Are snails a problem?

[portia]

I have a bunch of little snails that rode in on a new plant or two.

They don't bother me, especially. I think they're kind of cute. However, I see posts from time to time in here from people asking how to get rid of them.

Are snails bad for some reason? Do I indeed need to get rid of them?

 

[jsoong]

It depends entirely on the snail species ....

Some snails will eat your plants, others will take over your tank given the chance.

Some snails are beneficial, eating detritus & decaying plant matter, aerating the soil, eating algae ....

As long as the snails don't eat my live plants, I leave them alone. I would control the population by not feeding too much so there isn't too much left overs for them.

 

[kaiofcanada]

I agree with jsoong, but wanted to add that some snails are desireable as part of the tank scenery such as mystery snails or apple snails.

I keep/prefer mystery snails as they don't eat plants unless they are starved. They mostly motor around eating algae and finding the little food bits left in the gravel. They can grow fairly large, but nothing like apple snails. They also come in different natural colors: ivory, blue, black and yellow. They are very beautiful and graceful tankmates. I have a crew of ivory snails who have light pink and gold irridescent spotted bodies.

 

[mgamer20o0]

i think snails are a good thing.

Snails - how to recognize them