ramshorn snail vs live plants

Z

zoeandmaia

Registered Member
Jan 8, 2005
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I've been thinking about adding a snail to my 42-gallon peaceful community tank (small tetras, mollies, and platies), but I never quite got around to researching them. Last night I saw a beautiful snail at my lfs and immediately decided that I must have him. They labeled him as a ramshorn.

After getting him home I started surfing the web for information about my new find. Imagine my dismay upon learning that my little snail was going to make a quick meal of my planted tank! :thud: Guess that is what I deserve for making an impulse purchase.

So now for my questions: Are there any live plants that my ramshorn snail will not eat? Should I keep plants in there and just replace them as he destroys them? or should I just resign myself to fake plants? :confused:
 
Would shrimp be okay in the tank with my other fish? It is a tall 42 gallon hexagonal tank. I currently have 3 mollies, 1 platy, 1 swordtail, 2 rams, and 7 neon tetras in there and I'm planning to add 3 kuhli loaches and two keyhole cichlids. Also, would the shrimp pose a threat to my plants?
 
Last edited:
downloader said:
stay away from snails! one or two are nice but within a few weeks you will have hundreds! You can try some mts snails they don't reproduce as fast, or how do you feel about some shrimp instead?


www.bluewhippet.net
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That is only if you don't properly maintain your tank.
If you properly care for your tank snails can be your best friend, granted they're not apple or pond snails. Even pond snails usually will only eat dead or dying plants. The only way a snail population gets out of control is due to bad maintenance.


Downloader: MTS also reproduce WAY faster than any other snail, they don't need other snails to reproduce. All they need is themselves and they can turn in hundreds if given the opportunity. The other species mostly available are egg layers and need other snails to further the population
 
What kind of Ramshorn? Could you supply a pic possibly?

Common Ramshorns are one of the most plant freindly creatures in you can own. They can reproduce without a mate and will reproduce very quickly if food is available, but as CDawson pointed out. Tank maintenance will control them quite nicely.

Columbian or other large ramshorns will eat your plants, to some degree or another. As will apple snails. these larger snails don't usually reproduce without a pair though.

MTS's are also plant freindly, but reproduce much slower than pond snails and Comon Ramshorns. They are also much slower to clean up things but they will survive in tanks with fish that are known snail killers.
 
MTS are the only parthenogenic snails commonly kept in FW tanks. Common ramshorns require a mate, but they are bisexual so that either member of the pair can play either role. They also (along with most snails) can store sperm,so they may have initially been intriduced "loaded" as it were. Apple snails can do the same storage, so a newly introduced female snail may well produce offspring.
 
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