Otocinclus cats and other algea eaters

[Lupin]

i have ramshorn snails in my planted tank with no problem i use them for clean up crew in my guppy breeder (10gallon) ..thought pond snails will do some damage to a planted tank,
iv had mystery snails wipe out large chunks of a planted tank as well

I use 3 ottos and rams horn snails for my 10 gallon and it works great ^_^
Best of luck

How can you be sure they're Pomacea diffusa? The diffusas (which are the ones referred to as mystery snails) don't eat plants. The Pomacea canaliculata and other species of cana complex however do.

 

[Sylvias]

Well snails be out of the picture entirely now. the oto cats are doing much better than i expected!! For such a tiny little fish they surely do get to work fast lol
I thought for sure the algae would grow faster than they could eat it but they are taking it out piece by piece hehe
May end up having to get little algae chips for them if they keep this up!

 

[jclyde13]

Well snails be out of the picture entirely now. the oto cats are doing much better than i expected!! For such a tiny little fish they surely do get to work fast lol
I thought for sure the algae would grow faster than they could eat it but they are taking it out piece by piece hehe
May end up having to get little algae chips for them if they keep this up!

You should be doing that anyway, as well as occasionally providing vegetables like cucumber, zucchini, letuce, etc. to suppliment their diet. Algae alone isn't nearly enough to keep them healthy (which is why I never suggest fish to fix an algae problem).

 

[Sylvias]

See I had asked that before when I started this thread and no one said anything...and they did and I missed it I'm sorry.
I also asked the guy at the store and he said if there was plenty of algae they should be fine....
I should know better by now not to trust store employees.

 

[Kaosu]

How can you be sure they're Pomacea diffusa? The diffusas (which are the ones referred to as mystery snails) don't eat plants. The Pomacea canaliculata and other species of cana complex however do.

i cant be..it was given to me by that name... it was about the size of a baseball when it passed away and i had it for about 3 years, my mother had it for.. about years.
it was back when i was a novice fish keeper..one of my first tanks.....

 

[jclyde13]

i cant be..it was given to me by that name... it was about the size of a baseball when it passed away and i had it for about 3 years, my mother had it for.. about years.
it was back when i was a novice fish keeper..one of my first tanks.....

That proves Lupin's point, then. Mystery snails don't get larger than a golf ball. (just because you buy something as a certain species doesn't mean it is actually that species)

 

[Lupin]

Definitely a cana to me, Kaosu. Mystery snails live an average of 2 years, no longer than that. Canas can live even longer than that. That explains why you lost your plants to them. I remember some baby canas from my rearing tank hitched a ride on my arms during water changes and I was dismayed to see my planted tank in tears.

 

[Kaosu]

yeah i didn't buy him had him given to me and had no idea about what he was ^_^ he was neat. thanks for the ID!!
thought my mom called him a mystery snail cus she didn't know what he was lol....