Ramshorn Snails

Has anyone kept Ramshorn snails? I saw them today at my LFS and the red ones were beautiful. I've heard they can become a nuisance if you overfeed, but with my assassin snails and my new feeding regiment I doubt this would be a huge issue. Furthermore, would the larger specimens be okay with my assassin snails. I have 3 nerites and a sulawesi snail that are living happily with my Helena clea, but I worry the ramshorn would be a tasty treat. I do not want to keep the Colombian variety as they munch on plants.

If you have kept them, what are the pros and cons?

Thanks,
Cod

Hi Diz,
Yes, I've been keeping three Nerites and a Sulawesi with my three Assassin snails for the last four or five months without incident. I'd read conflicting advice about their compatibility, but after finding a cheap dealer on ebay I thought I'd give it a try. 5 very different nerites were delivered. Unfortunately the horned nerite was dead on arrival. Due to its small size it was the one I was most concerned about adding. An onion nerite also perished about a week later and I started to worry about the three remaining snails. However, they have been very happy with their other tank mates and I've never witnessed the assassins bothering any of them. If one were to die, I have no doubt the assassins would clean out the shell quick smart.

If you're thinking about nerites to a tank with assassins try to get larger specimens to reduce the chances of them becoming an expensive meal. Alternatively search neritina on ebay for very cheap nerites and see how they fare.

 

I think the build up of gas pockets is one of those things which is very rarely a real issue. One of many things that people are made to worry about needlessly. However, Malaysian Trumpet snails are the burrowers that go down into the substrate, rather than Assassin snails, and they are obviously completely harmless to other snails.

I bought some nerites from the same ebay seller  One of the snails they sent was a matt black and it spends 90% of its time under the substrate, thank goodness I have sand and not gravel. Anyone know what it could be? I've looked online and cant find it.

ps: I have red ramshorns but they were freebies that arrived with some plants and atm they are tiny little things, they seem to be very slow growing.

I have massive ramshorns in my pond 

Funnily enough I was just looking on ebay and I saw MTS for sale there

There are plenty of snail sellers of all varieties on eBay. Many don't charge postage. Assassin snails do spend a lot of time under the substrate but MTS are the ones renowned for their substrate aerating ability. They breed like rabbits though and can become a problem if there's excess food in the tank. That's my worry with the Ramshorn snails.... Well that or them being eaten alive by my assassin snails!

I've had nerites and apple snails by post. They were packed in wet cotton wool inside a plastic tub and all survived.