Mystery Snails!

[DeirdreHoyle]

A while back I picked up some water sprite at my lfs. Once I planted it I noticed I had picked up some small snails, one with a brown spiral shell and one with a lighter round shell. I left them alone since I don't know anything about snails. Since then, the snail population has exploded. Not sure how, but they are everywhere now!

So I just want to know if there's anything I should know about keeping snails? What is their bioload? The biggest snail is probably a quarter inch long. Just curious.

 

[Mattfinn]

A photo of the snail can help us identify them.

If they're pond snails which is very common to pick up as hitchhikers you can do a cull once in a while to keep pop. Down and also reduce the food supply for them so essentially cutting down numbers easily. Also there are assassin snails which I don't have much knowledge but people do use one or two of them to keep the population down for them.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Ok here are some pictures, I'll try to get more tomorrow when the light is back on. Can you tell what they are?

 

[brennae]

Not mystery snails. I don't know the top one but the bottom is either ramshorn or a pond snail. Pic isn't clear enough to tell. You might try googling ramshorn. They can be very pretty and come in many colors.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

Not mystery snails. I don't know the top one but the bottom is either ramshorn or a pond snail. Pic isn't clear enough to tell. You might try googling ramshorn. They can be very pretty and come in many colors.

Ok the one on the right is definitely a pond snail...thanks!

 

[Mattfinn]

First one could be nerite snail or something like that. I'd definitely say the second one is a pond. I'd save the hassle and remove them now while you can.

 

[mrgazza]

The pointy snail is a Malaysian trumpet, they won't eat live plants and bury themselves in the substrate which some people appreciate. The other one is definitely a pond snail, may eat plants. Both will reproduce like crazy lol


Sent from my iPhone using my fat fingers covered in chocolate...

 

[evil Nick]

The pointy snail is a Malaysian trumpet, they won't eat live plants and bury themselves in the substrate which some people appreciate. The other one is definitely a pond snail, may eat plants. Both will reproduce like crazy lol


Sent from my iPhone using my fat fingers covered in chocolate...

I have both and neither reproduce like crazy. Pond def multiply faster but neither are as huge a thing as portrayed online.
I actually wait for the pond snails to climb up my glass and then crush them and let the fish eat them. My angel and molly now try to pick them off the glass themselves, though they wont eat them unless I crush them.
MTS are pretty cool. You rarely see them mainly cause they stay under the gravel.
Ive actually given a few MTS to people. Mine are huge now. I think people freak out about pond snails. My buddy wanted one for his tank. I warned him it would multiply on its own but he didnt care. He freaked out like 2 weeks later saying they were overtaking his tank. He had like FOUR on his stuff.

pond snail eggs are in little sacks, usually on plant leaves. You can pick them off if you see them as long as you dont break them open. Im pretty sure my platies eat them now though. I saw one of mine nipping at a sack a while ago, it was gone in like 5 minutes and have never seen one since.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

The malaysian trumpet snail (if that's really what it is) has reproduced way more than the pond snail. A ratio of like 3:1 right now. Why don't people like pond snails? I don't think I could crush them that sounds so brutal!! I have 5 kuhli loaches and I thought they would keep the snail pop low but apparently they don't like MTS.

Also I love that they eat dead plant matter because my tank is medium planted and I like getting rid of dead leaves.

 

[evil Nick]

The malaysian trumpet snail (if that's really what it is) has reproduced way more than the pond snail. A ratio of like 3:1 right now. Why don't people like pond snails? I don't think I could crush them that sounds so brutal!! I have 5 kuhli loaches and I thought they would keep the snail pop low but apparently they don't like MTS.

Also I love that they eat dead plant matter because my tank is medium planted and I like getting rid of dead leaves.

I dont think Khulis eat snails at all.
Yo yos will
Or a dwarf puffer.

the more dead matter and more food the more the snails will breed.

Crushing them is not biggy. just mush with your finger and drop them in. the fish eat them up. the fish would do it anyway if they could. their shells are really soft. I actually did it by accident first and after it fell in and they all fought over it I discovered the built in biscuit source

 

[nshepler]

I'm 100% sure that the first picture is MTS. I have thousands between all my tanks and I love them. They keep the substrate mixed,they eat dead plants and leftover food. The biggest plus is they don't harm any living plants. So I wouldn't worry about them. But the other one I can't tell what that is. Most likely a pond snail though. I've had a few in my tanks but they never harmed anything.


May the force be with you.

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

I'm 100% sure that the first picture is MTS. I have thousands between all my tanks and I love them. They keep the substrate mixed,they eat dead plants and leftover food. The biggest plus is they don't harm any living plants. So I wouldn't worry about them. But the other one I can't tell what that is. Most likely a pond snail though. I've had a few in my tanks but they never harmed anything.

May the force be with you.

Yeah I looked at pics of pond snails on google and that's def what I have in the 2nd pic. They don't reproduce very much though so I think I'll leave them for now.

As for the MTS, from everything I've heard they are perfect for my tank! I need something to clean up dead leaves and algae so I'm super happy I have them

 

[nshepler]

Yea I enjoy my MTS,glad you also like them. Snails unfortunately get a bad reputation sometimes. In my case I've ever had a snail harm anything in my tank so I just appreciate the good work they do.


May the force be with you.