I Bought Too Many Snails, What Can I Do Until I Return Them?

So I have had an issue with algae in my tank for a while, so I thought it would be a great idea to get something to eat the algae. My tank was stocked alright (3 corydoras, 1 honey gourami) and was well established. I also wanted to buy some new soil substrate so my plants would live better instead of keeping them in the larger gravel I had before.
I went and bought 4 nerite snails, I thought that was a fine amount and the lfs told me it was ok, but later I found out that 1 was plenty. ALONG WITH THIS I was watching my snails and I have noticed 1 has disappeared, I searched through the whole tank, behind the filter, under the substrate, nothing. I put in my plants and set up my tank again, then proceeded to watch my snails again, then I saw that my striped nerites had no tentacles while one of the larger snails had 4 tentacles on its head, I'm fairly sure the pet store gave me an apple snail now.
What should I do until I can return these snails? How many should I keep? Will the snails mess up the water or anything with their bioload?

 

How big of a tank? You should be ok with 4

 

How big of a tank? You should be ok with 4

Its a 10 gallon, its very well established and has no ammonia, but a lot of people talk about having only 1 or maybe 2 nerites in a 10

 

If you mean only 1 mystery snail then everything is fine.

4 would be a little overkill in a 10 gallon, not in terms of bioload as much as they constantly move around and need more room. Plus you will soon have many more....

Though some would disagree.

 

Its a 10 gallon, its very well established and has no ammonia, but a lot of people talk about having only 1 or maybe 2 nerites in a 10

I can only picture how dirty my 20 was with 4 nerites there was always something in there for them to eat in my tank..not a problem in my case nerite snails will lay eggs but not hatch so they won't reproduce ..as long as they have enough to eat I wouldn't see the harm

 

I can only picture how dirty my 20 was with 4 nerites there was always something in there for them to eat in my tank..not a problem in my case nerite snails will lay eggs but not hatch so they won't reproduce ..as long as they have enough to eat I wouldn't see the harm

Alright, how about the apple snail? I asked for 4 nerites but they gave me an apple too , is it gonna be a problem or will they all manage in the tank fine until I can return it to the lfs?

 

3 nerites and a mystery should be fine in there until you're able to return whatever you don't intend to keep, assuming the fish doesn't decide to harass the mystery and try to eat his feelers Heck, I would personally argue that 4 nerites would be fine in the 10 gallon as well if you want to keep the 3. Mysteries are heavier on the bioload, so I wouldn't do 4 of them, and if it's really an apple and not a mystery, then that would get much heavier on the bioload. If you'd like to post pics, we could help you ID them.

 

3 nerites and a mystery should be fine in there until you're able to return whatever you don't intend to keep, assuming the fish doesn't decide to harass the mystery and try to eat his feelers Heck, I would personally argue that 4 nerites would be fine in the 10 gallon as well if you want to keep the 3. Mysteries are heavier on the bioload, so I wouldn't do 4 of them, and if it's really an apple and not a mystery, then that would get much heavier on the bioload. If you'd like to post pics, we could help you ID them.

For sure! This is the regular nerite I have, its pretty obvious that it is an actual nerite and not something else (This one has been sitting here and not moving for about an hour, but Ill just give it some time).


The other 2 nerites I have look like what I have below(I couldnt get a picture cause of cloudy water), they are hiding off somewhere in the tank, one of them was even sitting behind the filter above the water! and I have no idea where the other one is....

The unidentified snail, that I highly suspect is an apple snail is below. Honestly, its a super interesting little bugger and Ill be sad to see it go, I like its face tentacles and as I type it is digging a hole for some reason haha


I wasn't able to actually see its face until this morning, I just picked up the snails yesterday along with the new substrate you see in the pictures.

 

no need! That is a mystery snail. He looks good in there....

nice pics

 

I like the substrate

 

no need! That is a mystery snail. He looks good in there....

nice pics

Ohh it is? Whats the difference between them? I always thought mystery snails were a yellow colour. Do I need to get rid of any of the snails then or will the 3 nerites, mystery snail, 3 cory cats and honey gourami all be ok on the bio load? I guess Ill need to go out and buy some algae wafers sometime soon if I'm going to keep all of them haha

 

I like the substrate

Thanks! Its black 'aquarium soil powder', I thought it was sand yesterday but it has lowered my tank pH down to a manageable level and will hopefully be better for my plants than the gravel I had before

 

The snail makeup will be fine on the bioload for a 10. The only one that's really messy will be the mystery (I'd guess mystery and not apple, similar, but mysteries usually stop at the size of about a golf ball at biggest, where the apples can get much larger). They actually come in multiple colors, blue, black, white, gold, brown, purple, magenta, and jade.

You may want to touch base with some people who have more experience with fish, as I'm not certain the fish makeup is good for a 10 (iirc cories are too hyper and need a larger group), but I don't have experience with either of the fish you have in there, so I wouldn't want to guide you incorrectly in those regards.