JennDFK

What are the pros and cons of keeping snails and what snails are best to keep in a planted tank.

I have a 30 gallon hex, planted, with tropical community fish. I already have otos...but still have a good amount of algae.

I am also starting a 55 gallon planted tank that has a red tail shark... and I'm planning on getting some rainbow fish and possible some tetras or barbs.

I'm just interested to know peoples opinions about keeping snails in one or both of these tanks.

Charlize

Nerite snails are great algae eaters.They do not reproduce in freshwater,so you do not need to worry about them overpopulating your tank.Apple or mystery snails,(briggs) can be colorful and are very interesting but are not very good at eating algae.They also lay their egg clutches at the top of the tank so if you have more than 1 and they mate the eggs can be easily removed.With both of these you cannot count on there being enough algae or uneaten fish food for them to survive on so alage discs and fresh veggies need to be fed to them 2 or 3 times a week.If you are looking for a good algae eater I would get some nerite.I would get 4 or 5 for your hex,and 10 or so for 55.

Beth1965

Jenn, I have one mystery snail in my 10gal and two in my 55. I love them. They keep the tank clean and I love to watch them. I will be adding more of the same the next chance I have.
Beth

JennDFK

What type of veggies do you feed your snails? Do they need special preparation...like steaming or blanching?

Beth1965

I put a piece of lettuce in the tank, holding it down with whatever is there, a rock. the piece is around 1 X 2 (?), no blanching

Regal

I would try some MTS in a planted tank. I have them in mine and I don't see them too much during the day. They say they are a good indicator of water quality because if you see a lot of them out during the day you know you have some water issues.

JennDFK

Do the mystery snails eat your plants? Both my tanks are planted and although snails would be a cool addition I don't want them if they will destroy my plants.

Beth1965

My mystery snails do not eat my plants. Someone else had said they would.
The snails crawl around and clean them is all.
Beth

JennDFK

Well I ended up getting one mystery snail for my hex tank just to see how it goes. It is a beautiful blue one. If I like it in the tank I will probably get a couple more. Thanks for all the input everyone.

Jenn

Beth1965

what kind of "blue" one did you find?
Beth

MaddieLynn

I have 2 mystery (AKA apple or inca) snails in my 29g. They are sooo cool to watch. I feed them cucumber slices and algae wafers sometimes and they are FAST eaters! I gave them a cucumber slice yesterday and it's already nearly gone!

JennDFK

I'm not really sure... Are there different types of mystery snails? It is smallish at the moment and a dusty blue color.

I really like the color varieties of the mystery snails... and they are nice to watch. If all my plants stay intact I'm thinking about putting another one in soon.