Pond snail question

[ImACoolguy]

Can pond snails hold a cycle? I'm keeping a cycled filter on another tank but I would like to move it over and get some flow going in the new tank. This is for a dwarf puffer tank is why I'm adding pond snails so I don't sound like a madman adding an invasive species


Caleb

 

[Clayman]

They should be able to hold a cycle. And with your dwarf puffers there will be only a small bioload anyways.

 

[coralbandit]

Hold a cycle?
The snails don't need the filter IMO if this what you were asking!?
I vacuum out hundreds of MTS ,ramshorn and some other various snails every week.
They and their water get dumped into an old "reef lake" sump I use to hold my pump to send water out to yard (fishroom is in basement).
The snails live in the worst water until I do something about it.

 

[Mattfinn]

Pond snails can live in the worst quality of water you can find. I found mine in a rubbish filled creek under a bridge. No I have some in a tank that I just dirted... I think you're going to need a separate tank/jar to grow them in though for puffers. I've noticed that most of my fish will eat the egg clusters and my killis I've noticed even eat the smaller just hatched ones.

 

[ImACoolguy]

To clarify I wanted to add my cycled filter to the new puffer tank but will the pond snails be able to sustain the BB? I'm getting the puffer sometime this week but I wanted to put some snails in his tank beforehand.


Caleb

 

[coralbandit]

The BB will not die off quickly.
It takes as long(actually longer) for bacteria to die as to grow.
They actually go "dormant" and regenerate at a much quicker rate then trying to grow them new(cycling).
You'll be fine moving the cycled filter to empty(snail only ) tank for a week or 2 IMO,

 

[Lillefishy]

I'd leave the cycled filter where it is until you get the puffer, a few snails wouldn't produce enough ammonia to keep the cycle going imo

 

[ImACoolguy]

Thanks guys think I'm going to move it over just to give my plants some current to work with.


Caleb

 

[PassengerTN]

Just add flake food to the tank if you're worried about it Caleb. No need to over think it

Jesse

 

[ImACoolguy]

Just add flake food to the tank if you're worried about it Caleb. No need to over think it

Jesse

Flake food is so messy though I got a perfect piece of driftwood for it if I can ever get it to sink..


Caleb

 

[azmodan]

Long term the snails would maintain a BB level that is reflective of the amount of ammonia they produce, which I assume is a level substantially lower than what you would prefer. I agree with the other posts that mention it would take a while for the BB to die off though.

 

[PassengerTN]

Flakes will eventually dissolve or fall apart/crumble and the snails will take care of that. Stop worrying so much lol

Jesse

 

[ImACoolguy]

Flakes will eventually dissolve or fall apart/crumble and the snails will take care of that. Stop worrying so much lol

Jesse

I have to worry about everything though I wouldn't be myself if I dodnt


Caleb

 

[StellaStars]

Glad this came up, I was wondering a similar thing - if pond snails could be used in place of "starter fish" when cycling a tank, since I have so many pond snails to spare.

But it makes sense that they wouldn't be representative of the amount of ammonia ultimately produced.

 

[Mebbid]

Think of it this way, what goes into a tank is what comes out of a tank.

If you just add snails and allow them to eat algae or biofilm then theres really no ammonia being produced as the algae / biofilm is regrowing and consuming the nutrients that the snails excreted.

If you feed the tank however, you are adding nutrients to the tank generating ammonia.

You can maintain a cycle with just snails, but you have to at least feed as much as you would to fish.

Its easier just to add ammonia once or twice a week.