Too Many Snails?

Assuming mystery snails are one of the apple snail species, I agree you do need to remove some. A snail 2 inches across needs 2.5 gallons of water. So your 10 gall tank can support 4 full grown mystery snails, and your 20 gall 8 snails.

Can you sell the rest of the mystery snails? I know people sell them on Ebay (though I think you are too young to have an account, do you know anyone who has an account that would sell them for you?). Or sell them to a fish shop? A Mom-and-Pop shop would be more likely than a big chain store. Or give them away?
The only other choice would to be to kill them I'm afraid.

For future reference, mystery snails lay their eggs out of water in a cluster looking like a tiny bunch of grapes. The best thing to do is remove the egg clusters as soon as you see them.

A 10 will hold 4; a 20 will hold 8 and a 38 will hold 15 or 16. Total = 28 mystery snails. You have 60 so the remaining 30 or so will need homes.

The rule is the same as for fish. 1 inch of fish per gallon, for fish that grow no bigger than 3 inches. So 1 inch of snail per gallon. A 2.5 inch snail needs 2.5 galls regardless of tank size, just like for fish. Since yours are tiny at the moment, you have a bit of time to decide what to do but once those snails grow up you will need that 2.5 galls per snail.

From here

The amount of water needed for each snail depends on the size of the snail, the filtration capacity and the temperature. As a general rule of thumb one should provide at least 10-liters/2.5 gallon for each mid-sized snail (±5cm/2inch. diameter). Or another way: count each apple snail as a fish of the same length as the snail's shell diameter. Be cautious not to overcrow your snail tank. While it hasn't been proven that apple snails actually 'sense' that they are in large numbers in a small space, the water quality quickly detoriates and substances that inhibit the snail growth are increasing quiker. Regular refreshment of a part of the water is highly recommended.

The Community Creator shows snails and shrimps adding 0 load to your tank.

Well it's impossible for a snail (or shrimp) to have no impact at all on the bioload, so the Community Calculator is incorrect.
At present you could add 1,000 snails to any tank on the Community Creator and you'd still be at 0% bio-load.

I don't necessarily believe that 1cm of snail or shrimp should be calculated the same as 1cm of fish, because of their different metabolisms.

In any case, all species, whether fish or mollusc, should be kept in suitable conditions and surely an overcrowded snail tank will be detrimental to their well-being.

The question is how crowded is overcrowded.

If it were me, I'd use frequent water tests and generally observing their behaviour and mortality rates as the crucial deciding factors.

Brian 1 Sue 0

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Quote from: brian c on June 07, 2015, 10:54:38 PM

Brian 1 Sue 0

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Extreme one -1 Brian 0
@ Sue Ok I guess that if I have to i could trade a dozen or 2 at my lfs once they grow up a bit. I might be able to get this freshwater clam they have Or even more plants!!!!

Sorry to hear about your snail. I know people think it's just a snail but you can become attached to pets of all types.

And your plans sound like a good idea.

Sorry for your loss Brian.
I know how you feel about your snail, since I nearly lost one last week and might still do so.
In general I hate snails (garden ones) but these are lovely little things

Just an update, I traded 10 of my small snails and 1 of my big mystery snails at my lfs along with 8 tetras for 20 dollars in credit. I think I should have gotten more then just $20, like $30.