or are they good cleaner/scavengers that are safe in a planted aquarium? Is there any type of snail that won't make mince meat out of a planted aquarium?

[Jchillin]

You're gonna get a lot of debate about this so here goes:

Apple snails will eat [acronym:8549595d75="Freshwater"]FW[/acronym:8549595d75] plants
Mystery snails will not eat [acronym:8549595d75="Freshwater"]FW[/acronym:8549595d75] plants

Apple and mystery snails are from the same genus (?) but are slightly different in the shell appearance (apple's will invariably be larger and slightly rounder while the mystery may be more tubular in appearance).

Both are great scavengers. Also, apple's tend to have escape plans...you will have to use some protection on your hood openings to keep em' imprisoned.

[Toirtis]

Jchillin is correct...there are about 9 species that make up the 'apple snail' complex, most eat plants, Pomacea bridgesii (the 'mystery snail') does not....unfortunately, not all Pomecea sp. sold as 'mystery snails' are the correct sort.

[SittingDuck]

While doing some research (yes, I should have done the research first... :P ) I found some interesting snails here:

http://www.azgardens.com/snails.php

Namely, the Algae Eating Olive Nerite Snail. Looks like this one is easy to control it's reproduction and won't eat plants. I'm gonna have to look around and see if I can find some of these!

I'm just looking for something cool to put in my tank with my tetra's that don't have fins...

[malkore]

I have the nerite snails. they don't harm plants, but will lay white eggs on the glass that are kind of annoying to scrape off. but it is a good indication of water quality...they won't lay them in bad water.
However they are brackish snails, so their eggs won't hatch in freshwater. Keeps population controlled.

[TankGirl]

I have nerite snails, and they actually did hatch in my [acronym:d4c863be01="Freshwater"]FW[/acronym:d4c863be01] tanks. I got mine years ago from AZGardens, and I still have a population of them. They are great algae eaters and don't eat plants, though they will graze on decayed leaves.

[SittingDuck]

They will eat the decayed leaves? Is that a plus or a minus to them? I ordered 10 of them from AZGardens last night because they looked very interesting and when I'm ready to go full out with a planted aquarium they won't be a problem (Population Controlled by [acronym:ac08cec294="Freshwater"]FW[/acronym:ac08cec294] aquarium....hopefully )

Side Note: Malkore, have you ever considered writing a profile for plants? Your knowledge on any plant related subject is outstanding and very helpful for newcomers and experts alike!