Random snail appearance

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dora'sfishtank

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Aug 22, 2010
Messages
39
Location
Pennsylvania
I woke up this morning and found a tiny snail in my tank. It's about the size of a pea. While he's kinda cute, and seems to be enjoying the algae in the tank, I'm worried that I'll find many, many more snails in the future. Should I pull it out of there? Or can he stay?
 
In general, snails are a good thing for a tank. They eat algae, they eat leftover food, and (if you have live plants) they eat decaying/dead plant matter.

Snails only reproduce out of control if they have access to out-of-control amounts of food. In fact, one of the signs that you are overfeeding a tank is if suddenly you notice your snail population exploding.

So my advice is, leave the snail alone and just monitor the situation. But it's really up to you.
 
Your snail hitch-hiked into your tank. There will be more unless you are the luckiest person on earth. They will most likely breed. You can remove them or wait and see if they become a problem, then use a snail trap.

Some snails are more desirable than others. If you post a pic, we can ID it.
 
yes they will multiply and come in on plants or in your subtrate i had a few and got rid keep finding odd ones you can get treatments for them or get some clown loaches they will eat them
 
It depends on whether or not you want more, as mentioned above they have lots of great benefits, i personally wouldnt keep them in my primary tank, i already have 2 mystery and 1 apple snail in my primary, i found some ramshorns in a bag i was taking my cories home in, i put them in a 2g filtered cycled tank and theyre doing great, your choice on what you do with them.
 
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