Cinnebuns Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 Is keeping ramshorn snails in a fry tank a good or bad idea? Thoughts? I see it both ways Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 I almost always keep ramshorn snails in my fry tanks. Soft algae can take over really fast from uneaten fry food and infusoria drippings, and that algae can trap really small wrigglers. I call the snails my “nanny snails.” 😊 On the other hand, if you’re raising plecos or otos, you definitely don’t want snails because you want to save all the algae for your babies. And they will eat certain kinds of eggs, so you have to be careful there if you’re trying to hatch eggs directly in the fry tanks. The other thing is that since you feed fry so heavily, you generally end up with a LOT of snails. So you have to have a plan for that, whether it’s just crushing them ☹️ euthanizing them 😴 or feeding them to some loaches. 😋 In my experience, ramshorn snails raise nitrates very little beyond what you’d already have from uneaten food and such. So over all I see them as a huge positive, especially for those really small fry. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eatyourpeas Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 I agree with @Hobbit. They are quite beneficial and help with cycling plant detritus, plus I have an endless supply of pea puffer food. 🐡 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumplkrum Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 Have lots of ramshorn snails in my guppy fry tanks. They clean up any uneaten food and keep the java moss in good shape. Every once in a while, I use home-made snail traps to collect a bunch so the population doesn't get too crazy. Then mash them up with a stone-wear mortar and pestle and turn them back into food paste. That goop gets fed to the other tanks, or turned into frozen cubes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnebuns Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 You guys helped calm my nerves. I'm proud to announce that I made the plunge into the world of snails that can potentially over breed. @Hobbit the feeding fry heavily part was what concerned me the most, but you make some good points that make it sound manageable. Also, you may have diagnosed my main tank's algae problem. I realized I've been kinda going a little too far with the feeding a lot to get the coried to spawn thing. I had a thick layer of soft algae all over one of my decor pieces. Btw, the fish are guppies and panda cories. Right now in 1 tanks but eventually in 2 different. I'm about 90% sure rams will go in both but I also wanna decide where baby trapdoor snails will go then. They could grow up in the main tank just fine but it's more fun to watch their progression. @sumplkrum you read my mind! One of the 2 fish is guppy fry and I originally got the idea cause some came in on some Java moss I got from someone. I admittedly gut instinct disposed of almost all of those, but i got some red ones from a friend today. Full sized so no need to wait forever for those micro ones I had to grow. .I never knew a snail can be so tiny!! I'm gonna include a pic I took of one close-up then a little further away. Side note. Why all of a sudden is every picture I post on this forums turned sideways? @Hobbit is this the kind of algae you are talking about from excess food? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 On 3/21/2022 at 3:28 PM, Cinnebuns said: Side note. Why all of a sudden is every picture I post on this forums turned sideways I think it’s any picture you try to post that’s in portrait mode. (Taller than it is wide.) It may be an iPhone specific problem. If you crop the pictures a little, it seems to change something about their raw data, and the forum won’t flip them no matter what shape it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnebuns Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 @Hobbit you liked it right as I tagged you and it merged them so idk if you saw the last question haha 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 Oh whoops! 😄 What did I miss? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widgets Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 (edited) On 3/21/2022 at 3:28 PM, Cinnebuns said: Side note. Why all of a sudden is every picture I post on this forums turned sideways? It has to do with how the phone records the image and how it is processed on its way to the website. Edited March 21, 2022 by Widgets Stupid typos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnebuns Posted March 22, 2022 Author Share Posted March 22, 2022 (edited) On 3/21/2022 at 2:28 PM, Cinnebuns said: Hobbit is this the kind of algae you are talking about from excess food? @Hobbit That's actually the part that was missed lol. There's a pic under it Edited March 22, 2022 by Cinnebuns 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 Ah! I had to refresh my screen and then it showed up. That doesn’t look like the algae I would get, but that doesn’t mean it’s not from excess food. I tried to find a picture of the kind I get, but I don’t think I have one unfortunately. Mine kind of looks like the glass is frosted and is greenish, and if you look closely at it you can see that it’s a few millimeters thick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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