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August 8th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| Pros and cons of a snail
ok well ive heard that it is bad to keepa snails cause you dont know if its a boy or a girl and if its a girl you could have hundreds of baby snails is it worth it to get a snail? just small experiances on snails you had will be fine nothing elaborate. TY | 
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August 8th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| The good thing about "apple" or "mystery" snails is that they are either boy or girl but not both, and that they lay eggs. So, if you get one it wont get pregnant cause you need two to get a viable batch of eggs.
even if you have two (like me) and they are a boy and a girl, and they reproduce, they need to put their eggs above the waterline, so they are visible and you just can remove them as soon as you see them.
The bad thing about them is that they are a HUGE bioload. one single snail can be worth 2.5 to 5 gallons all by itself! | |
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August 8th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| I keep a pair of mystery snails, Lefty & Scratch, and I rotate them around my tanks. They keep the algae in check and they're kind of cute little critters (Lefty is white and Scratch is green, they kind of add something to the tanks); just remember they are big waste producers as Alessa mentioned. | |
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August 9th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| so i thought 2corys betta and a snail is overstocking is it? | |
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August 9th, 2008
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| | Fish Helper
| Do keep in mind, that while it may take 2 to make viable eggs, there is no guarantee that they haven't... done the deed.... before you purchased one. And if its a female you may have months of viable eggs ahead of you. The good note of them, as Alessa said, the eggs are visible and easy disposed of should you not want more.  | |
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August 9th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| what about as far as over stocking? | |
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August 9th, 2008
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| | Fish Helper
| I have 1 gold Inca snail (truthfully I'm not sure if that's a mystery snail or an apple snail) but I've had him "Gary" (unoriginal - I know) for a few months and he/she has recently started leaving egg presents on the underside of the tank hood. I just pick them off and throw them away. As for waste - he definitely doesn't poop as much as a pleco! I also don't find him to be a huge algae cleaner but he's one of my favorite little beings in all of our tanks (we have 3 tanks) He's very interesting to watch and a helluva lot speedier than you'd think - he tools around our tank amazingly. He's also a bit of a character - I've seen him hover on a plant over the bubbler than launch himself onto it only to be shot up by the bubbles to the top of the tank and then he floats back down - craziest thing but highly entertaining to watch. Our snail also seems to be narcoleptic - he will be moving all around then suddenly close up and drop from wherever he is and sleep for about 8-10 hours! Beware tho I've had to pick ours out of the filter and once he even managed to fall out of tank but it's alot of fun to feed him zucchini and lettuce - he truly enjoys his food! | |
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August 9th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| sounds like a character but you dont think it will be overstocked? | |
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August 9th, 2008
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| | Fish Helper
| maybe it is only a 10 gal you're talking about right? I will say our snail Gary has grown quite a bit since we purchased him (he's gone from being about 1" to 1.5" circumference in about 5 months). When we did originally get him it was for a 10 gallon but we have since upgraded that tank to a 20 gallon (I found 10 gal to be really tough to keep stable!) | |
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August 10th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| well i think MTS has got me now sothere are more tanks on the way | |
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August 10th, 2008
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| | Fish Helper
| so that's what it's called - MTS
I was wondering how in a years time I went from zero tanks to two 20 gallons and one 150 gallon. Kinda like tattoos - once you start you always want another
Here's a pic of Gary cruising the tank - notice the antennae waving in the breeze! | |
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August 10th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| he looks awesome but do you think it will be overstocked? | |
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August 10th, 2008
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| | Fish Helper
| 2 corys , a betta and a snail - I personally don't think so but I'm not an expert. Just make sure you don't get a snail that grows to the size of a grapefruit - supposedly a gold inca snail only grows to 2". Just becareful if the betta is aggressive. I had a problem with male platy fry nipping at Gary and he got very reclusive til I found a new home for the juvenile bullies | |
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August 10th, 2008
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| | Fish Keeper
| ok sounds good snail is on and a 20g community tank with CRS is on the way (hopefullyif my mom permits) | |
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August 14th, 2008
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| | Fish Mentor
| how big is your tank?
if it is a 10 gallon id say either the cories or a snail. less than 5 i dont think so. And yes, betta + cories + snail would be overstocking.
I currently have 2 MS. in my 28 gal community and thanks to them the tank's dirty all the time and nitrates go up very quickly. I am officially overstocked though.
They are neat little critters, but too much bioload. A single snail can be worth 5 gallons all by itself! | |
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