Ramshorn Snail Appreciation Thread

Ramshorns are the best I love them

I want them in every tank I have. They look so neat and they're always movin around and they can randomly show up in all sorts of wild colors and patterns

 

I love me some Ramshorn snails as well. For my planted tanks. But I just cannot find a LFS within a 50 mile radius of me that has any.

 

I currently have 2 in my tank (hitchhikers). When others appear they go into my other tank with my assassins.

 

Oh man that’s a nice one there. He looks huge!

 

Oh man that’s a nice one there. He looks huge!

They’re about the size of a nickel. I never get pretty colors though.

 

I got a few as hitch hikers. Do they reproduce really fast? They look really nice so far in my betta tank.

 

I got a few as hitch hikers. Do they reproduce really fast? They look really nice so far in my betta tank.

They can reproduce really fast as long as there's a good food source. I'm waiting for them to show up in the new tank since I have put a lot of plants in it. That way the Zebra Loaches have a real job to do, and they get a dietary supplement.

 

My son’s betta tank has 2 and they don’t reproduce because it doesn’t have enough light to grow algae and I don’t over feed the betta. In my jarrariums they breed like mad because I want them to, and I over feed them on purpose. The population seems stable on my 20 gallon, and they’re struggling to reproduce in my shrimp tank because ghost shrimp like to snack on the eggs

I have this really neat spotted gold strain that started popping up lately, so I'm gonna breed them. I'm currently working out a way to build a plywood breeding tank for them so I can isolate colors I want to refine.

 

I have this really neat spotted gold strain that started popping up lately, so I'm gonna breed them. I'm currently working out a way to build a plywood breeding tank for them so I can isolate colors I want to refine.

View attachment 477306

The two I have had that opaque, spotted appearance then they got super dull.

 

Those are my next favorite after bladder snails. I also have one of those huge nickle sized ones that I got from a pond.

 

Look at the difference in the new shell growth since changing out my shrimp tank to more appropriate water parameters!

 

This is a random picture I took of my ramshorn riding the surface.



These are what they all look like when they’re small.

 

A surprise hitchiker...first ever ramshorn




They can breed with just one, right?

 

Yeah, I think all "pest" snails are asexual, so they can reproduce by themselves. They'll be genetic clones of themselves, so if you want some variety, you might go grab another one from your LFS. I'd think they'll just give it to you. You can get some cool ones like pink and blue

 

BLEH! I thought the few I had were cool until they turned into a hundred or more. Now I drop some lettuce in the tank a few times a month at night, take the snail covered lettuce out in the morning and feed them to the birds!

 

All they eat are excess food from around the tank though. If you don't overfeed, they shouldn't get that way, at least not from my understanding. It's early yet, we'll see how that theory actually pans out lol

Or do you mean you get the tiny ones that never get bigger than like 1-2mm? Because those things multiply like crazy and are definitely a pain. I don't think those are true ramshorn snails

 

I have the big ones. They certainly don't harm anything I just don't like having soooooo many. I don't mind having 10-20 in my tank. My tank is 4 years old, is super heavily planted and there's sections that's almost impossible to get to to do thorough cleaning so there's always always stuff for them to feed on. I only feed 2-3 times a week and only enough that the fish eat everything in 2-3 minutes. In an effort to cut back on the snails a while back I did a major cleaning and only fed my fish 3 times in a month. In desperation the snails began eating pinholes in the thinner leaf plants, and new growth leaves. I know the pinholes in leaves weren't plant nutrient dificiency because the pinholes only showed up after trying to starve the snails, after a few months after the major tank cleaning and resuming normal fish feeding schedule the pinholes went away. Fishlore members told me time and time again ramshorns don't eat plants, but I beg to differ. I've been battling these guys for years now. When the population is in control they're very beneficial to tanks....just need to keep that population under control!

 

Dang dude, that sounds awful lol

 

A surprise hitchiker...first ever ramshorn

View attachment 478688

They can breed with just one, right?

Oh lucky you. I have bought so many plants and not even one ramshorn, or MTS, or pond snail, nothing

 

If you want those kinds of snails, and fish store will happily give them to you at no cost, from what I've seen.

 

Of all the 'pest' snails I think they look /are the best.
one came in some moss I bought and I didn't want it in my tank so it went in a little bowl for a month.
Started more tanks up and I changed my mind and put him in one.
Now about 1-2 months later its the size of a m&m and I saw the first baby ramshorn a few days ago.

 

If you want those kinds of snails, and fish store will happily give them to you at no cost, from what I've seen.

No such luck here, and I live in a heavily populated region with dozens and dozens of big box and private LFS. Several of the ones I go to have a hard time even keeping their good snails alive. I know of one that had MTS for sale once and hasn't had any since. There's one rather unscrupulous LFS called Petland Discount on the upper west side of Manhattan I stopped into one day looking for ramshorn snails. He says they only have Neurite snails and I wondered why they spelled Nerite with a "U" until I looked and saw what they had was an infestation of pond snails and were selling them as NeUrite snail's at 79 cents each.

