Favorite snails discussion?

[amr427]

This mystery snail is my fav right now!

[GameCzar]

On 10/18/2021 at 2:16 PM, laritheloud said:

All of them. 😆 In my various tanks, I have mystery snails, rabbit snails, nerite snails, thorny nerite snails, bladder snails, malaysian trumpet snails, ramshorn snails, Japanese Trapdoor Snails, and one Colombian Giant Ramshorn Snail. My rabbit snails, Japanese trapdoor snails, and "pest" snails have all bred, and I caught my mystery snails in the act today and I'm hoping to discover some egg clutches soon. I love my inverts so much!

I think right now it's a tie between my clumsy rabbit snails and my Colombian Giant Ramshorn for my favorites. Rabbit snails have the cutest snaily faces! I wouldn't recommend getting more than 1 of the giant ramshorn snails at a time, though, as I've heard they are quite... ravenous, and you might have a problem if they breed. The one in my 10 gallon has been fine, though, and I haven't noticed any sizable damage to my plants.

This is the correct answer!  
I love our Mystery, our two Nerites are such great cleaners, I have mostly embraced our bladder snailmageddon, we love our Ramshorn, our pond snail, and lately our wee baby assassin snails.   We love our snails!

[lmhicks101]

I found this little gem. Figured it could get passed around for the new people like myself that isn’t sure what they have. 
 

 

[Guppysnail]

On 10/18/2021 at 9:20 PM, lmhicks101 said:

My 3 Nerites are all over the place. I have a floating log for my betta and came home to one just chilling in there. I also have bladder snails that like to attach to the duck weed then end up out in the middle of the tank until I save them. 

No need to rescue them. They self regulate their buoyancy and will parasail to the bottom.  When floaters do not cover a tank they will “walk” the underside of the water surface to eat the protein and fish food. Very cool to watch. 

[Odd Duck]

On 10/19/2021 at 6:58 AM, Guppysnail said:

No need to rescue them. They self regulate their buoyancy and will parasail to the bottom.  When floaters do not cover a tank they will “walk” the underside of the water surface to eat the protein and fish food. Very cool to watch. 

Ramshorns will do the same, hanging from the surface.  I have found the rams aren’t always as smart about releasing a bubble to help them sink and I will find them circling and circling around the surface caught in the current from an HOB.  I rescue those if they are still whirling around when I check on them 10-15 minutes later (I swear, some like the swirly).  Snails are weird, sometimes, in their own little snail world.

Bladder snails are so much more practical about it.  And they’re so funny with their little wiggle they do if something touches them and they think it might be a predator.  Shimmy their whole shell/body.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/19/2021 at 8:03 AM, Odd Duck said:

Shimmy their whole shell/body.

Years ago before the internet when I first seen this I thought it was having a seizure 🤣. I like when girl snail is not interested in boy snail attentions and shakes until the boy is dislodged 

[lmhicks101]

What’s a good snail I can have in my planted tank that doesn’t get too big? I have a 29 and already have 3 Nerites and a bunch of bladder snails. Just found as bunch f new horns. Thinking of getting one assassin snail to help out. Will they bother my Nerites and can I get a rams head or mystery? I understand that the bladder snails only populate to the food amount but I still would like to keep them from getting too bad and assassins look nice. 

Edited October 19, 2021 by lmhicks101

[Odd Duck]

On 10/19/2021 at 8:00 AM, lmhicks101 said:

What’s a good snail I can have in my planted tank that doesn’t get too big? I have a 29 and already have 3 Nerites and a bunch of bladder snails. Just found as bunch f new horns. Thinking of getting one assassin snail to help out. Will they bother my Nerites and can I get a rams head or mystery? I understand that the bladder snails only populate to the food amount but I still would like to keep them from getting too bad and assassins look nice. 

Assassins will eat whatever snails they can manage.  I’ve heard they tend to go for larger snails last, but that’s no guarantee.  They for sure would kill any ramshorns.  Might take them longer to go after a mystery snail, but might not.  I’ve never risked getting an assassin since I’ve never had an issue with overpopulation of snails.  I can sell ramshorns to my lfs and any excess bladders go into a puffer tank.

[FlyingFishKeeper]

I love my bladder snails, although in the past few months their population has gone down (I'm assuming it's just the tank stabilizing itself, and less food because of the competition from the ever growing population of cherry shrimp) They're a really nice size for my 5.5, barely are noticeable unless you're looking for them, and it's fun to watch them when you do (plus their cute!) Not to mention they probably eat a good amount of the algae in the tank, and don't harm the plants, I really wish I had more of them most of the time! 

[Streetwise]

Pond snails or bladder snails?

[Odd Duck]

On 10/19/2021 at 10:44 PM, Streetwise said:

Pond snails or bladder snails?

Bladder - skinny antennae, shell point is fairly blunt and to the left, opening on the left from above.  Plus sucking surface film down like an obsession.

I don’t have pond snails (wish I could find some) so I don’t know if they surface clean like bladders and rams (and occasionally certain mysteries).

[Hobbit]

On 10/19/2021 at 8:03 AM, Odd Duck said:

I have found the rams aren’t always as smart about releasing a bubble to help them sink and I will find them circling and circling around the surface caught in the current from an HOB.  I rescue those if they are still whirling around when I check on them 10-15 minutes later (I swear, some like the swirly).  Snails are weird, sometimes, in their own little snail world.

