Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping => Invertebrates - Shrimps and Snails => Topic started by: Cod_only_knows on May 05, 2015, 09:55:15 PM
-
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 Cod,
Sorry if I've misunderstood, but are you keeping assassin snails with nerites?
I've thought about doing this, but I've been warned that the assassins will kill the nerites?
Other than that, I don't understand why the ramshorns would be a tasty treat and the others wouldn't?
Apologies if these are very dumb questions and I hope someone less dumb will be along to answer your query soon.
Diz
-
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.
-
Thanks Cod,
I've already got 2 quite large nerites in my 180 litre. Not sure how large they get, but mine are about the size of a hazelnut.
I've recently changed my substrate from gravel to sand in this tank and I'm a bit worried about gas pockets building up, so I would be interested in a couple of assassin snails. But I've had the nerites for a year now and I'm quite fond of them so I wouldn't like them to be assassinated. :(
-
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.
-
Thanks Richard, that's an even better solution for me then. Might go MTS shopping this weekend!
-
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.
-
There are many species of ramshorn snails, some tiny and some large. If yours are tiny and slow growing, they are probably not the red ramshorn that is sold but another species that was an accidental passenger on the plants.
-
I have massive ramshorns in my pond :)
-
Does anyone know of any MTS sellers online – Ebay, etc? I presume the current APC non-delivery of livestock won't affect snail deliveries?
-
Funnily enough I was just looking on ebay and I saw MTS for sale there
-
I notice that on Ebay, Kesgrave Tropicals sends MTS, pond snails and Columbian ramshorns by Royal Mail, 1st class; all other snails and shrimps by courier, and fish by courier for more postage.
I wonder why those three snail species?
-
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!
-
Maybe those 3 snails are hardier Sue or cheaper. I've sent assassin snails by 1st class post and they arrived safely, I did wrap them very carefully though.
-
I've had nerites and apple snails by post. They were packed in wet cotton wool inside a plastic tub and all survived.