I thought all snails ate plants. They also multiply rapidly.

so did i, but some literature i find say there are those that leave your plants alone and only eat algae. ??????

If you buy true aquatic plants, that are grown in aquariums and not hydroponics, they come complete with pond snails or snail eggs. The eggs eventually hatch and then the snails come. They do reproduce rapidly. When they run out of "food" to eat the population reduces. There are some large snails sold that dont eat plants. I never had a problem with them eating mine, they usually stuck to the glass. The little snails dont cause much problems with ammonia in a well planted tank. The plants use most of it up. I found that Otocinclus cats (Oto's)are one of the best algae eaters for a planted tank, combined with a "true" SAE you will have a hell of a clean-up crew. IME I have found that the large snails (Ones you buy) are not that good at algae cleanup.

that is also my opinion on the large snails. my interest in the snails are for them to burrow into my substrate to keep it from compacting (lazy me, rather than disturbing it with my siphon all the time, thinking their burrowing would help plant roots)...it seems there is a "japanese trapdoor snail" that does this, not sure of species. the species i listed above was an ebay item, stating that they do not eat plants. my experience, they do eat plants...and every plant i was going to bring in was going to be treated for the "common" snail.

yes, they DO reproduce rapidly! have you heard anything on large pops in tanks and snail deaths "souring" the water?

I have an apple snail in our 100 gallon and she brings me hours of enjoyment, I love watching her. I have no live plants tho, to keep her healthy I give her romaine lettuce, cucumber or zucchini every couple of days. Some varities of apples are more prone to plant eating than others, this gal is most interested in dead or decaying plantlife. You might also want to look at Japanese Trapdoors, they are great snails to keep and not too prolific. Keeping just one of a variety can help keep down the population explosion unless you get one of the pest species like great pond snails, check them out first. Some need a mate to procreate, others do not.

Here is a link that might be useful: All About Applesnails

I have large apple snails and also ramshorn snails and none have ever been a problem in regards to eating plants, and both seem to do a pretty decent job on algae. During the year when the weather and temp is right (about 9 months of the year) they stay outside in various tanks and water garden features along with the tropical fish, and I certainly do not have much if any of an algae problem. Cooler months all are brought back inside and during this time I certainly do not have problems with algae or reproduction.....Even if the larger snails reproduce they are not a problem.......Its those small snails that are commonly obtained from plants that are problems...not so much as to eating plants, but to the fact they multiply like rabbits.......but they do a god job of keeping the tank cleaned up......

An easy way to catch and get rid of excess snails or all snails is to place a slice of zucchini squash in the tank, about an hour before turning off the tanks lights for the night. Next morning have a net handy and just scoop out zucchini slice which will be now covered with snails...run the zuccini under water to rinse off snails or shake in a trash can or outside....Let the slice out of tank during day,and repeat at night as often as necessary to reduce or eliminate snail population, or buy a Clown loach, as they love to eat snails............

thank you, both! i will also keep the zucchini trick in mind.

Kuhli loaches are good for swimming through substrate, they do not eat snails from what I have read. If your sole intrest is "functional", rather than entertainment for a snail . I would go with a Kuhli or similar fish. I would think they would be more efficient at stir up. Kuhli's prefer cooler water temps , but most plants do also. Also, as far as gravel bed stir-up. It still needs to be done. In a moderate to heavy plantted setup you can"skip" it weekly and just do it every 3-9 months. You just skim the crud offf the surface weekly. A python or lee (faucet pump style) are the easiest to use. No buckets, minimal spills and less chance of suction loss. The substrate needs to be disturbed periodically in a planted aquarium. Any type of burrowing fish will not be the sole answer to maintainance (exception SW Reef's).

thank you for clarifying that. i guess i was trying to be lazy and not disturb plant roots while still "aerating"-is that even possible under water? :)

i think my 25H is too small for a kuhli loach, or so i have heard. and yes, it wasn't for the entertainment of a snail (love your word choice).

i tend to stick with my simple siphon and bucket...dont ask me why. good garden water, too.

