Snails and schooling fish question

[cormack12]

So soon I hope to be adding fish and I've been looking round various stores and just have a couple of quick questions:

I really like the idea of a couple of snails but after reading round it seems you stick one or two in there and then there are hundreds. I'm not sure about sexing them because of the obvious. My tank is only 20g so I don't want a sudden explosion......any advice/thoughts?

Also, as a new tank some tetra say to keep in groups of 6+ - bearing in mind bioload can you add all 6 at once or is it better to do 2 adds in batches of 3?

 

[venymae]

tetras generally have low bio-load adding 6 at a time shouldn't be a problem for a well cycled tank.

As far as I know snail overpopulation problems can be breed specific, and happen more often with overfed tanks. I am not a snail person though, so get another opinion

 

[Luananeko]

Mystery, Apple, Ramshorn, Malaysian Trumpet, and Rabbit snails and a few others are the ones that will tend to have population explosions. Nerites will lay eggs, but they will not hatch in freshwater. So if breeding is your concern, stick to Nerites. Their eggs can be a bit unsightly however, so don't get too many if that's a problem for you. I rarely notice eggs with my 2 Nerites in my 36 gallon tank.

Adding 6 schoolers at once should be fine as long as they're not the larger tetra types (which aren't well suited to 20 gallon tanks anyways).

 

[BBradbury]

So soon I hope to be adding fish and I've been looking round various stores and just have a couple of quick questions:

I really like the idea of a couple of snails but after reading round it seems you stick one or two in there and then there are hundreds. I'm not sure about sexing them because of the obvious. My tank is only 20g so I don't want a sudden explosion......any advice/thoughts?

Also, as a new tank some tetra say to keep in groups of 6+ - bearing in mind bioload can you add all 6 at once or is it better to do 2 adds in batches of 3?

Hello cor...

I doubt a half dozen very small fish added together would cause problems with a cycled tank. Make sure they're introduced properly. Using floating plants helps keep the water chemistry stable, so stems of Hornwort, Anacharis and Pennywort just tossed into the tank will help use the nitrogen produced by the fish waste. Get the plants into the tank asap, so they can start the job of keeping the tank water a bit cleaner. Small tanks require weekly water changes of half the water, so make sure you do it. The fish will greatly appreciate it.

B

 

[wildroseofky]

Mystery snails will not over populate unless you let the eggs hatch. They lay their eggs outside of the water, above the water line. Eggs are in nice little grape like clutches. You just have to remove, crush, and discard. No baby snails. It is the easiest snail to control its' breeding. Nerites lay lots of eggs everywhere that cannot hatch in freshwater. Some people find this annoying. All other snails increase according to food supply. If you feed your fish a lot and they do not eat it all, the snails will reproduce like crazy. If you feed your fish a little than the snails will not breed out of control. I have several types of snails and really enjoy my Mystery snails. Love to watch them zoom around on the glass. I could never find Nerites in my area and shipping is way to much for a few snails.

 

[cormack12]

Cheers guys/gals

Lots of good info there, next few days off work will be great touring some regional fish shops to find my preferred one

 

[tomtom14]

If a snail population goes out of control get a assassin snail. They eat the other normal snails and with a black and yellow she'll look really good.