My First Post - Snail Question...

HI everyone. I just joined this site tonight in the efforts to help my daughters along with their new fishtanks. Everything is going well with their tanks, one of my girls has a 5 gallon and the other a 2.5 gallon. When we purchased fish for the 2.5 gallon the person at the store mistakenly got a tiny snail in the bag as well and said no worries, she wouldn't charge us for it and just included it with our fish. That was on Dec 27. Tonight I looked in the tank and that snail has grown quite a lot and by the looks of things there are quite a few tiny baby snails in there as well. I'm going to try and post a photo of the larger snail but to describe what it looks like, the shell has a metallic sheen to it, with the main layer being a dark copper color, the second layer being a lighter copper and the third layer which is also the tip of the shell is white. Again, I'll try and post a photo but can anyone tell me what kind of snail this is and if I should be worried about them taking over the small tank? Thanks.

 

Those are blabber snails. They won't really impact any thing , they have huge bio-laods. Try getting an assasin snail that will help

P.S. what fish did your daughters get?

 

Trying to upload a photo....

Second try...

 

yup,blabber snail.

 

Should I try and get rid of these bladder snails? Will they pose a problem in such a small tank? I mean there are quite a few of these tiny snails in there now.

 

Yes, get rid of them. I had a close call in my 10 gallon with them. What kind of filter do you have? Sometimes they can get into the filter and break it, that’s never fun
I would try a trap or the cucumber method, where you get a cucumber and when you see a snail on the cucumber you pick it off. A bit harder, but it could work

 

You should. Blabber snails are anti-sexual so they can reproduce without a mate.

 

I'm very new to all of this so I'll have to look and see what kind of filter is on it. The entire aquarium came in a kit with the filter so I'm not sure what it is.

What is the best way to get rid of them?

 

You can hand pick `em or gat an assasine snail.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

What is the best way to get rid of them?

What type of fish do you have?

 

What fish are in the three gallon?

 

You can also do more water changes to get rid of the extra debris the snail would eat. Avoid overfeeding your fish.

 

Those snails reproduce like crazy. In no time your tank will be overrun with them. You can get a small crayfish who will eat the snails if he is compatible with the fish you have in there OR I've seen a product called Snail B Gone at the LFS. Never used it personally but if you go this route I would make sure that it will not harm your fish. Good luck!! If you are into selling online you will most likely find a ton of people looking to buy these snails for their pufferfish (I purchase them often) LOL.

 

I'm very new to all of this so I'll have to look and see what kind of filter is on it. The entire aquarium came in a kit with the filter so I'm not sure what it is.

Pull them big ones out and toss them, as for the babies I can’t really help unless I know more about the tank (parameters, feeding, cleaning, decor, inhabitants)

 

The tank is a 2.5 Gallon, and there are 4 kitty tetras in there.

My other daughter has a 5 gallon tank, and she has 1 platty and 1 calico double tail goldfish.

The girls are wondering what kind of snail can they introduce to each of their tanks that will not reproduce and will keep the tank clean?

I just did a look online and a Nerite Snail is recommended. They say you can have 1 snail per 2.5 gallons and they do not reproduce in fresh water. Does anyone here have any experience with this type of snail? Thanks again.

 

Nerites and mystery snails are both great. Nerites are amazing algae eaters and really pretty, mystery snails get bigger and are really pretty. They eat more detritus and some algea. I love my nerites. I would do a snail in each to start, as if there isn't enough algae they will starve unless you feed them. Another cool thing to get is shrimp, a few ghost shrimp would look cool and eat extra food.

You have some stocking issues if you'd like to discuss them .

 

I just did a look online and a Nerite Snail is recommended. They say you can have 1 snail per 2.5 gallons and they do not reproduce in fresh water. Does anyone here have any experience with this type of snail? Thanks again.

Nerite snails are the best. They get rid of algae really quickly, and don’t reproduce. I highly recommend them as a cleanup-crew, but only get one for a 2.5.
As said above, you do unfortunately have some stocking issues.

 

Thanks for the advice on the Nerite Snails. What do you mean by I have stocking issues?

 

Thanks for the advice on the Nerite Snails. What do you mean by I have stocking issues?

One calico Goldie needs at least 20 gallons, platy fish are also schooling fish and do better in a group (which the tank is too small for) the tetras need a group of eight to be happy and 8 would be pushing it even for a 10 gal let alone a 2.5 gal. I recommend you get two 20 gal tank and put the schooling fish in one and the Goldie in the other..

 

Oh wow, ok. We're completely new to this stuff so we had no idea. I'll have to take your suggestions into consideration and possibly make some changes down the road. Thanks for the advice.

 

The tank is a 2.5 Gallon, and there are 4 kitty tetras in there.

My other daughter has a 5 gallon tank, and she has 1 platty and 1 calico double tail goldfish.

Do you know what the nitrogen cycle is? Its very important. Click the nitrogen cycle in blue, it will take you to a page that tells you what it is.

I would rehome the goldfish and if you can the tetras and the platy, but if you can't get the platy or tetras away from your daughters they can stay for a little. They won't be very happy, but a tank upgrade down the road would work for them. Some good options for a 5 gallon is bettas, ember tetras, celestial pearl danios, dario dario, badis badis. There's also these really pretty freshwater dwarf shrimp, look up red cherry srhimp or blue cherry shrimp. They have tons of colors and they're super easy to keep and breed like rabbits! However, lots of bettas will eat them. For the 2.5 a betta would be good, and the 5 mabye 6 ember tetras and red cherry shrimp?

 

Thanks for the advice on the Nerite Snails. What do you mean by I have stocking issues?

I think he means you have too many fish in the 2.5 gallon tank. Usually stocking issues mean that you A) have too many fish in a small tank or B) The fish you have in the same tank are noncompatible.