What Snail is for You?

[Cinnebuns]

A few months ago I posted this on Facebook. I figured I would share it here too with some added info.

When I started this hobby I said "no snails"  I now keep 4 different species and breed and sell 2 of them. For me, no tank is complete without a snail. They help with algae, extra food control, can come in beautiful colors and patterns, and can be surprisingly fun to watch. Specific species I keep depends on the goals of the tank. Here's a rundown of the 4 species I know well enough to talk about. Please research specific care before getting any snail. If anyone wants to add more feel free!

 

Want something that eats algae and is pretty too?  Looking for a snail that won't take over your tank?  Don't wanna see the soft part of the snail cause you think it's gross?  Look no further than nerite snails. Many nerites exclusively eat algae so they will go to work for you!  Females will lay eggs, but they are unable to hatch in freshwater. They come in some pretty cool shell patterns too!  There are many different types of nerite and each will behave slightly differently. 

Here is one of my zebra nerites. They are great at cleaning surfaces. He ended up cleaning this entire barrier!

I can't speak for all horned nerites as this is the only one I've had, but I really like this little guy. He is on this decor eating this algae (not entirely sure what kind) almost all day every day. I love that he looks like a little Bumble bee. 

This one is pretty interesting. Not to be confused with a horned nerite, this is a hair-thorn nerite. At first, I hated it. The hairs seemed weird to me. Now I love what it does for my aquarium! I almost never see it because it is constantly burrowing. That helps turn the substrate. There are snails out there for this specific purpose who do even more tunneling, but they often uproot plants. I have never had this little guy uproot any plant. He is smaller and less aggressive than the typical burrowing snail. Mine also happens to be a lady's man and struts his egg head around. Other nerites have also been known to burrow but in my experience this one does the most. 

 

Looking for something interesting to watch with some crazy antics?  Wanna breed some but also control the population?  Needing to bring some color to your tank?  You need a mystery snail!  Mystery snails aren't amazing at algae control but can help eat uneaten food. They are super fun to watch and come in some beautiful colors. They do eat a lot and have a large bioload so keep that in mind. They lay egg clutches above the water line that are easily discarded if not wanted, or you can incubate to hatch. They do have a short life span and usually live around 1 year. 

One of my many magenta mystery snails

Snorgy with a guest appearance by a trapdoor snail. 

My 1 purple mystery snail

Have a pond that needs some snails?  Want a living decoration?  Want to do a LITTLE bit of breeding but not a lot?  A Japanese trapdoor snail is right for you!  Japanese trapdoor snails don't come in as many colors as mystery snails but they can get a beautiful green or aqua marine color. They can survive freezing temps (as long as they themselves don't freeze solid) so they work amazingly for ponds. (Please check local regulations before keeping any snail outdoors.)  They are live bearers and reproduce SURPRISINGLY slow for a snail. The gestation is 9 months and they will give birth to 2-20 babies. They have a longer life span and typically live around 5 years. Males and females are easy to tell apart.  Females have 2 long, straight antenna while males have 1 long, straight and 1 short, curled. 

Male JTS

Female JTS

JTS are very slow to grow. This baby is about 1 month old. It is common for people to get baby JTS mixed up with ramshorn snails. A good way to tell the difference is that a ramshorns spiral will stay flat (innie) whereas a JTS spiral will go out (outie).

I have had this mommy's babies in this breeder box for a few months. One day I caught her circling the box for at least 5 hours. Maybe she was trying to break her babies free!

Need a snail that will stay small? Have uneaten food that need to be used up?  Are you OK with managing a growing population?  You might want ramshorn snails!  These snails are rapid reproduces so I highly recommend you research how to keep their population in check. I, and many others, use these snails in fry tanks. Fry tanks tend to have an large amount of uneaten food. Ramshorn snails are one possible solution to this. Another I would suggest is shrimp but that's another topic. Ramshorms come in a few colors like red, pink, blue and brown. 

For comparison to the JTS here is the flat spiral. 

One of my red ramshorn

Edited May 18, 2022 by Cinnebuns

[SpacedCadette]

Oooh. I felt the same way about “no snails” for a long time. Just brought home 3 assassin snails though to help manage a few too many pond snails after I accidentally over fed the tank. I honestly really like them though now that I have them! They’re neat little dudes and it’s fun watching the other tank residents interact with them. 

The snails seem happy too seeing as two of them immediately started mating right after I added them. 😆 

[Flumpweesel]

Lovely article.

Mystery snails have only just started reappearing in UK as they are banned in the EU for causing big problems in the Spanish sewer systems.

I like seeing bladder snails in the tank never ventured into actually keeping snails. Tried some very large ramhorns with my goldfish once but that was just expensive food in the end. Maybe I'll give neurite a go one day. If I'm getting a snail it's got to eat algae or I'll just feel cheated.

[Cinnebuns]

On 5/17/2022 at 10:12 PM, Flumpweesel said:

Maybe I'll give neurite a go one day. If I'm getting a snail it's got to eat algae or I'll just feel cheated.

This is exactly why nerite was the first snail I got. I felt it was the reason to get a snail so why not get the one that's best with algae? I got a mystery snail on a whim and was surprised how fun they can be. I can def understand the want to have a snail purely for algae reasons tho. 

[Patrick_G]

@Cinnebuns, great post! I have snails in every tank, they’re lots of fun. 
 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Great post friend! I love all my snails too but they are only slightly edged by my 3 Horned Nerites, Lock Shock and Barrel! They are the BEST tank cleaners. This is one of them