 

Wow that’s absolutely shocking to me! My dedicated fish stores are mostly good about not having snails in most tanks, but my petco and petsmart are absolutely infested. Dozens in every tank. I get my ghost shrimp from petsmart and every time there’s seriously like 5+ in the bag with them lol

 

BLEH! I thought the few I had were cool until they turned into a hundred or more. Now I drop some lettuce in the tank a few times a month at night, take the snail covered lettuce out in the morning and feed them to the birds!

I'm actually looking forward to having my first pest snail outbreak, you see I've got this awesome new baby Golden Zebra Loach and I'm sure he would have a feast

 

Nice! I'm sure he'll keep them in check. I clearly have no snail eaters in my tank.

 

I've been trying to get my ramshorns to spread a bit in my ghost shrimp tank, but every time the egg clusters get close to hatching, the shrimp snack on them lol

I even had one lay the eggs on the top of a lilypad and a shrimp still managed to find it lol

 

I'm actually looking forward to having my first pest snail outbreak, you see I've got this awesome new baby Golden Zebra Loach and I'm sure he would have a feast View attachment 478778

Yup, I have Dwarf Chain Loaches and never have to worry. I keep a separate 20L to breed snails in and regularly add them to my main tank.

That is a gorgeous Zebra Loach

 

Yup, I have Dwarf Chain Loaches and never have to worry. I keep a separate 20L to breed snails in and regularly add them to my main tank.

That is a gorgeous Zebra Loach

Wow how did you get dwarf chain loaches?! Aren't they listed as critically endangered?

 

Wow how did you get dwarf chain loaches?! Aren't they listed as critically endangered?

Yeah, but there are breeders in Asia that supply the hobby. Pulled this from practicalfishkeeping.com

"Numbers are dwindling however, largely due to hydro-electric damming, and the species is declared 'critically endangered' on the IUCN red list. In Thailand it is now protected.

Thankfully, they have been spawned in captivity on a large scale, via hormone treatment, for the trade and some also naturally, but in smaller numbers, by dedicated hobbyists."

 

Yeah, but there are breeders in Asia that supply the hobby. Pulled this from practicalfishkeeping.com

"Numbers are dwindling however, largely due to hydro-electric damming, and the species is declared 'critically endangered' on the IUCN red list. In Thailand it is now protected.

Thankfully, they have been spawned in captivity on a large scale, via hormone treatment, for the trade and some also naturally, but in smaller numbers, by dedicated hobbyists."

Ohhhh ok awesome to know they're being bred successfully!

 

I’m a big fan of ramshorns, too. Keep mine in a ramshorn only 5 gallon.

 

I have a bunch of these (I just pulled about 60 of them out of one tank, reds, blues, leopards, etc), I have only one that I really like and I found it yesterday, it looks like an actual ram's horn because it is deformed where the shell is growing out to the side.
So if anyone wants some ramshorns I will put water on the ones I pulled and can ship them to you for 7.50 - all of them.

 

I’m a big fan of ramshorns, too. Keep mine in a ramshorn only 5 gallon.

That's a great idea. I think I'll pick up a spare tank today for just that. I could even grow some plants or moss in there for my other tanks. Question: does the tank have to be heated / filtered or can I get by with just water changes?

I have a bunch of these (I just pulled about 60 of them out of one tank, reds, blues, leopards, etc), I have only one that I really like and I found it yesterday, it looks like an actual ram's horn because it is deformed where the shell is growing out to the side.
So if anyone wants some ramshorns I will put water on the ones I pulled and can ship them to you for 7.50 - all of them.

That's a great offer. I'm heading out today to hit a few LFS to see if I can find any ramshorn or even MTS. I will keep your offer in mind.

 

My ramshorn snail pickle jar pretty regularly swings from 60 to 80 degrees on days and nights I leave the windows open. They thrive in there regardless.

 

I love them, but once had a terrible 'strain' of them that overpopulated like crazy. I think they vary a lot breeding wise -some are great and others get out of control really quickly.

As far as I know, they come in red and brown, or blue and pink color (the darker colors have leopard spots that show more while they're young). A blue snail will breed both blue and pink, or a red snail will breed both red and brown, unless you cull out a particular color you don't want. I've recently seen photos of the odd yellow snail popping up in peoples colonies, which I'm in the process of trying to breed for, I've seen a couple of babies in my pink and blue colony that look like they might be yellowish, but still too young to tell for sure.

 

Aquarius_in_nyc - my ramshorn tank isn’t heated - they’re still going strong 2 winters later.

 

Aquarius_in_nyc - my ramshorn tank isn’t heated - they’re still going strong 2 winters later.

No they don't need heating, they're actually cold water snails but can be kept in heated tanks also

 

My ramshorn snail pickle jar pretty regularly swings from 60 to 80 degrees on days and nights I leave the windows open. They thrive in there regardless.

Aquarius_in_nyc - my ramshorn tank isn’t heated - they’re still going strong 2 winters later.

No they don't need heating, they're actually cold water snails but can be kept in heated tanks also

That's great, I have a spare 2.5 gallon round tank I might employ just for snail's. Though I like the large pickle jar idea as well.

 

So use the 2.5 gallon for your main ramshorn tank and use the pickle jar to place any cool colors that pop up in!

 

So use the 2.5 gallon for your main ramshorn tank and use the pickle jar to place any cool colors that pop up in!

Sounds like a plan!! I'm going to start setting it up when I get home tonight.