Fishfur
Aquarium Advice Addict
Bladder snails technically, I should look up the scientific name again though. Pond snails are another, larger species, though you find bladder snails in ponds too. Control is a matter of picking them out when you see them, rinsing plants thoroughly or dipping them before you put them in the tank and not overfeeding fish. Snails need food, so reducing the food supply does help some. They're basically harmless, but many don't care for them, because they can take over if left to their own devises.
They are prolific, laying irregular blobs of gel full of eggs anywhere at all, which soon hatch and they are the racehorses of the snail world, compared to most others.
Spixi snails are related to the Apple or Mystery snails and in my experience, they will attack, kill and eat almost any other snail species, Mystery snails included. I keep them in one tank only, in case I see any Hydra, as they will eat hydra. I don't allow any snail I care about in their tank. They wiped out a lovely group of dark blue ramshorns I had, rotten beasts, before I learned of their predatory habits.
Ramshorns, I think, are a better all around clean up crew snail, though Nerites are my personal fave for the task, I just love them. Pretty, and so hard working and no population problems, though some do not care for the eggs they lay, which do show up especially on wood, though they also fade away with time. I'm quite happy to let them fade, the snails are so worth having.
Ramshorns come in some pretty colours, red, blue, leopard, chocolate, and the wild light brown/beigy colour. I have seen reports on another forum from a fellow fish keeper who said ramshorns ate Black Brush algae infesting a tank he had. Not many species of anything will eat that stuff. They lay eggs in a neat little crescent of gel, a bit firmer than bladder snails gel is.
If you don't want a lot of little snails, remove bladder snails when you see them. There will be eggs and more will appear, almost certainly, in time.
They are prolific, laying irregular blobs of gel full of eggs anywhere at all, which soon hatch and they are the racehorses of the snail world, compared to most others.
Spixi snails are related to the Apple or Mystery snails and in my experience, they will attack, kill and eat almost any other snail species, Mystery snails included. I keep them in one tank only, in case I see any Hydra, as they will eat hydra. I don't allow any snail I care about in their tank. They wiped out a lovely group of dark blue ramshorns I had, rotten beasts, before I learned of their predatory habits.
Ramshorns, I think, are a better all around clean up crew snail, though Nerites are my personal fave for the task, I just love them. Pretty, and so hard working and no population problems, though some do not care for the eggs they lay, which do show up especially on wood, though they also fade away with time. I'm quite happy to let them fade, the snails are so worth having.
Ramshorns come in some pretty colours, red, blue, leopard, chocolate, and the wild light brown/beigy colour. I have seen reports on another forum from a fellow fish keeper who said ramshorns ate Black Brush algae infesting a tank he had. Not many species of anything will eat that stuff. They lay eggs in a neat little crescent of gel, a bit firmer than bladder snails gel is.
If you don't want a lot of little snails, remove bladder snails when you see them. There will be eggs and more will appear, almost certainly, in time.
