Pest snail convert

[BAT]

Despite @Cory and others extolling the virtues of pest snails I could not bring myself to embrace them….until now. After a year of picking out any and all that ever popped up, I came home after 3 weeks away to the cleanest tank I have ever seen. In my absence (friends fed fish every other day), the pest snails stepped up to the plate and wiped the aquarium clean of the brown algae that had been slowly  creeping back into the tank. So clean that the gravel now sparkles! 
 

I am converted. Pest snails are my friends. 

[Cinnebuns]

On 8/24/2022 at 8:46 PM, BAT said:

Despite @Cory and others extolling the virtues of pest snails I could not bring myself to embrace them….until now. After a year of picking out any and all that ever popped up, I came home after 3 weeks away to the cleanest tank I have ever seen. In my absence (friends fed fish every other day), the pest snails stepped up to the plate and wiped the aquarium clean of the brown algae that had been slowly  creeping back into the tank. So clean that the gravel now sparkles! 
 

I am converted. Pest snails are my friends. 

I'm slowly coming around too and have become obsessed with selective breeding ramshorns but bladder and pond snails still scare me. I also try my hardest to not let any of my ramshorns into my non-ramshorn tanks. Part of why is because I keep other snails in there and I don't want them to be out competed. Part is because I sometimes intentionally over feed for breeding. 

That said, it's possible I may soon have no choice. Against my better judgment I was in a hurry and put plants in my tank without treatment or quarantine. I did do a visual inspection but we all know that's not enough. After putting them all in I checked the bucket I was using and there was a bladder snail in there. Now, there is the slight chance he was alone...I doubt it. 

[Streetwise]

Embrace the ecosystem! To allay your fears, your invertebrates should self-regulate to a stable population.

[Cinnebuns]

@Streetwise I've experienced that with the ramshorns but my fear is my mystery, nerite and Japanese trapdoor snails getting enough to eat. Is that a real thing to fear?

Edited August 25, 2022 by Cinnebuns

[SimmonsSnailsNScales]

I love all my snails but bladder and pond snails seem to populate MUCH faster than all the others. @Cinnebuns I fear the same thing. I want to feed plenty to see the snails reproduce and thrive but I don't want the pond snails to overpopulate and wipe out the other populations.

 

[Cinnebuns]

On 8/24/2022 at 9:19 PM, SimmonsSnailsNScales said:

I love all my snails but bladder and pond snails seem to populate MUCH faster than all the others. @Cinnebuns I fear the same thing. I want to feed plenty to see the snails reproduce and thrive but I don't want the pond snails to overpopulate and wipe out the other populations.

 

I actually slightly fear my ramshorns migrating to my main tank for that reason too. I love my ramshorns but I don't think I would love them in that tank. 

[Streetwise]

I have not tried all snails, just the small-to-medium. I was trying to check the flow on my 16 HoB, and the impeller locked-up. I reached-in and pulled-up a Malaysian Trumpet Snail. I threw it back in the tank.

All my snails are hitchhikers, and they don’t bother me at all.

Adding very large snails would probably change the scenario.

[BAT]

Can I add algae wafers and other food to help my mystery snail?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I heard ramshorns can eat through shells of other snails. I do not know if it's true or not.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Flumpweesel]

I love my free snails, all these pedigree ones seem like hard work

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/25/2022 at 8:44 AM, BAT said:

Can I add algae wafers and other food to help my mystery snail?

Look for a food called Hikari crab cuisine. 

It contains calcium which is important for their shells.  They also love boiled green beans (NO salt).  That's their favorite!  Just split it in half lengthwise and remove seeds.  Other foods they like are boiled zucchini, carrot, cucumber, squash, and cabbage.

Another thing you can do is float a piece of cuttlebone.  It will slowly release calcium into the water, and they will occasionally graze on it.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I found this snail in my tank after adding moss. The tank was newly set up with only plants.  It has been peppercorn sized for 5 months and I don’t know what kind of snail it is. It’s cute though. His name is Nibbles.

Can anyone ID him?

 

(The mysteries were added to tank later)

[JettsPapa]

On 8/24/2022 at 8:52 PM, Cinnebuns said:

I'm slowly coming around too and have become obsessed with selective breeding ramshorns but bladder and pond snails still scare me. I also try my hardest to not let any of my ramshorns into my non-ramshorn tanks. Part of why is because I keep other snails in there and I don't want them to be out competed. Part is because I sometimes intentionally over feed for breeding. 

That said, it's possible I may soon have no choice. Against my better judgment I was in a hurry and put plants in my tank without treatment or quarantine. I did do a visual inspection but we all know that's not enough. After putting them all in I checked the bucket I was using and there was a bladder snail in there. Now, there is the slight chance he was alone...I doubt it. 

 

On 8/24/2022 at 9:19 PM, SimmonsSnailsNScales said:

I love all my snails but bladder and pond snails seem to populate MUCH faster than all the others. @Cinnebuns I fear the same thing. I want to feed plenty to see the snails reproduce and thrive but I don't want the pond snails to overpopulate and wipe out the other populations.

 

I have bladder snails, rams horn snails, and Malaysian trumpet snails in all my tanks, and the rams horn snails are much more prevalent than the bladder snails in all of them.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

 

[RockMongler]

Funny enough, in my tanks, the Malaysian Trumpet Snails have outcompeted the bladder snails I used to have, leading to their complete disappearance from my 20L and only one or two left in my 10.  And I now have a lot of Malaysian Trumpet Snails.  I'm slowly transferring excess from my 20L into my 10 to let nature take its course.  I think the trumpet snails are eating all of my WCMM eggs, as I haven't had any fry really show up since they started to grow in population.  I also think they drove the bladder snails to near extinction by eating all of their eggs.

[sumplkrum]

I have lots of Ramshorns. They do keep everything clean, especially the Java Moss.

The only real problem I've found with them is - when feeding wafers to bottom feeders, the snails clump around the food and the fish can't get to it.

Other than that, they've been great for the tank and the plants.

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 8/24/2022 at 7:04 PM, Streetwise said:

Embrace the ecosystem! To allay your fears, your invertebrates should self-regulate to a stable population.

 

lets hope so, but if they don't stop I will have more snails than sand. 🙂

[TeeJay]

On 8/25/2022 at 8:44 AM, BAT said:

Can I add algae wafers and other food to help my mystery snail?

Yes they also usually like fresh veggies like green beans zucchini and carrots. Just blanch them before you feed them

 

 

 

 

[Patrick_G]

I love my free snails, but I’m conflicted since my puffer needs to eat them. 

[Anjum]

Snails do keep a tank clean! I recently had a ramshorn population explosion & my tanks were sparkling. But it was getting out of hand, so I removed a bunch. Algae was back within days. I recently added Corydoras to my 29g "display" tank. Being that they're more of a grazing fish, I've been feeding more. This morning I removed about a dozen snail egg clusters. So I've gotta figure out how to keep a balance. 

[Streetwise]

In my aquariums, ramshorn snails seem to dominate the tanks where they have been introduced. I prefer bladder snails, because they are small, and blend-in nicely with wood.

Ramshorn battlefield: