Snail ID

[Dria]

Anyone have thoughts on what this friendo might be? When it was very small I thought it was a ramshorn, but they don't come this dark do they? Came in on a plant and has grown to oh, I don't know about an inch and a half so far. Doesn't seem to be capable of reproducing on its own, at least I haven't seen any more. Doesn't seem to bother anything or anyone.

[Biotope Biologist]

That is a ramshorn they come in all sorts of colors

[T. Payne]

Definitely ramshorn.

[Dria]

Oh I didn't realize they came this dark! I've only seen the pink/translucent ones. Nice. I was thinking about getting a few but I guess there's no need now!

[Odd Duck]

Ramshorns do come that dark, but I’m a little concerned you may have a giant ramshorn there.  Is it a trick of the light or does that snail have lines running around the shell?  And what is usually referred to as “ramshorns” are Planorbis corneus, and they usually max out at 3/4” across, fairly uncommon for them to get bigger but can make it to 1” sometimes.  They don’t have lines running around their shells. They can be solid colored or have leopard spots, but I’ve never seen or heard of lines around the shell in this species.

Giant ramshorns AKA Colombian ramshorn (Marisa cornuarietus), do have stripes around their shells and get much bigger, up to 2.3” across as adults.  My concern is these guys can be invasive in certain areas and are more likely to eat live plants vs. just decaying leaves.  If fed well, it’s less likely to be an issue.

Again, I can’t quite tell from your pic and it may be just a trick of the light on the shell.  You should be easily able to make out stripes on giant ramshorns in person.  There are many other species of ramshorn snails, but most haven’t made it into the aquarium trade.

[Dria]

On 4/19/2024 at 8:15 PM, Odd Duck said:

Ramshorns do come that dark, but I’m a little concerned you may have a giant ramshorn there.  Is it a trick of the light or does that snail have lines running around the shell?  And what is usually referred to as “ramshorns” are Planorbis corneus, and they usually max out at 3/4” across, fairly uncommon for them to get bigger but can make it to 1” sometimes.  They don’t have lines running around their shells. They can be solid colored or have leopard spots, but I’ve never seen or heard of lines around the shell in this species.

Giant ramshorns AKA Colombian ramshorn (Marisa cornuarietus), do have stripes around their shells and get much bigger, up to 2.3” across as adults.  My concern is these guys can be invasive in certain areas and are more likely to eat live plants vs. just decaying leaves.  If fed well, it’s less likely to be an issue.

Again, I can’t quite tell from your pic and it may be just a trick of the light on the shell.  You should be easily able to make out stripes on giant ramshorns in person.  There are many other species of ramshorn snails, but most haven’t made it into the aquarium trade.

It does seem to have lighter lines in a couple of spots. I thought it was just a growth problem? I had some hardness issues a few weeks ago and several of my snails had some trouble.

I went to go look up the Marisa snail and I think I'm okay. I see the kind of lines you're talking about and it doesn't have those these are more like growth rings perpendicular to the swirl rather than laterally along with it. I think what you're seeing along the same axis of swirl is just shine off the shell.

It is pretty large though, I would say more than 3/4 across but I'm bad at measuring by sight that way.

ETA Mine looks a lot like these guys: https://goodlifeaquatics.com/products/blue-ramshorn-snails

Edited April 20 by Dria

[Odd Duck]

I use my hands to measure lots of things (yes, I’m a complete nerd) and my fairly average hands have 1” from the tip of my pointer finger to the middle of my first finger joint, 2” to the middle of my second finger joint, 3” to the start of the big knuckle swelling, 4” to the back of my big knuckle.  I could go on but it would get too boring.  But it’s very useful for me to know the measurements of various parts of my hands because I can get rough measurements of many things very easily.

You may find that you CAN estimate things well once you know your HANDY measurements. 😂 🤣 

[Dria]

On 4/19/2024 at 8:48 PM, Odd Duck said:

I use my hands to measure lots of things (yes, I’m a complete nerd) and my fairly average hands have 1” from the tip of my pointer finger to the middle of my first finger joint, 2” to the middle of my second finger joint, 3” to the start of the big knuckle swelling, 4” to the back of my big knuckle.  I could go on but it would get too boring.  But it’s very useful for me to know the measurements of various parts of my hands because I can get rough measurements of many things very easily.

You may find that you CAN estimate things well once you know your HANDY measurements. 😂 🤣 

Hehe! I was curious so I got out my cloth measuring tape and he is actually a very normal 3/4" and apparently I have no idea how big things are.

[Odd Duck]

Measure your fingers while you’re measuring!  😂  I can do every inch from 1/2” to 8” all with one hand.  😆 🤣 And both hands span 8” apiece from pinky tip to thumb tip spread wide so I can take that as far as necessary.  🤣 I’ve measured fish, furniture, windows, etc, etc, etc.  😜 

[Dria]

On 4/19/2024 at 9:00 PM, Odd Duck said:

Measure your fingers while you’re measuring!  😂  I can do every inch from 1/2” to 8” all with one hand.  😆 🤣 And both hands span 8” apiece from pinky tip to thumb tip spread wide so I can take that as far as necessary.  🤣 I’ve measured fish, furniture, windows, etc, etc, etc.  😜 

Haha, I did! My index finger is basically 1 inch at the first knuckle which is pretty handy to know actually. Next time I have to measure a snail I'll be able to figure it out! So thank you for that.

And now I know I have a blue ramshorn so if I want more of them I can get the same color. He's a pretty great little cleaner. I'm kind of bummed he hasn't decided to spawn for me. Maybe he's not all the way mature yet.

[Odd Duck]

I think I would call that brown - brown shell, black body.  Blues are a translucent whitish shell over a dark brown, near black body.