Snail or something like it as bonus* from Petsmart

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I would keep it personally. Trumpet snails are great for planted tanks! They burrow in the sand and help keep the roots aerated. They DO NOT eat healthy plants, only dead ones. They will help keep your tank cleaner and will not over populate unless you are over feeding. I have these snails in all my tanks, they are great!
 
good idea to pull in. i work at Petsmart and those snails taking over peoples tanks is most ppls biggest problem. some customers pull like 50 out a day and still can rid of them. whats the best way to rid of these guys?
 
Sorry, says you have in all your tanks, I missed that. I don't think i'm prepared, just yet, to add another element into a large tank, since i am still a beginner. I did hold it over in a vase of still water with an algae wafer to satisfy the kids. If it survives maybe i can convince one of the kids to use their tanks as a test for snail keeping. For now, i'll just let it ride in the vase.
 
Laticauda;4781714; said:
Yes, it's a malayan trumpet snail. They reproduce asexually, so you will have a ga-jillion in no time. Get that bad boy out and put it in the garbage!

Or you could put it in a jar with some water and lettuce to see how prolific they are.
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I have had no such luck with that yet. Everytime I buy ANY kind of uber cheap sale fish or feeders from Petsmart, I ALWAYS have the store employee snag a couple dozen of these conical mini snails for feeding to my fish. They report that these "Freebies" that they offer to their customers are an unbelievable hot commodity.

Again I have literally thrown hundreds of these "free" snails into a large number of my 19 tanks and have never been so luck as to get one single solitary reproduction (Desired!).

I do however seem to be the single greatest failure in getting ANYTHEFREAKTHING to reproduce for me. My failed attempts at "breeding fish food", is the "stuff" of legend!

A 10G tank of 6 Silver Lyrtail mollies (3M, 3F) have produced exactly TWO fry in over a year. Three marbled crayfish (each has their own tank, two being 10G and the other being a 5G). I have zero offspring since I got them in March or April of 2010. Two Ramshorn snails (No idea of sex) and no offspring. Four nile tilapia (all now > 12") and no offspring. A dozen fancy guppies (9F & 3M) in a 10G and not so much as one offspring. I even threw a couple of "feeder" guppies into the take to "set" the reproduction though process in gear and all they did was eat the damn things.

Heck, I have tried twice to use the brine shrimp hatchery following all instructions carefully and have not even gotten a hatch!:ROFL:
 
Hmmm...the last community tank i had bred insanely, and i never tried. Think mollies were the main staple. Had lots and lots of plastic plants in the corners, undergravel filter, two sponge filters, and one of those waterfall filter thingy's. Think it was a 70 gal...can't remember though. Was great till someone threw a tire track eel in there. Wiped out the entire community.
 
Very few snails can eat a healthy plant. Apples and large ramshorns are the only ones I can think of. Snails are generally a good thing, they eat some algae, and leftover food particles. They are also great indicators of poor tank husbandry. If you have a million snails, you're putting enough food in the tank to feed them. Cut back on the food, and the snails will vanish.
 
If you keep your nitrates in check, and don't have much algae, they will eat plants. I tried starving them by not providing enough food for them, and they DESTROYED all the plants in my planted tank (seriously, it was pitiful.) Once I got rid of the snails, all the plants bounced back and are growing quite vigorously.
 
pullins125;4781757; said:
good idea to pull in. i work at Petsmart and those snails taking over peoples tanks is most ppls biggest problem. some customers pull like 50 out a day and still can rid of them. whats the best way to rid of these guys?
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puffers are a great way to get rid of them. They will take care of an infestation and enjoy everyone they get to eat .
 
JamesF;4784039; said:
Very few snails can eat a healthy plant. Apples and large ramshorns are the only ones I can think of. Snails are generally a good thing, they eat some algae, and leftover food particles. They are also great indicators of poor tank husbandry. If you have a million snails, you're putting enough food in the tank to feed them. Cut back on the food, and the snails will vanish.
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The exception is Pomacea diffusa. Pomacea diffusa is the current scientific name for mystery snails. Pomacea bridgesii is outdated.

As for the ramshorns, the ones referred to by JamesF are Marisa cornuarietis. Do NOT confuse them with the planorbids. I prefer the latter for planted tanks. They eat the green algae well enough I like to put them in planted tanks. The only reason they are so misunderstood for eating "healthy" plants is because they do eat the decaying and dead parts of the plants but not the healthy ones. They are so misunderstood in general that I wonder if people stop to take a second look and see if their plants are receiving the nutrition to avoid wilting at all.

Here's a link for info on "pest" snails.
Snail Infestations and Solutions to Eliminating Them
 
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