Snails eating my plants!

[The Dawns]

All that I have read and all that I have been told by other people (experts?); is that snails will not eat my live, healthy plants. They will only eat the dead plants, leftover food, and the such. I have trumpet snails and Ramshorn snails in this tank. Why do I keep finding them on mine healthy, live plants? Was I misinformed? I use aquarium co-ops easy green and a biological substrate specifically for plants.

[CrashBandit05]

If the snails don't have a main source of food they will nibble on your plants. I try to feed enough for my fish and snails alike but they end up munching on my amazon frogbit anyways. I don't mind because it's less plants for me to pull when doing maintenance!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Snails will eat the algae off of plants.  Are you finding that the plants have been damaged.  Also keep in mind that snails need to be fed regularly; they eat more than you think!  They cannot be treated as cleanup crew. That's not enough for them to eat/survive.

[The Dawns]

Then, what should I be feeding my snails specifically?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Glad you asked!  🙂 I had made a little care sheet about snails a few months back; the link is in my signature line.  Here's the section on food.  

Food:

Mystery snails will help clean your fish tank, and if you have live plants, you will find that they carefully clean the algae from the leaves but leave the plants alone (unless the plant is dying; then they will consume the dying pieces).  Tank algae is not enough food to sustain your snails. Just as you would feed fish on a routine basis, your mystery snails should also be fed. They should be offered food that contains vegetables, protein, and calcium. The calcium is particularly important for shell growth and health. Snails can smell food through the water, and it won’t take them long to find it.

Some foods they love are:

·         Hikari crab cuisine

·         Algae wafers

·         Boiled green bean, halved lengthwise, seeds removed (20 min. boil time)*

·         Boiled zucchini slice (10 min. boil time)*

·         Cuttlebone (sold in the bird section) – break off a piece and drop it into the tank, and the snails will occasionally graze on it. It will also slowly release calcium into the water which benefits the snails and is harmless to fish and plants. Cuttlebone will initially float.  It can be left to float or can be weighed down with a small stone, a plant weight, or tucked under the edge of a decoration.

·         Snello (a recipe that can be made for them)

Boiled vegetables can be weighed down with a little rock or an aquarium plant weight if they want to float.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea