What kind of snails & why or why not.....

LS2012

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Feb 24, 2013
782
3
33
Northern NJ
I'm curious to hear about types of snails in member's planted tanks. How do feel they've have been beneficial or detrimental? I'm considering adding a few, but am hesitant with all I've read about their ceaseless reproduction. Thanks!

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calichai

Polypterus
MFK Member
Oct 28, 2009
1,059
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96
socal, oc
I use nerite snails. They need brackish water for eggs to hatch so no reproduction. Only problem is if you have a female. The eggs are super hard to remove, like green dot algae. Great cleaner though.


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RBoydIV

Gambusia
MFK Member
Oct 23, 2013
212
2
18
Columbus, Ohio
I used MTS in my planted tanks. Great at stirring up your substrate and taking care of leftover food. They do reproduce like crazy. But never had a problem selling them or just giving them away locally.

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ABigFish

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 7, 2014
146
0
0
Ohio
Love nerite! Easy to control the population and a great cleaner. MTS reproduce like crazy but keeping them in check with some assassins isn't too difficult. Easy for them to get out of hand fast though


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convict360

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Dec 9, 2013
4,499
1,874
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Scotland
I use nerite snails. They need brackish water for eggs to hatch so no reproduction. Only problem is if you have a female. The eggs are super hard to remove, like green dot algae. Great cleaner though.

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+1, they're great, got rid of the hard type of algae off the front of the glass in about a day. Also my cichlids haven't eaten one yet as their shells are very close to their mouths meaning they cant get under the shell to the fleshy bits, unlike, say an apple snail which get quickly eaten.
 

Yoimbrian

Dovii
MFK Member
Feb 11, 2013
920
252
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Twin cities
I love rabbit snails. They are a bit rare and expensive, but they are really fun to watch.

They reproduce by having 1 baby at a time and they carry around the sack. So it's super super slow. Maybe 1 baby per 2 months per female.

They are also rare and easy to sell, could easily get a few $$ per baby.


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Pbaff

Exodon
MFK Member
Feb 1, 2014
44
0
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SW Missouri
I like Nerite snails, but as calichai says the eggs are really hard to remove if you get some. Ramshorn snails are my favorite. They reproduce enough to keep their numbers up, but I've never had them take over a tank. They stay small enough that even at higher concentrations they aren't too much of an issue.
 

calichai

Polypterus
MFK Member
Oct 28, 2009
1,059
112
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socal, oc
I have a few spotted yellow rabbit snails in the tank as well. They are very interesting but scavenger wise, only help with uneaten food. Mine never climb up to clean leaves like the nerites.


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HybridHerp

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 18, 2012
1,192
86
66
New York
Tbh, with your fish, snails probably won't work. I LOVE my some ramshorn and trumpet snails, and nerites....but they don't work well with cichlids.

If anything though, try the trumpets, they stand the best chance if any.
 
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