Snails oh no

mel_20_20

mel_20_20

AC Members
Sep 1, 2008
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Deep in the heart of texas
I just went to the lfs a little while ago, and bought an anacharis plant for my 10 gallon tank. I put it in there.

A friend at work, her husband has a 90 gallon, and had told me that they have 2 goldfish to eat the snails that are on live plants. She said there are millions of microscopic snails on the plants.

I asked the lfs lady if there would be snails on her plants, and she said no.

I put the anacharis in my tank, and then I found a tiny tiny snail, the one with the long spiral shell, in the water that came with the plant in the baggy.

Am I going to be overrun with snails now? Am I in trouble? What should I do?
 
Is it this:

malaysian_trumpet_snail3.jpg


Those are probably MTS (Malaysian Trupet Snails) People will actually pay for them because if you have sand, they will dig through it and release any bubbles that can kill your fish if they build up under the sand. They live underground, so you will only see a few of them in the day because they come out to feed at night.
 
shell shaped like that, but dark. I'm assuming that I have a lot of those now. The one that was visible, about 1.5 mm long, died in the cup I was holding it in. But, probably there are lots of macroscopic ones in my tank now, from the new plants.

I have gravel substrate, will they help me in this case?
 
They're Malaysian trumpet snails. I wouldn't worry about them as long as you don't overfeed. They help stir the substrate preventing dead pockets which if disturbed can release hydrogen sulfide that smells like rotten eggs killing the fish in the process.
 
Just watch your feedings and do you gravel vacs and they will be controllable. They usually stay in the substrate while the lights are on and come out when the lights are off. If I am not mistaking they give live birth so you will not see any clusters of eggs- which is what I think is the coolest part of owning snails:)
 
I agree with chaz, they are very good at cleaning your substrate of leftover food. If you feed too much however, they will rise in numbers.
 
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