Snail ID please..

[JoeyGeeze]

Found this guy this morning in my shrimp tank. My guess is ramshorn, am I correct? Is it bad to be in my little shrimp tank?

 

[adadkins1]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you are right. They won't hurt a shrimp tank, some people just find them unsightly. They will populate very quickly if there is plenty of food so bio load can become an issue in small tanks.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Ok I removed that one from the tank, although I'm sure removing just one won't help haha. I only feed them once every 3 days, the rest of the time they just graze off algae from what I can see. Are ramshorns known to destroy plants?

 

[adadkins1]

I have a planted Betta tank with about 5 adult Ramshorns and many babies and they don't so much as touch any of the plants (Crypt spiralis, Anacharis, Java Moss, Dwarf Lily, and Anubias nana). If you like the looks of them (I personally do like the little guys) then you can keep them and the population should be okay since you don't feed heavily. I think they are actually supposed to eat decaying plants so they are beneficial. Problems arise when people start with one in a small tank with a fish that they overfeed. Then the snails go bananas.

They MAY do a minimal amount of damage to plants from further readings, but it seems to be rare.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

I have a planted Betta tank with about 5 adult Ramshorns and many babies and they don't so much as touch any of the plants (Crypt spiralis, Anacharis, Java Moss, Dwarf Lily, and Anubias nana). If you like the looks of them (I personally do like the little guys) then you can keep them and the population should be okay since you don't feed heavily. I think they are actually supposed to eat decaying plants so they are beneficial. Problems arise when people start with one in a small tank with a fish that they overfeed. Then the snails go bananas.

They MAY do a minimal amount of damage to plants from further readings, but it seems to be rare.

Ok thanks for the response! I removed the one I found, well see if anymore start to pop up. I guess as long as they don't beat the plants up too bad and the population doesn't get out of hand I will let them stay around. I'll see how things go in a few weeks and decide my next plan of action. Thanks!

 

[adadkins1]

You're welcome.