Mystery Snails and Cardinal tetras

[calafish]

Hi All, I am a newbie and was curious as to how mystery snails and cardinal tetras make good tank mates, as they both enjoy different water parameters? For example mystery snails like a pH above 7.2, yet cardinal tetras like a pH 6-7(nearer to 6.0 is ideal) etc? I was hoping to get some clarification on this, and some solid advice on this?

Thanks

[FrozenFins]

I have kept both of them in my community tank with a soild 7-7.1ph. I find that Mystery Snails are a very hardy creature and can withstand most water parameters. My biggest tip is to not chase the ph, but to keep it stable. Your cardinal tetras and mystery snails should be fine in the same tank.

[calafish]

Thanks@James Black!

 

[Atitagain]

As @James Black said much more important to keep PH stable. Both will survive outside of their “ideal” range that “ideal” range is more for that extra little bit for optimal conditions to breed but still isn’t a breaking factor. Keep plenty of calcium in the water for the snails, wonder shells are good for that. And feed the cardinals a varied diet and you should be fine.

[Guppysnail]

Mystery snails can survive ph lower than 7 once they passed the early juvenile stage and have a decently thick shell. The thing to watch is the shell will erode below 7..  the lower the ph the faster it happens which is a health risk over extended periods of time to the snail. 

Edited September 29, 2021 by Guppysnail

[ZoeyFish]

I'm not an expert on this but I will tell you my personal experience.

TLDR: Cardinal Tetra's and Mystery Snails seem compatible to me.

I have a 75 gallon with Neon Tetras and added Mystery Snails back in January 2021.  I also have other inhabitants like a Nerite Snail, Red Cherry Shrimp, and Panda Corys.  According to a test strip I just used my PH  is 6.5 and I have very hard water (Hardness 300).  The Mystery Snails I bought online came to me with very bad broken shells.  Really, a very large amount of the end of the shell was missing.  In my aquarium all of the shells have healed and grown very nice over time and the Mystery Snails were mating like crazy as I continuously found egg sacks at the top of my aquarium.  I realize people will say to prevent Mystery Snails form mating don't leave a 1 inch gap between the top of the water and the top of the aquarium but my snails didn't care.  Early on I did add Wonder Shell to the tank and dropped in some ZooMed Banquets to help the snails recover and I'd suggest you do the same.  

Mystery snails are a wonderful addition to a cleanup crew and are always one the move so I do recommend them.  You didn't specify how big your tank is though so I will add that you don't need very many in a tank.  It all depends on your size and how much plant debris you need cleaned up.  Good luck!