Need help to ID "surprise" Snail, please!

[territerri]

Yesterday I discovered a tiny snail the size of a grain of rice cruising along the plants and gravel.

Would it be possible to ID said snail in the pic attached?

And should it stay or should it go (see my signature for tank contents 25G)?

FYI: 8 weeks ago I purchased Amazon Sword plants and 4 weeks ago a moss ball at my LFS for my community tank. Those are the most recent things I can think of where the snail could have originated.

Thanks in advance for any info & advice.

 

[oscarchic11]

snail key

Snail Species List .:. Freshwater Aquarium Snail Species Information Pages

here are a couple links to help you id ur hitchhiker! good luck! looks like a pond snail to me...

 

[Pam is here]

LOL I just found one in a tank that I just set up and seeded with other aquarium water from my other tank and filter media. I only have 1 mystery snail in any of my tanks. The last thing I added was the mystery snail a few weeks ago. LOL my must have been PG. Mine looks a lot like yours. I will try and post a pic of it.

 

[Pam is here]

It looks like 2, but its a reflection.

 

[territerri]

Whoops, how embarrassing -- upon closer inspection, there's probably about a dozen snails in my 25G tank, mostly stuck to my Amazon Sword plants and a couple to the gravel. Should've known there's no such thing as "only one hitchhiking snail," especially when they're so small!

Thanks for the feedback so far! I looked at the snail key and due to my inexperience I'm still not sure what they could be... I might let them grow a while longer before deciding whether it's better to get rid of them.

*** If I should keep the snails, how many are suitable for my current tank arrangement??

*** Is it true that preventing overfeeding of my fish will keep the snail population in check?

 

[oscarchic11]

the amount you could keep would depend on the type of snail, but most are messy, and some get big! i keep and breed ramshorn snails in a seperate container to feed to my fish, and after powerfeeding the 2 i started with i had 200+ eggs in like 3 days. yes not overfeeding keeps them in check, as if there isnt enough food for them, they wont want to make more as they are greedy! good luck!

 

[Pam is here]

Well I looked in the tank this evening and there are a few more spotted in the tank, plus there are eggs attached to the top of the tank just above the water line. I'm hoping they are mystery snails like my other one. I was told they are not heavy breeders, and I only have the one big gold one. I will keep a few to breed with the mystery snail and feed some to my cichlids. enjoy

 

[Pam is here]

After looking around on the net, pond snails are more wider more circular' by the photos. Your maybe a mystery snail also. If so, when it gets bigger, could you let me know the color. My gold one is very pretty.

 

[callisto9]

The most common "freeloader" snails are ramshorns and pond snails. I toss the pond snails, but I keep most of the ramshorns. You'l end up with tons more eventually... we all do.

 

[oscarchic11]

If there were eggs above the waterline then most likely mystery aka apple snails. Dont let the eggs get wet, water will kill the embryos... good luck!!!

 

[territerri]

Thank you, and good luck to you, too! Hope you don't end up with a massive infestation.

 

[territerri]

I agree with you regarding shell shape... I'll do some more research on mystery snails, and will definitely post pics on this thread when they grow up!.

 

[Pam is here]

Thank you, and good luck to you, too! Hope you don't end up with a massive infestation.

Well if I get infested with them then I will pop them in my cichlid tank. They will take care of that for me. LOL on the other hand if ours end up being mystery snails they are like $2.00 each here and I would love more of them.