Random snail in my tank?

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amethystfern

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
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Jun 25, 2017
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I glanced at my tank in passing today and saw this little thing on the glass! I'm guessing it came from a batch of plants I got about two weeks ago (even though they said there were no snails!). I can't complain. I love snails and will definitely keep it but I do have two questions:
1) Does anyone know what kind it might be? and 2) What should I do with it? It's currently in my community tank with pictured betta, a mystery snail, pleco, and tetras. It's so tiny, I don't want anything to happen to it. So tiny that the poor little thing just floats on the surface! What would you recommend?
 

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Looks like a bladder snail. Beautiful when they get bigger. IMG_9443.jpg

I had a few but the Mystery Snails and Ramshorns outcompete for the food and they were not successful.
 
It's probably a common pond snail, an unintended gift from your LFS. A lot of people panic when those title guys show up. It's no big deal, they eat algae and waste. I've heard that some eat plants but that has not been my experience.
The one bad thing is usually if you see one there are others. Snails reproduce at a fantastic rate and soon you might have hundreds of them.
No worries. Regular vac gravel cleanings and sensible fish feeding usually keep the snail populations in check.
If things get out of hand you might consider adding fish that actually feed on snails, loaches
Botias and certain cichlids.
Chemical eradication should be a last resort
good luck.
 
It does look more like a pond snail but I definitely want to keep it around and have no intentions to get rid of it or any others that may be lurking.
I might just move it to my 1.2g tank that's home to a juvenile female betta right now. It's easy to lose sight of it in my 10g.
 
I like the way a few snails make a tank look like a more natural ecosystem, but on a few occasions I have had massive snail invasions.
Always after adding plants. I reluctantly had to take all of the listed measures, except chemical (I never use chemical) to get things back in balance.
 
Thank you for the chart! Going off of that, I'm pretty sure it's a bladder snail as it's shell turns left.

I definitely agree about having snails for aesthetic reasons (as well as clean-up). They're honestly some of my favorite creatures to keep. I have a small terrarium of land snails, too.
 
I miss my bladder snails.... I thought they would hold their own with the others but it didn't work out. I'm sure I'll receive some hidden away on a plant again someday. Lol
 
Looks just like a common snail to me. Completely harmless and actually can be helpful in planted tanks. But they can reproduce fairly quickly. So a purge of all easily accessible ones every now and then is a good idea.
Tis what I do every other week

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I've had the plants for over two weeks now and just noticed the one yesterday and it's the only one I've seen so far.
 
They can reproduce exponentially if overfeed. I've never had them eat healthy plants. But if something is struggling/dying they will eat it.
 
If I'm being honest, I got the plants from petsmart in the pre-packaged containers that are waterless and sit in some weird gel beads so I guess it's not entirely impossible to have snails from them but it's hard to believe. Except for one sagittaria that came from one of their tanks which has to be where it came from.
 
I think I'm just going to move it to my 1.2g for now and any others that may pop up. That way if it gets out of hand it wont be detrimental to any of the fish in my tanks.
 
Snails have no impact on fish. But you can keep a closer eye on them in a dedicated tank.

I keep 2 tanks just for snails. But I take one young unfertilized snail to keep in my main display tank. Ramshorns can be very prolific! But they are so pretty! IMG_9105.jpg
 
Aw! That's a great picture, so pretty. It's an ultimate goal of mine to have a tank completely dedicated to snails so I think I'm on the right track. I'd love to see pictures of your snail tanks!
 
You have such gorgeous set ups! All of the colors are so pretty, especially the top one with the greens. Wow.
 
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