See picture, what type of snail snuck in my tank?

[jaajaa40]

I added some plants from the lfs, now I have snails. They are about 1/2 the size of a dime and kind of a shiny copper color. I only see about 3 of them currently about 4 weeks after the plants were added. They guy at the lfs has no idea what they are even though they are in his tank also. (PS.. I never shop "big box" lfs)

What type are they?

Should I keep them? Will they harm my plants? I am trying to breed dwarf cichlids...

 

[WaterPond]

These little guys are neat, they are ramshorn snails. They will only harm a few types of plants from what I have read. Not sure what they are. They do breed very rapidly, and will overun your tank. They can be a nuicence, but it all depend on if you like them or not. I personally would take them out, but i have a tank that is espcially for the lillt stow away snails that I get. They share the tank with my betta. But they are cool, it is all up to you if you want to keep them.

 

[hc8719]

thats a ramshorn, one of the better looking ones too, i find them only second to mts...

i dont agree 100% that they will overrun your tank, but they will breed, people with snail problems usually have common snails, you could buy a kuhli loach or dojo loach and they'll clean up any baby snails

 

[DepotFish]

They do very little plant damage, and you'll be lucky to have babies with cichlids in the tank. I was told my ramshorns would overrun my tank, and I never even saw eggs! I was hoping for lots of babies.

 

[WaterPond]

you should see my tanks. I have a dojo loach in one, so they are not a problem in there, but i have alot in my 2gal betta tank. They definately have overun it, i have over 100 in there for sure along with other types of snails. The sides of the tanks have egg sacks everywhere!

 

[Mosaic]

I have these guys and love them. I've never had them touch any of my plants, and I've found they are easy to keep in check as long as you don't go crazy when you feed the fish. Even so, you probably won't get a lot of them. I've caught my ramshorns messin' around a few times, but have had no new snails (). I think the fish eat the eggs. The only instance I get lots of new babies is in a tank just for my various snailypoos.
The good thing is they'll eat up a lot of left over food and keep the tank clean. I keep them with dwarf cichlids and have had no problems with them spawning, BUT I think it depends of the species of fish. I have cave spawners, and after a mystery snail ate their first set of eggs, they got smart and found a spot where the snail couldn't fit. If yours spawn out in the open, maybe it wouldn't be such a great idea. Once they're freeswimming though, you're good to go. The big mystery snails even produce a lot of infusoria which is a great first food.

 

[IceH2O]

Snails can only survive with enough food. If you overfeed your tank the population will explode. If there isn't enough food to maintain a huge population then you won't have one.

 

[fish_4_all]

I have them in my tank, I actually wanted them and was sent them with MTS. When I see too many of them, I simply pluck them out and drop them in with my skunk botia loaches which eat them in a hurry. I have only seen about 20 of them in 2 months so they don't overrun my tanks. I also have the MTS so the competition for the extra food is fierce and the population grows slowly. My MTS babies are teeny tiny and not growing very fast.