Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: Wild Rover on December 28, 2013, 04:42:24 PM

Title: Snails
Post by: Wild Rover on December 28, 2013, 04:42:24 PM

Hi

I seem to have acquired a few tiny snails. They are too small to describe atm. Are there good snails and bad snails  and how to identify them?

Title: Re: Snails
Post by: Sue on December 28, 2013, 04:58:32 PM

The very tiny snails that look like flat spirals are a type of ramshorn snail. I have them. They are common hitch-hikers on plants. I gave up trying to get rid of them years ago. They are not a problem in themselves, they just look a mess if you get overrun with them. The way to keep them under control is to be careful about how much fish food goes in the tank. If you overfeed, the snails will go mad and take over. Feed the fish just what they need, no extra - and fish need less than you'd think.

Of course, you may not have ramshorns, here (http://www.planetinverts.com/snail_species.html) is a site to ID your snails. The ramshorn snails in the link are the big ones but there are several species, some of which stay tiny.

But by and large snails are not a problem, just unsightly.



I also have nerite snails in my tanks which I bought  ;D

Title: Re: Snails
Post by: Wild Rover on December 29, 2013, 11:16:49 PM

Thanks again Sue, guess I'll have to wait until they grow or I buy a magnifying glass :)

Title: Re: Snails
Post by: Natasha on January 07, 2014, 02:51:09 PM

Thanks for that link Sue, very helpful. I was wondering a bit about the snails in my tank and what types they were.

Now I can see that I've acquired a couple of the Malaysian trumpet snails and quite a few small nerite snails, all hitch-hiking into the tank on the plants I would imagine :D

They aren't a problem at the moment as I'm careful with the amount I feed the fish.

Title: Re: Snails
Post by: Sue on January 07, 2014, 04:54:39 PM

Are you certain you have nerite snails? They don't breed in freshwater and cost a few £ to buy. If they are, they are very good algae eaters and you won't be overrun with them. MTS on the other hand can get out of control if you overfeed the fish. They live in the substrate during the day, so you usually only see them at night. People pay money for MTS, especially those with sand substrate as the snails turn the sand over, reducing the possibility of gas pockets.

Title: Re: Snails
Post by: Natasha on January 08, 2014, 12:14:42 AM

Having read your post to jesnon in the fish ID section and googling tadpole and bladder snails, I'm far more inclined to think that it's those that are in my tank rather than nerite snails ;)

I still think the others are trumpet snails, my substrate is mainly sand so they could be quite handy. Thanks for your help as always :D