I have unexpected residents!! What are they?

[Ironskillet]

I am brand new to this and in the process of doing a fishless cycle for my new 55 gallon freshwater tank. I've had the tank for about 2.5 weeks. Today I found 3 of these guys attached to the glass. I'm assuming they are some type of snail that hitched a free ride on the plants I bought from the fish store a little over a week ago.

They are about the size of a pin head. Does anyone know what kind they are? Should I be concerned or happy that I got free snails with my plants?

Thanks

 

[sabrinarichard]

You are absolutely right! They're kinda cute but are parasites.. They reproduce like crazy (even when there is just one). I I take them out..

 

[Khuligirl93]

Looks like pond snails. You should probably be concerned, unless you would like your tank covered in hundreds of them soon (one member I encountered did actually want this). They can reproduce asexually so they can multiply very, very fast. I usually remove them from my tank when I see them, or smash them with my finger. If you can see a few, there are probably more that you can't see. On the bright side, they usually don't become a problem if you are careful about gravel vacuuming and not over feeding

... Snails are not parasites.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Khuligirl93 is 100% correct? BUT you could let them reproduce like crazy, and have about 1000 of them, THEN get 5 striatia botia (which happen to be awesome fish)and they will devour all of them in a couple days. Then they will be very happy, and you can watch them go to town. Just trying to make lemonade out of lemos!

 

[trickshot3102]

How do they get into a tank?

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Plants, most likely.

 

[Ironskillet]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Now that I think about it, the store did have snails in a few of the tanks that the plants came from. Are these the same type of snails that you would buy or are these a totally different breed?

Thanks NYgiantsRP for the tip on the botias... I will look into that.

 

[Pleco1415]

These are not the kind someone would want to buy as a pet but I know people buy them as puffer fish food. Apple snails are the ones that are sold as pets they get really big and are colourful.

 

[tnfinfan]

Yep, super common for them to hitchhike. The store whered I bought driftwood had cured pieces the same price as dry but I saw those little boogers in the tank and took a dry one. I don't think they're awful, just can be a nuisance.

 

[flitabout]

I got assassins to deal with my invasion. Now I have to feed the assassins because I haven seen a snail in my tank in months.

 

[Ironskillet]

I did buy an anubias on driftwood. As long as they are not going to harm the tank/plants I think I might look into fish that eat them and use them to create a nice little ecosystem. Based off of my water testing I am nearing the end of my fishless cycle so I should be able to get some fish in there before the snails get out of control.

Attached is my setup

 

[Khuligirl93]

Is that tank your 55 gallon? In that size tank you could probably have 5 zebra, angelicus, or yoyo loaches to eat snails. Just a warning though, loaches can be quite rowdy and stress some of the more delicate peaceful fish. They will even kill some small fish like tetras. Things to take into consideration before buying. Might just be simpler to remove them manually when you see them or get a few assassin snails.

 

[Ironskillet]

Yes, that is a pic of my 55 gallon tank.

Seems like the Assassins are the way to go and with a name like that, who wouldn't want to have a few.

 

[The Trooper]

Go the assassins route, they stay relatively small and from what i've read do a good job. I don't have a snail problem (i also dont have live plants, for this reason). But if i did ever have a snail problem i'd get assassins.

 

[flitabout]

Best thing about assassins is they are really pretty to look at. But if you over feed them they won't be as effective in taking out the snails.

 

[Ironskillet]

Thanks guys for all the advice!

 

[molliwopp]

I had an outbreak in an early tank, fed less and picked out the bigger ones and they cleared up quickly, missed them when they were gone actually. But with pond snails it all or nothing because thry multiply quickly! And couldnt keep throwing out snails every water change. Assassins are kool snails so i would definitely go that route but theyll eventually need feeding.

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[Mama Karoti]

I also use assassin snails to control my pond snails that snuck in on plants despite my efforts to prevent it. I have three assassins in a 55 and I never see any pond snails bigger than babies.

 

[Pleco1415]

5 years ago in my first aquarium I had brought back some snails from the lake at my cottage. I was so stupid back then not to realize that these snails can multiply by the hundreds. My whole tank was literally covered with these annoying pond snails and I have a soft heart for animals so I did not want to kill them. I eventually made a snail trap catching all these little pest and I brought them back to the lake were I found them. These are the worst pest you can have in your aquarium.