That is one pitfall of the sink/pump styles. I even considered using a syphon/bucket to remove the water for the garden, especially durring a small drought we had. Then just refilling with the python, but alas too much work. Most plants will pull O2 from the water column. Think of the crud build up near the roots as compost. Just up-root and replant every 3-6 months to prevent a anaerobic bacteria explosion and all should be well.

Cone snails are great for stirring up gravel, and they don't seem to eat plants. I used to have a massive population in my 55g tank. The gravel practically boiled with activity in the evenings. I started with three and probably had hundreds of thousands over time. I never had a masive die-off that affected the water. I guess some would consider them pests. If there got to be too many, I'd just switch on the light 20 minutes after the timed light normally went off and just scoop them off the sides of the tank. If you really want to be rid of them, get some dunkers barbs. After three months with three dunkers barbs all the snails in my 55g were gone.

Stay away from ramshorn snails. The cutworm of the fishtank I tell you!

"The cutworm of the fishtank "--lol! ican appreciate that description!

thanks, rokoku. do you have a more scientific name for "cone snail?" or, are these commonly called "malaysians" or "japanese trap doors?"

i am concerned about bioload, but i haven't completely tossed the idea yet.

Sorry for the use of the common name. I believe what I'm talking about is refered to on the following link as a Malaysian Trumpet snail.
http://members.shaw.ca/the-guyz/pest_snails.htm

In googling, I found this link

http://members.aol.com/Mkohl2/NAPleuroceridae.html

but I'd be hard pressed to say that any of these were what I had. They looked a lot like *Elimia virginica*, but to me they were always just cone snails. Every once in a while I'll see them inhabiting fish store tanks. Never actually saw them for sale or labeled by scientific name.

Regarding your concern about dead snails creating poor water conditions, I'm sure the populations I had could have caused serious problems had there been a massive die-off, but I'd guess you won't have too much of a problem managing the poulation. When I was seriously into tanks I'd keep a five gallon snail tank for pond snails and excess cone snails. The worst problem I had was when one would make its way into the filter impeller and rattle around while I was trying to watch TV.

nice sites! one thing leaves me wanting...the first site mentioned disrupting any parasite from further development, but doesn't say how. 5-6 weeks in a bare tank to themselves/fish required for further development??

i wouldn't notice a snail in my filter. my impeller sounds like i have a giant in there!

I'm not real familiar with parasites, let alone critters that move from snails to fish. I'm not sure how you'd disrupt their lifecycle, but I don't know that 5-6 weeks without a host fish would do it. I think you'd have to identify a specific organism in order to figure out how to stop it. I always assume there isn't a parasite or disease unless I see one. Having said that, putting any new animals in a quarantine tank for several weeks is still a good idea.

thanks!

I have some Apple Snails and I think they are beautiful. They come in many colors. If you only have 1 snail in your tank no babies. They have to have male and female to breed. Unless you happen to get a female full of eggs. But their eggs are laid out of the water in a clutch. So remove the clutch and "no" babies. They do not eat plants! These are the Pomacea Bridges. (apple snails) Check out the site Linda put in her post.

i agree. thta is a very nice site! i used to have a yellow one and would get a kick out of all those "extentions."

Get mystery, ramshorn, apple and trapdoor snails. Other creatures with shells are freshwater mussels and clams.

I have ramshorns in all my tanks. They've never gotten horribly out of control IMO. But the bichirs eat them in the predator tank and the loaches in the community tank.

Hi. I have a well planted 40gl tank complete with the common snails that came with the plants. I've never had to "manage" the snails. When they become over populated it's usually because I've let the algae get out of control. More food, more snails. It works out though. The snails become unattractive and remind me to clean the glass. When I do that they eat all the algae off of the plants without harming them, leaving them sparkly clean. When that algae is gone, the surplus snails,...uh, go away. ;)

Horse face and weather loaches are great for digging in the gravel and will scare you when you see just their head sticking out of the gravel.

i found a snail! one snail (????) that seemed just appear out of nowhere. ihven't seen any since. funny, it showed up shortly after i added my driftwood that i simmered/boiled for 8 hours.

could the snail have been in the tank all along since i added my plant in october? must have been since i find it hard to believe it came in on the driftwood after such treatment.

lol james! that would be quite a sight!
thanks for all the input, panspipes, jay and adrea!