ID my snail

[Ice Man]

Recently my 25g planted tank was attacked by army of these snails. I am not sure where they came from. Well, I got some plants from my friend just before I started noticing them, but his tank doesn't have any (visible) snails. Other, less probable option is that my Nerite snail laid eggs, but as far as I know Nerite snails don't breed in FW (eggs need sw to develop) I bought that Nerite snail at the same time as plants from my friend.

 

[Gboy66]

This looks like a spotted nerite

 

[KaylNeko]

This is a spotted nerite:

Considering the shape and the plants, it looks more like a ramshorn but could be some other kind of pond/pest snail. How big is it?

 

[Fishnova]

That is a pond snail
I have a ton of them lol

 

[Ice Man]

This is a spotted nerite:

Considering the shape and the plants, it looks more like a ramshorn but could be some other kind of pond/pest snail. How big is it?

So far the biggest one is around 1/4 inch big. They look like my nerite snail. I will post picture of it tomorrow.

 

[Fishnova]

Nevermind, I was wrong they look nothing alike
Sorry

 

[jetajockey]

That's not a pond snail or nerite, it's a brown ramshorn.

 

[KaylNeko]

Is ok. Nerites are shaped more like the typical pond/bladder/trapdoor snail, just bigger (and not prolific in freshwater. We'll see what happens when I get to set up my brackish tank and throw a few in there >.>). There isn't another snail with a similar shape to the ramshorn that I've found so are pretty distinctive--there may be, but I haven't come across it yet.

I started keeping fish and found an interest in snails I never thought I would have. I love the little guys *lol* Hardest thing was figuring out the difference between pond snails, pest snails, and the different species.

If you want to get rid of them, you can try an assassin snail or two. Slow but steady (and pretty! When you see them, at least).

 

[RedFlame]

That is a leopard/spotted ramshorn.

 

[KaylNeko]

Is pretty--I want *lol*

 

[Alyxx]

Definitely a ramshorn. I have a tank full of them for puffer food.

 

[Ice Man]

thank you all for your input. I hope presence of ramshorns in my tank will be beneficial, hopefully they'll eat algae and leave my plants alone. I will get some assassin snails to control population of ramshorns.

 

[KaylNeko]

For the most part, yep. Unfortunately, ramshorns are one of the few that have been reported to sometimes eat plants. Just keep an eye on them. The assassin snails will love your tank. ^_^

 

[Ice Man]

How many assassins for 25g tank? I also want to get torpedo snail to burrow in the sand.

 

[KaylNeko]

Depends on how fast you want to get rid of them and how many there are. 3 or 4 assassin snails would take care of that many per day on average, so if they're not destroying your plants and you're not in a huge hurry, that might be a self sustaining number that keeps things balanced out--not getting rid of the ramshorns completely, but keeping the numbers down and letting the ramshorns do their job of keeping things clean. I have one in a ten gallon and I run out of snails for them very quickly because my betta is kind enough to eat the eggs *sigh*

If by torpedo snails, you're talking about Malaysian Trumpet Snails (I'm trying to find some for the same reason), which are often used to keep the substrate stirred up, the assassins will help keep their population in check should it choose to try to explode.

 

[Ice Man]

Yes. I was thinking about Malaysian Trumpet snail.
Thanks.