Snails in planted tank.

[hamamatsu1999]

Dear all,

I know I is common that aquatic plants often come along with snails. My tank had quite a number of them crawling everywhere.They can be as big as 7mm in length.

Now I wonder if they will do any harm to all my plants and moss. Or do they eat up all the algae.

Please enlighten me about this, so that either I wap out all the snails or they will wap out my plants. Thanks

REgards,
Tong

[TyroneGenade]

I have not know snails to harm plants very much. The only seem to do a number on plants where the leaves are already begining to rot. Of course my soft water used to melt the big apple snails and I'm willing to bet they can make quite a meal of your amazon swords.

If you are really worried about the snails get some kribs---but you then kiss any shrimp good bye too. Golden barbs also like a juicy snail or six...

[stormhawk]

Tong, depending on the type of snail, you may not actually have a major problem on your hands. Some snails will eat plants and do alot of damage but in reality, they're part and parcel of a water ecosystem. Knowing the ID of the snails present in your tanks can help alot in knowing the methods to remove them. Snail species like ramshorn snails are quite OK in the planted tank. Getting a picture or describing these snails in detail can help in telling us what exactly they are and whether they're productive or destructive to the tank set-up.

Fishes that will devour snails are dwarf puffers (Carinotetraodon travancoricus), and some species of loaches (Botia, Schistura spp.).

[ruyle]

I thought I would tack on the end of this thread a request for info on
Neritina natalensis snails of South Africa. Has anyone kept these? Is
there another thread that I didn't find that covers these? These are quite
a showpiece with their stripes. Tyrone should know all about these since
they come from his homeworld :wink: Here's a photo by Jesus Salas y
Carlos Garrido:

[budak]

I have a couple in my main tank, and they seem pretty much like most gastropods, slow and easy, just scraping the glass. There seems to be a few SEA species in the family too, (Nerita lineata and Dostia violacea) which I have found in back mangroves. For some reason, I have not had success with these.

[Green Baron]

I thought I would tack on the end of this thread a request for info on
Neritina natalensis snails of South Africa. Has anyone kept these? Is
there another thread that I didn't find that covers these? These are quite
a showpiece with their stripes. Tyrone should know all about these since
they come from his homeworld :wink: Here's a photo by Jesus Salas y
Carlos Garrido:

We call this Zebra snail and there was a discussion on it somewhere.
I keep it to clean spot algae on the glass surface.

I didn't know they can change the patterns on their shell until I saw this one in my tank !

[ruyle]

I was wondering if either one of you have gotten them to breed in freshwater? Some can only breed in brackish or seawater.

[stormhawk]

Bill, these snails do breed in freshwater. I have seen egg cases, in their case, singular eggs being laid on the surfaces of items like driftwood and even the glass. When they do begin breeding their eggs will cover a large area on bare driftwood.

[ruyle]

Bill, these snails do breed in freshwater. I have seen egg cases, in their case, singular eggs being laid on the surfaces of items like driftwood and even the glass. When they do begin breeding their eggs will cover a large area on bare driftwood.

Jian Yang, these are not available in the US, to my meager knowledge. The ones I've found are a plain-Jane ripe olive color called "Nerite, olive". Too Marlon Blando for my tastes, would rather settle
for the Japanese trapdoor snails. Wonder how they would fare being sent
over by FedEx express......hummm. If feasible, would like to buy some
from you this spring.

Oh, and I found the Zebra snail thread on page 8 of Killies Arena. Sure
would be nice to have a topic search window that would peg you right to
what you were after

[stormhawk]

Hi Bill, whoops I don't breed these snails. I've only seen these eggs growing on some driftwood at the shops. I do remember however that I saw a small driftwood at Ron's place full of the egg cases. I don't think Ron keeps these buggers anymore.

I'll see what I can do. Have to look around for these snails as they're somewhat seasonal. I'm not sure whether they'll travel well though.

[stormhawk]

By the way, I saw some breeders in the States offering some oddball snails on Aquabid. You should look those people up first. I think I saw more than just the Marlon Brando Nerites

[nonamethefish]

Did the eggcases hatch?

[Green Baron]

Bill, these snails do breed in freshwater. I have seen egg cases, in their case, singular eggs being laid on the surfaces of items like driftwood and even the glass. When they do begin breeding their eggs will cover a large area on bare driftwood.

I have seen their eggs on drift wood and tank wall but I have not seen any baby snails

Personally I prefer the smaller 'Horn Snail'. They are cute ! The Zebra snail, due to their bigger size, tend to dislodge plants which are not fully established and move unsecured driftwood and smaller planted pots.

[elmike]

Btw, guys, is there a snail sp. that eats beard algae? If it's edible to SAE, why not a snail?

[Green Baron]

Btw, guys, is there a snail sp. that eats beard algae? If it's edible to SAE, why not a snail?

Not sure but even if they do, it will take a loooong time for them to find and eat all the beard algae

[ruyle]

Personally I prefer the smaller 'Horn Snail'. They are cute ! The Zebra snail, due to their bigger size, tend to dislodge plants which are not fully established and move unsecured driftwood and smaller planted pots.

CW, they are a cute snail! What's their scientific name? And have you bred
these successfully?

[Green Baron]

Personally I prefer the smaller 'Horn Snail'. They are cute ! The Zebra snail, due to their bigger size, tend to dislodge plants which are not fully established and move unsecured driftwood and smaller planted pots.

CW, they are a cute snail! What's their scientific name? And have you bred
these successfully?

I don't know what is their scientific name I have a few in my tank but they don't seem to be breeding ?! Maybe because my loaches ate all the young ones !

[stormhawk]

FWIW, some of my previous ramshorn snails did feed on BBA growing on my previous batch of java fern growing in my main tank. They took helluva long time to even start feeding on small clumps.

Of course this happens when the snails are hungry. If they're enjoying fish food just like the fishies do then they just won't do their job and feed on the algae.

Bill, the "horn" snail or as I prefer to call it - Porcupine Snail - is available on a seasonal basis here in Singapore. Both this snail and the Nerites are accomplished escapees. They will make their way out of the tank should conditions be not to their liking.

[A.Rashid]

Gan,

May I know how much did you buy the horny snail for?

I saw a few at Clementi blk 354, wanted to buy them but was distracted with the "sea dragon" that is on the display tank...

[shortman]

Gan,

May I know how much did you buy the horny snail for?

I saw a few at Clementi blk 354, wanted to buy them but was distracted with the "sea dragon" that is on the display tank...

Rashid,

Go to ecco I saw it the other time when we meet there. It should be around 1SGD.