Snail appreciation society

[Mr Gumby]

So the humble pest snail gets a bad rap generally across the hobby and I really don't understand why.

Admittedly on here there are some more enlightened hobbyists.

I have nerites for the tougher algaes but for entertainment these little critters are great!

[Guppysnail]

I love my gold bladder snails. They are so entertaining.  They have their own Snailtopia tank. I recently relocated Snailtopia to a lower shelf and often find myself sitting on the floor so I can be eye level to watch their antics. 

 

[TeeJay]

Yes I don't get to watch mine as much as I would like. They are very fun to watch no matter what type. I have bladder nerite mystery and rams-horns on the way.

Edited June 22, 2022 by TeeJay

[Cheryl P.]

I never understood snail hate.  I think they are great little critters!  I have "pest" snails in all my tanks except for my south american cichlid tank.  They like to snack on snails.

[Guppysnail]

On 6/22/2022 at 8:12 AM, Cheryl P. said:

never understood snail hate.

I feel this. I started keeping tanks long before home computers were a thing. Rotary dial telephone were still “state of the art”. I used to collect from a creek by the house and one of my favorite things were snails. A few years ago after I retired I started “surfing the web” looking at fish site and I seen the snail hate. I questioned myself..have I been doing a bad thing all these decades?  Then realized I never had issues so I doubted it was bad. I started looking and there  is little on how to properly care for and manage.  “pest” snails. But tons on eradication.

My take away…

They are so easy the few folks who really love them don’t see a need to write care sheets as there is little to it.  But the few who genuinely do not enjoy them find ways to eradicate them and shout it from the top of the mountain. New folks read what they see most and assume snails are bad and that gets perpetuated.  

So many folks journey starts knowing nothing about them, see internet hate so think they are bad, learn about them and realize they are a natural and beneficial part of an ecosystem when cared for and managed properly then…come to dark side 🤣 snail love ❤️
 

 

Edited June 22, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Cheryl P.]

@Guppysnail Right?!?

I feel that the SA tank is missing something without snails in there.  I've played around with the idea of getting a couple of the biggest pond snails I can find to put in.  I wonder if the fish I have would leave them alone if the snails didn't fit in their mouths.  I'd feel terrible if they got picked on though.

[Guppysnail]

On 6/22/2022 at 9:40 AM, Cheryl P. said:

@Guppysnail Right?!?

I feel that the SA tank is missing something without snails in there.  I've played around with the idea of getting a couple of the biggest pond snails I can find to put in.  I wonder if the fish I have would leave them alone if the snails didn't fit in their mouths.  I'd feel terrible if they got picked on though.

Try it but have a backup plan of where to put them. The babies would get mercilessly picked off though

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

To tell you the truth, my favorite thing in the tank is the snails!  They are fascinating to watch!  Now I have snail babies. 😍

[Anjum]

I have developed quite the admiration for my ramshorn snails! I accepted that I'd get them on plants, but I didn't expect to enjoy them. I think my SAE keep their population in check, either eating the eggs or the tiniest snails, so there seems to be a good balance. I have one that's about 3/4" diameter that has some neat patterning in it's shell. I sat watching it's little mouth cleaning the glass the other day. So that's how they make those little squiggle marks in the algae 🤗

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I love it @Anjum!  You guys want to see something reallyyyyyyyyy weird?  My nerite was sifting through sand, on its back, looking for snacks. I had no idea what on earth...?!  I thought oh man, I'm going to have a dead nerite later.  But no.  It did this craziness, and then it went back upright and started cruising around the tank as if nothing had happened.  It left a little hole behind too.  

 

 

[BeeD]

I got the obligatory snail riding a snail picture covered. 

 

Oh shoot, I see @Guppysnailalready had it covered. 

Edited June 22, 2022 by BrettD

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/22/2022 at 3:16 PM, BrettD said:

 

I got the obligatory snail riding a snail picture covered. 

 

Snail Uber 🤣

@Anjum your ramshorn snail’s shell is beautiful 😍 

[Katherine]

On 6/22/2022 at 11:41 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

To tell you the truth, my favorite thing in the tank is the snails! 

Mine too. We have 5 different snails that aren't bladder snails and I do a 'snail check' nearly every time I go past the tank (which is a lot) to see how many I can find.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/22/2022 at 3:51 PM, Katherine said:

I do a 'snail check' nearly every time I go past the tank (which is a lot) to see how many I can find.

