0morrokh

Well, I just received a shipment of plants, and planted them without even thinking of giving them a bleach dip. So today I find this little snail. I am not going to kill him and I don't think I can get any snail eating fish. So my question is basically could anything bad happen from leaving him in there? I will do a search and i.d. the snail...

LOULOU

no, we had lots of snails and they grew quite big, the do mate alot so you do get over-run with them. unfortunately we put clown loaches in our tank and didnt realise they were snail eaters, dont need to say anymore

0morrokh

I think they must just be Pond Snails. (or rather he, soon to be they...) Those don't eat plants, right?

chickadee

i have them in Misty's tank and I am glad to have them. No they don't eat the plants. They eat diatoms from the brown algae if you have any or keep the algae off of the glass. It is nice to have them I think and I wouldn't dream of getting rid of them. I started with 2 about 5 months ago when it was a plant tank and now have 4 so they don't multiply that fast. It doesn't get to be a problem as they never get any bigger than this ----O Have fun. Enjoy your plants.

Rose

0morrokh

I've gotten attached to the snail already! He's so cute and tiny! I'm trying to decide what to do with him though. The 20g is my "display" tank and I don't want it overrun with snails. On the other hand they add a nice extra component in smaller quantities. I might just set up a snail/shrimp tank, with various non-fish including any snails I pull out of the 20g. That is, if my parents will let me.
I'm thinking maybe the reason yours aren't multiplying that fast is because Misty is making a snack out of them or their eggs. I have heard of Bettas eating snails. If that is the case I suppose my girls would keep the population in check.
My main concern is that when I leave for college I will have to shut down the tank and end up killing a bunch of snails. If I moved them to a separate tank at least I would know where they are. What to do, what to do...

Marc

I have 6 in one of my 5 gallons and I had just 1 last week. Some of them are miniscule (pinhead sized), though.

Isabella

Well, from what I read, snails multiply very fast. So I guess it depends on what kind of a snail you have. If it's not going to eat your plants, etc ... perhaps a smaller population of it would be OK. I don't know which kinds of snails but I know that many are beneficial in that they eat dead plant matter (not live plants). So in this respect they're beneficial. However, I wonder how one can control a snail population without killing them. Because if you let them multiply without an end, your tank may become packed with them. And since they're live creatures just like fish, they probably produce a lot of waste too when their population is large.

chickadee

I am a firm believer in snails. In fact I just got a new couple today (Ivory snails) and they are beautiful. They clean up the waste products in the tank and the algae as well. And these little beauties stir up the gravel as they go. It is fascinating to watch them. The Bettas are spellbound. The Otos were just not getting all of the areas cleaned and the snails can go where they won't go. I think they Otos got a little lazy when I began to feed them the Omega One Veggie Rounds.

Rose

0morrokh

Snails are pretty awesome. I might get a bigger kind for my tank (like Mystery Snails)

luper

could buy a lobster (one of the blue ones) and they eat the snails i want one lol

0morrokh

I already decided what fish I'm getting and no room for a lobster...I believe the one you are thinking of reaches 5 inches.

Butterfly

The snails will usually grow in proportion to the food in the tank.
carol