snail question

[sansouci01]

About a month ago I purchase a parrots feather plant from my local pond store. I snipped off a few pieces and planted them in my sand substrate in my shrimp tank. To my surprise ..they grew quite well. I also got another surprise. I just noticed a few small snails in my tank. I can only assume they came from the plant. My question is..should I be concerned about the snails over running my tank? I have read some threads saying snails need certain water temps to breed. My tank is always at 76 degrees. Also, I'm not sure what kind of snails they are..

 

[BBradbury]

Tank Snails

About a month ago I purchase a parrots feather plant from my local pond store. I snipped off a few pieces and planted them in my sand substrate in my shrimp tank. To my surprise ..they grew quite well. I also got another surprise. I just noticed a few small snails in my tank. I can only assume they came from the plant. My question is..should I be concerned about the snails over running my tank? I have read some threads saying snails need certain water temps to breed. My tank is always at 76 degrees. Also, I'm not sure what kind of snails they are..

Hello san...

You possibly have Ramshorn snails (the shell looks like a ram horn). I got mine from the pet store plants, but they contribute to the general health of your tank. These little guys are a great cleaning crew and eat any dead plant, animal matter and all kinds of algae. I have heavily planted tanks and these snails have never damaged a healthy plant. They'll grow to roughly the size of a dime and can be different colors too.

They're fast breeders, but if you're careful about how much you feed your fish and fertilize your plants, the snail numbers won't get out of control.

B