Aquariums: What snails are these? Are they bad for the tank?
One must’ve come with one of the plants we bought. We have neon tetra, a guppy, and amano shrimp, we haven’t seen the shrimps since these snails came.
Posted by TootMCT
9 Comments
CartoonistNo6470 on
I want to guess that those are ramshorn snails, great for the tank as a cleanup crew but beware they love to breed like crazy.
Puzzleheaded_Age2346 on
The narrow spiral shells are ramshorn snails. The rounder spiral shells with a point are bladder snails. Theyre pest snails meaning they can survive in most water conditions and reproduce rapidly if the food is available for them. They are completely harmless and intact rather beneficial. Just unsightly.
WorldlinessNo3582 on
We pick them out every week because they reproduce so very fast.
Equal_North6633 on
I see ramshorns and bladders. Both are really prolific guys that can multiply rapidly, and will do it is you have a ton of excess food in your tank. They are nice in keeping algae at check and working on detritus, and can be real fun.
People call them pests because they easily spread with plants and multiply a lot, but they are not truly pests, and nobody gets hurt from their existence.
If you want to get rid of them – use some food bait and scoop them out. Some LFS will buy them from you, and if not – you can find somebody via marketplaces: people who keep carnivore fish like pea puffers will happily buy these from you in batches.
I wouldn’t recommend to get rid of them, however – they are a nice addition to a healthy ecosystem, and population will be in check if you don’t overfeed your tank.
pinkgobi on
I love them! But every month or so pick some older ones or misshapen ones out and squish em to keep the numbers in check. Sounds mean but it’s how you keep pest snails looking good
Icehuntee on
Want to add that snail population is an okay indication of how much left over food there is in a tank
MachoPenguin83 on
I leave them in mine but that’s cause my turtle will just eat them when he finds them.
AnxietyWitch66 on
Oh my gosh those ramshorns are beautiful 😍 I ended up with mini ramshorns but I was looking for those big guys. Congratulations, you have new friends:)
9 Comments
I want to guess that those are ramshorn snails, great for the tank as a cleanup crew but beware they love to breed like crazy.
The narrow spiral shells are ramshorn snails. The rounder spiral shells with a point are bladder snails. Theyre pest snails meaning they can survive in most water conditions and reproduce rapidly if the food is available for them. They are completely harmless and intact rather beneficial. Just unsightly.
We pick them out every week because they reproduce so very fast.
I see ramshorns and bladders. Both are really prolific guys that can multiply rapidly, and will do it is you have a ton of excess food in your tank. They are nice in keeping algae at check and working on detritus, and can be real fun.
People call them pests because they easily spread with plants and multiply a lot, but they are not truly pests, and nobody gets hurt from their existence.
If you want to get rid of them – use some food bait and scoop them out. Some LFS will buy them from you, and if not – you can find somebody via marketplaces: people who keep carnivore fish like pea puffers will happily buy these from you in batches.
I wouldn’t recommend to get rid of them, however – they are a nice addition to a healthy ecosystem, and population will be in check if you don’t overfeed your tank.
I love them! But every month or so pick some older ones or misshapen ones out and squish em to keep the numbers in check. Sounds mean but it’s how you keep pest snails looking good
Want to add that snail population is an okay indication of how much left over food there is in a tank
I leave them in mine but that’s cause my turtle will just eat them when he finds them.
Oh my gosh those ramshorns are beautiful 😍 I ended up with mini ramshorns but I was looking for those big guys. Congratulations, you have new friends:)
I actually like them they eat a lot of algae