Hitchhiker snail! What to do? What species?

[KyleKVK]

I just found this lil guy in my tank. What is he and what should I do?

My girlfriend already named him I hope he isn’t a pest species. 

[KaitieG]

He looks a lot like my tadpole snails.  I thought the first one was sooooo cute.  The population explodes rather quickly and IMO they got less cute!  Cory seems to steadfastly like them in every video though!  So I guess it's your call on whether it's a pest or not--just be prepared for him to have lots of friends soon 🙂 Mine haven't hurt anything, but I don't like how many there are.

[KyleKVK]

1 minute ago, KaitieG said:

He looks a lot like my tadpole snails.  I thought the first one was sooooo cute.  The population explodes rather quickly and IMO they got less cute!  Cory seems to steadfastly like them in every video though!  So I guess it's your call on whether it's a pest or not--just be prepared for him to have lots of friends soon 🙂 Mine haven't hurt anything, but I don't like how many there are.

How big do they get? I only have a 20 gallon! Will anything eat them?

[Brandy]

These are also known as pond or bladder snails. they do multiply rapidly and loaches, cichlids, and puffers think they are delicious. That size is mostly full grown. If you get too many, there are many fish that will either eat the snails (see above) or eat the eggs (adult livebearers mostly, like guppies).

[Brandy]

They are good guys in my opinion.

[JettsPapa]

1 minute ago, Brandy said:

These are also known as pond or bladder snails. they do multiply rapidly and loaches, cichlids, and puffers think they are delicious. That size is mostly full grown. If you get too many, there are many fish that will either eat the snails (see above) or eat the eggs (adult livebearers mostly, like guppies).

Shrimp do also, but you have to crush the shells for them.  Mine will swarm on a fresh-crushed snail faster than any other food I've found.

[Brandy]

True, my puffers do not always eat the whole snail, the shrimp eat the rest.

[KaitieG]

They only get to be about that size--no more than about a quarter inch.  I only have a 20 gallon too--and about 50 to 100 of these guys despite light feeding.  There are definitely more in the 20 gallon that has a higher stocking rate than my 10 gallon which is pretty low-stocked.  Assassin snails would eat them, and so would most loaches I think, but I just pull them out by hand as there get to be enough to drive me nuts.  You can put a piece of blanched veggie or some rapashy food or a sinking wafer in and they all swarm it and you can scoop out quite a few at a time.

[Taco Playz]

My golden panchax killifish devour them, pretty much any fish that has a big enough mouth to eat them will. Also that one will turn into about 100 in a few months. Some people absolutely hate them and some love them, I love them they do a good job of cleaning algae and eating fish poop, but they do poop a lot themselves. Hope this helps!