I honestly think they do this on purpose! I’ve seen ramshorn snails circling in the flow from my powerhead at the surface of the water and I’m 100% sure they could have dropped if it wanted.

I’ve also seen them “bungee jumping” on slime trails to reach the bottom. At least that’s what I think they’re doing. Can’t actually see the slime but it sure looks like they’re hanging onto something, the way their foot’s all stretched out!

I do love ramshorn snails, especially when you get to watch them without any fish present. Bladder snails are lovely too. I think both are really pretty and both are great algae eaters.

I used to love my Malaysian trumpet snails for stirring the substrate and eating leftover fish food and dead plant leaves, until their population totally exploded out of control and they kept eating my honey gourami’s eggs. There were so many snails it was terrifying. My two yoyo loaches were NOT helping me with the situation, so I got two assassin snails and they’ve been doing great. I doubt the assassins will get every last MTS, so hopefully I end up with enough, but not too many.

Perhaps one day I’ll venture into the fancy snails!!

[Shadow_Arbor]

The freshwater breeding Neritdae: Theodoxus jordani

[Odd Duck]

On 10/20/2021 at 1:00 AM, Shadow_Arbor said:

The freshwater breeding Neritdae: Theodoxus jordani

Very cool!  Egg layer or livebearer?  I’m guessing they don’t run rampant or we would have heard of them before now?

[lmhicks101]

On 10/20/2021 at 2:00 AM, Shadow_Arbor said:

The freshwater breeding Neritdae: Theodoxus jordani

That she’ll looks like 2 half’s glued together. Really pretty though. 
 

So everyone, rams are the best for decaying plants? A lot of people are saying the bladders do good at that but I never see them touching it. Same with the nerites. 

[Hobbit]

On 10/20/2021 at 2:00 AM, Shadow_Arbor said:

The freshwater breeding Neritdae: Theodoxus jordani

Wait what??? This is a thing??? 😍 Ohh I have another project to look into…

@lmhicks101 my rams devour decaying plants, especially when they don’t have another food source.

[Streetwise]

Thanks to this thread, I realized that I have been misidentifying my bladder snails. I went back and corrected a number of older posts. I love bladder snails!

[lmhicks101]

@Streetwise I didn’t think this post would blow up like it did. 

 

@Hobbit this sucks. I went to my local store and Petco and they don’t have any rams and if they do they don’t look good. Now I really wanna get a pair. you guys have truly changed my view on snails. 

[Hobbit]

Bummer! I’m sure you’ll find some ramshorns eventually. If not, go ahead and grab the ones from your Petco. They may not ever look nice themselves, but their babies should look just fine as long as they have enough calcium in the water.

[Shadow_Arbor]

On 10/20/2021 at 7:34 PM, Hobbit said:

Wait what??? This is a thing??? 😍 Ohh I have another project to look into…

@lmhicks101 my rams devour decaying plants, especially when they don’t have another food source.

It's a thing, but you'll have to book a flight to Israel... These are native to here and a few other middle eastern countries. They haven't been exported as it's illegal to sell them. And you can only collect them from certain areas with a permit. I got mine from someone who bred them, who got them from someone who collected them with a permit.

[lmhicks101]

@Shadow_Arbor is it illegal to take them out of the country like on a flight? 

[Hobbit]

@Shadow_Arbor aww, rats. Thanks for letting me know though—you saved me a lot of internet angst!

[Odd Duck]

On 10/21/2021 at 4:15 AM, Shadow_Arbor said:

It's a thing, but you'll have to book a flight to Israel... These are native to here and a few other middle eastern countries. They haven't been exported as it's illegal to sell them. And you can only collect them from certain areas with a permit. I got mine from someone who bred them, who got them from someone who collected them with a permit.

No wonder I found nothing about keeping them in aquariums.  Several scientific articles, but nothing about aquarium care.  Bummer for us, happy for you.

[lmhicks101]

@Shadow_Arbor  you should really consider making a blog or post about raising and breeding them. Like what is the water perameters in their native home? Are they asexual or breed in pairs or can they do both? Are they omnivores or purely rotten vegetation? Do they like high light or low light? Are they seminocternal or only out in the day? You should definitely make a name for yourself if you documented and bread them. 

[Torrey]

On 10/18/2021 at 1:00 PM, Guppysnail said:

2nd snail from the top, what kind of snail is that?

My spouse's g-ma had a snail like that, but it was much lighter in coloration. It also turned into a carnivore😅

As for the original question, I love all my snails.

Now. After watching Cory wax eloquent on how important they are for the ecosystem. I always appreciated snails in the pond, and in the greywater treatment system we used snails in the cattails and reeds to eat the sludge.

 

I just never appreciated them in my tanks, except as turtle food.

Now, I have MTS in most of my (MTS🤣) tanks. Only a handful of tanks don't have the Malaysia trumpet in them.

I intentionally have bladder snails.

I accidentally ended up with a pond snail (Pebbles).

I was bequeathed Houdini (zebra nerite) and Watson (no clue type of nerite).

I apparently got some ramshorns on some plants that are a gorgeous golden red.

And I have an assassin snail who gets to visit various tanks to keep any out of control growth, under control.