most active freshwater snail?

[keiferd]

Hello I recently purchased some snails for my african tank and they pretty much suck. I've had them for a week and they are extremely slow and when grazing only have 2 little antennae poking out in front of them and you can't see any of the actual animal. you have to stare At it for 10 minutes too see it move a few inches. Whats the most active snail with a lot of character that won't eat my plants? I want to see it's eyes and watch it move around and scan the environment. pics would be cool.

[david13latham]

Cant tell you much but i bought 2 snails from petsmart for a couple bucks and they are way active crawling from one end of the tank to the other in a matter of a minute or two, quick for a snail!

They are ivory mystery snails? grown a lot sense i got it, was about .5 inches now its about 1.25 and its only been like 2 months. The other one got eaten by my loaches i believe.

[msjinkzd]

mixing cool snails with africans is a crap shoot. Pomacea Bridgessi (mystery/apple snails) are the largest available that don't eat plants. Often their antennae will become treats for agressive fish and they will hide and starve.

[Bk718]

agree with jinkz the snail will wonder very cautiously in the tank if it feels threatened.. in a peaceful community tank it would be a different story. Mine go from one side of the tank to the other in a matter of seconds, jump/glide everywhere..

[StereoKills]

I agree completely with msjinkzd and bk828. My bridgesii are always very active, but I keep them in a species only tank, I'm considering having some with community fish, but never with cichlids.

[keiferd]

dam that sucks, well these snails seem to be doing good in my tank even though they are boring. They have really a really cool white crust growing on the shells with a blueish green tint to them, they almost look like marine snails. I bought them from a tanganyika display tank. I believe they are olive nerita snails. I guess it's good to have them to control algae though, I may pick up some more. Or I may pick up some free pest snails from my LFS and maybe they'll get big and be cool, If not it's free snack.:devil: there are 2 types I can get, 1 which I'm almost positive is a ramshorn, and the other has a more long conical shape to the shell. Are either of these safe for plants?

[msjinkzd]

they should be, most snails found will only eat decaying plant matter. Snails that are not safe for a planted tank are marisa (columbian/giant ramshorn) and canas (pomacea canaculata).

[FtwayneFish]

sounds like the second snail is a trumpet snail or MTS (malaysian trumpet snail). There neat. They dig up the substrate and clean and areate it. You wont see too much of them as they hide during the day. but they will be a fun hunt for your loaches and are livebearers.