I found a snail in my tank?

[OwlByNature]

I think its a pond snail. I am not sure how it made its way into my tank, because I have no live plants. The only thing I can think of is that it came in with the sand I added recently? Anywho, it's the size of my pinky fingernail. It's in a tank with 3 guppies and 3 corycats. The cories don't seem to bother it, but every now and then a guppy swims by to investigate. Will it be eaten? If so, can I prevent it? I have really wanted snails in my tank for a long time but haven't been able to buy any, I was so excited when I found this little guy.
So, I guess my questions are,
1) how did it get here?
2) how do I care for it?
3) will it be eaten, and how can I prevent this?

Thank you all so much in advanced.

 

[tinyninjafishy]

It would be very helpful if you could post a picture of it.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Pond snails are usually considered pests. They can reproduce asexually and will quickly have your tank covered in snails. If it were me, I would take it out and dispose of it. Even if it is a ramshorn I would still do this because they are also pests.
If you would like some nice looking snails that will not overrun your tank, look into mystery snails or nerite snails

 

[Fishfur]

It won't be eaten, not by those fish at least. But if it is a ramshorn or bladder or common pond snail, you will eventually have far more of them than you'd ever want. They are able to lay eggs very young, and they lay a lot of them. They don't need mates, but if mates are available they mate to increase the gene pool.

I don't mind a few of them, but I remove the ones I see if they're reachable, just to keep numbers down. Also, don't overfeed the fish. Leftover food just becomes more snails, faster. No special feeding is needed, believe me, they will find plenty on their own.

It may have arrived in sand, or even in fish water, if it was very small at the time.

 

[OwlByNature]

Thank you all for your replies. It does seem it's disappeared, not sure where it went, but I hope I find more. Honestly I won't mind a couple hundred snails.