Nora Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 (edited) Well guys I think I actually may have pond snails. I had noticed some of my plant leaves were looking lacey like they had been munched. Now that Crunchy (my largest non purchased snail) is bigger I see that their antenna are more conical which I understand may mean that they are a pond snail. Its my understanding pond snails eat plants? Other than pruning/refreshing my plants for looks anything I should do about the pond snails if I want to keep them around? I've become oddly attached to the 2 biggest. Right now they seem ok with my nerite snails, generally are they happy companions? Ok help. I made the bad choice of ordering plants not from Aquarium Co—Op and now I have pest snails. I was highly confused by these new creatures since I know nerites don’t breed in fresh water. what are they? Will they harm my other snails? Tank only has plants and nerite snails now (the betta died earlier this week). Edited May 12, 2021 by Nora Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 I think that's the common Physa aka bladder snail 🙂 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn T Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 Yep. Bladder snail, aka pond snail. They make for a great little clean-up crew. If you overfeed, they WILL take over, though. I like having them in my tanks. I view them as not only great little cleaners, but also a good early warning system. Because they respond very quickly with a population explosion when there's food in the tank, they not only provides a heads-up about overfeeding, I've seen their population explode when fish die and the body's in hiding or when plants die off for some reason. Some issues can hide in the back of the tank or behind decorations, so I let these little snails alert me to issues I can't readily spot with routine maintenance. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nora Posted April 12, 2021 Author Share Posted April 12, 2021 I have a 5 gal tank. I already have 5 nerites. How do I know when I’ve got too many for the tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 I have some of those in all of my aquariums, mixed with nerites, mts, and mystery snails. If you want to reduce numbers just feed very little so only the fish have enough to eat for about 20 seconds or so. You’ll begin seeing little unoccupied shells. One time, I was over run and once I stopped feeding, it literally turned into a shell cemetery. It’s very manageable. Snails are your friends though, you just may not need that many friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Billy Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 3 hours ago, Nora said: I have a 5 gal tank. I already have 5 nerites. How do I know when I’ve got too many for the tank? Technically they control their own population. If you are dosing too much food they will breed to the amount of food available to them. If you are a light feeder and not much food gets past your fish then the colony will stay small and manageable. “Too many” is sort of subjective here. I have hundreds helping me keep my messy guppy farm 55 gallon tank clean (guppy fry require not so much more food, but more feeding times). Some people may think my tank looks unkept and over run with bladder snails all over the place. I however find them to be excellent tank cleaners that clean up “my” mess by occasionally over feeding my tank for the sake of the fry. If you want a show tank, then get rid of them, if you want a better balanced ecosystem then they will be your best friend between tank maintenance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nora Posted April 13, 2021 Author Share Posted April 13, 2021 Sounds good. Absolutely not going for a show tank, this was a gift to my kiddo at christmas and its been a rollercoaster since then, helpers so less goes wrong sound good to me. There are currently no fish in the tank so very minimal food is happening. Eventually we will get another Betta but we are waiting a couple weeks at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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