My nerite is the master of stealth.

[Mr Gumby]

When they climb on each other and the bottom one twists around do we think they're trying to knock the other off or some other behaviour?

[Katherine]

On 6/22/2022 at 2:54 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

My nerite is the master of stealth.

Mine are too. The black racer more so than the zebra, he's usually only visible from about 7pm onward, lights go off at 9pm. I can almost always find at least 2 of the 3 mystery snails. 

[Donught]

Would Amano eat baby bladder snails?

[Mr Gumby]

On 6/25/2022 at 7:55 AM, Donught said:

Would Amano eat baby bladder snails?

I've not come across anything other than your normal snail eating fish that touches them

[Guppysnail]

On 6/22/2022 at 4:55 PM, Mr Gumby said:

When they climb on each other and the bottom one twists around do we think they're trying to knock the other off or some other behaviour?

It always looks to me like “not tonight honey, I have a headache” 🤣 but who knows what things snails think.  In reality it’s mating, I am totally guessing but maybe the female makes the boy “prove” himself worthy. If he can hang on and get there he wins mating rights. I’ve seen 2 boys on one girl and the sort of “headbutt “ with their shell trying to dislodge each other. I envision that as a snail bar fight over a girl. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Edited June 25, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Mr Gumby]

On 6/25/2022 at 11:52 AM, Guppysnail said:

It always looks to me like “not tonight honey, I have a headache” 🤣 but who knows what things snails think.  In reality it’s mating, I am totally guessing but maybe the female makes the boy “prove” himself worthy. If he can hang on and get there he wins mating rights. I’ve seen 2 boys on one girl and the sort of “headbutt “ with their shell trying to dislodge each other. I envision that as a snail bar fight over a girl. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Sounds plausible to me 

[Torrey]

On 6/22/2022 at 3:02 AM, Mr Gumby said:

So the humble pest snail gets a bad rap generally across the hobby and I really don't understand why.

Admittedly on here there are some more enlightened hobbyists.

I have nerites for the tougher algaes but for entertainment these little critters are great!

That's a big eared radix!!!! Our original matriarch is called Pebbles, and is the snail that helped bring Patient Spouse™ over to the nerm-side, lol!

[Torrey]

On 6/22/2022 at 11:02 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I love it @Anjum!  You guys want to see something reallyyyyyyyyy weird?  My nerite was sifting through sand, on its back, looking for snacks. I had no idea what on earth...?!  I thought oh man, I'm going to have a dead nerite later.  But no.  It did this craziness, and then it went back upright and started cruising around the tank as if nothing had happened.  It left a little hole behind too.  

 

 

I was beginning to wonder if Houdini was going senile. I got him 2 years ago, and his prior owner had him 10 years.

Maybe zebra nerites just like to hang out on their backs?

(White areas on shell developed during my cyanobacteria removal struggle, may be related or may be age)

I love the so-called "pests" so much, they get their own, dedicated containers.

(Scuds and snails condo hang out spot)

They have also adopted Guppysnail as family, an honorary malacologist! (Mainly because she teaches the rest of us how to properly feed our snails, so they don't get a bad rap for eating plants). I was talking with a Fish and Wildlife/forestry friend about how much worse the tree... pollen... has been due to the weather and climate change. We discussed how much better my tanks are looking now that I'm following Guppysnail's advice on feeding, which reduces stress... and has resulted in a balance in my tanks.

Animals will reproduce in direct response to being overly stressed. Our overpopulated tanks may be an indicator of not just overfeeding... but an imbalance making the snails think they need to overpopulate to ensure survival of the species.

Don't know for sure, just something to think about.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

The dedicated jar is cool @Torrey!

[sairving]

Love my pest snails and Nerite. I want to add a mystery snail but my betta is crabby, tolerating roomies less and less as he gets older. Malaysian trumpet snails are illegal in WI so I can't get those. Maybe some ramshorn snails at some point. 

[Torrey]

On 6/26/2022 at 6:58 AM, sairving said:

Love my pest snails and Nerite. I want to add a mystery snail but my betta is crabby, tolerating roomies less and less as he gets older. Malaysian trumpet snails are illegal in WI so I can't get those. Maybe some ramshorn snails at some point. 

I double checked against the restricted and prohibited list on the .gov site for you, and Stenomelania torulosa  are legal for you! Similar to MTS, but require cleaner water and reproduce slower.