Free rider along with plants!! Should I keep it?

[ShobhitJ]

Hello All,

2 weeks ago I got few plants from a store for my 10g aquarium. The plants are doing great.
But I noticed today I found a small snail on one of the leaves. Can you please help identify the free-rider?
Any suggestions if I should keep them be or hunt them down?

 

[Autumnsky]

It looks possibly like a "Leopard" Ramshorn snail because of the spots.

So many opinions available for keeping or destroying them.

The basic couple are keep if you like to watch him move around, they are really good cleaners, but if you are an over feeder and especially if you have harder water, they really seem to thrive. Over populate the tank.

I like RH snails. I have lower pH and tend not to have to worry about over population, but if it is a tank which gets lots of feedings, make sure to clean the substrate and keep up on pwc's.

Most people have too many! They do poop quite a bit, another reason you need to vac and have a good filter as well.

The other common snail you will often see is a Pond /Bladder snail. The top pic looks a little like that the bottom one more like the side edge of a RH.

 

[ShobhitJ]

Thank you Autumnsky. Would they damage the plants - eat leaves or roots? I saw 2 more tiny babies today morning and took them out. Left the one bigger baby in the tank.

 

[savrip]

I've picked up some ramshorns in a similar way. I'm glad to have them. It's the pond snails you want to feed to your loaches!

 

[Autumnsky]

The only time they are eating plants is if the plants are dying/ decaying anyway.