Would any one be able to suggest some types of algae eating snails and shrimp that would not eat my plants. Oh an also I would prefer if the snail would be kind that needs a mate to to breed.
Algae eating snail or shrimp
- Thread starter freshienow
- Start date
Nerites are sexual however unless you have the FW European species, then you'll need brackish water to be able to breed them. You could try the Pomacea diffusa but do note these are not efficient algae eaters so they cannot be relied on to clean up the algae for you. You could mix the nerites and diffusas together if you like. What size is the tank? Tankmates? pH and KH levels? You'll want to maintain 8.0 to minimize shell erosions and provide calcium enriched foods such as collard greens, make snail jello, dose calcium pills or make some plaster of Paris pucks.
it's a 10 gallon, silvertip tetras, kuhli loaches, white cloud mountain minnows, ottocinclus, cherry barbs, and cory cats.
The trouble is with calcium dosing, the pH and hardness levels also increase making some of the fish mentioned above more vulnerable to bacterial infections. It won't really hurt them but it leaves them quite susceptible to bacterial infections.
In my experience, I have not run into any freshwater shrimp or snail species that do a good job on algae. My ramshorn snails that piggybacked on a shipment of plants eat algae (sort of) and generally leave my plants alone. They are also very prolific, to the point that I spend 1/2 hr a week picking them out of my tank and feeding them to my cichlids because I don't like the way they look.
You might change your mind if you find ramshorns in red, blue and white colors often found in Aquariacentral.com. Many members do snail exchanges there and you might want to try out nerites which actually do an excellent job cleaning any algae although they still need special attention by maintaining the water chemistry as ideal as possible as soft acidic water tends to cause shell erosions among snails.dthomasi;2673147; said:
Lupin;2673178; said:
Actually the ramshorns I have are the red variety, I just don't like having them period in my tank. Also, I think you're right, I forgot about Nerites....I remember looking into them before but for some reason I was turned away... are they expensive? I can't remember why but I may look back into them....what are your experiences with them?
Nerites are far too efficient in consuming lots of algae.lol Depends on the species you want. Rarer species fetch $9.00 and over. Some are just $2-4.
ok, thanks for all the info guys it helps a lot, I have on quick question though, are the snails from chain stores , I think mystery snails what I'm looking for?