platy ben

Are snails good at keeping a tank clean?

i think ive heard of a snail called golden apple snails, is it worth me buying a pair for my 15G tank?

Lucy

I'm not positive on this, so wait until someone who has them to come along and answer.
I was reading they require at least 2.5g a peice, so 2 would account for 5g of your 15g.....it might not be worth it.

COBettaCouple

They are good cleaners, but do put out a fair amount of waste. Depending on the exact species, they can get as big as your fist and need 2.5 - 5g of water each. If you get more than 1, it's VERY likely you'll have many of them.

platy ben

i have a 60 gallon tank so if they do reproduce i can always move some into my larger tank , thanks for the advise

pepetj

Hi Platy Ben: Check this site: http://www.applesnail.net/

I have relied on snails to keep algae in check. Not all snails are the same. Some are great gardeners (and aquarium glass cleaners) as the Apple Snails. The almost look-alike Mistery Snail will more likely devour plants than the Apple Snail.

Big snails are easier to control than small ones, in my experience.

I would never use some snails. I once (recently) saw for sale, online, from UK, the so-called Dominican Trumpet snails, I am very familiar with these fellows, and wouldn't like them around any tank of mine (they reproduce like a pest, and are likely to leave a lot of holes in broad leafs -e.g. anubias, swords). I had a hard time once getting rid of them in a pond I kept back in the 1970s (ended emptying the whole thing, rinsing/changing stones -no aquarium gravel for sale back then, and replacing all plants).

I would say: Go for the Apple Snail, there are a good variety out there (e.g. the Golden you want). As long as you do regular substrate vacuum, their waste is easily manageable. By the way, I keep 6 of them in a 10gal (young ones, maybe 1", the largest one is around 2"). That tank has the cleanest glass, thanks to them.

The only problem is when they die: They decompose quite rapidly. And from time to time, they find their way out of the tank (might get hurt by the fall, but usually not).

Pepe
Santo Domingo

platy ben

thanks alot for the help, your advice and that site have really helped me so im going to get some and see how they go

fishrule101

I've had some golden snails and I think they did a good job cause all the aglae was gone. But sadly they died. I think they starved to death since there wasen't any alage left to eat on.

anpa1019

I have a 6.6 gallon tank with one betta in it a some fake plants. Can I buy a snail to keep it clean and reduce the amount of needed water changes?

fishrule101

Yeah you can buy like 2-4 snails. But I'm not sure it would reduce the water changes. You would still need to do weekly water changes. I don't think nothing can stop aquarists from doing water changes.