Snails, No Snails,

[Ghost_knife]

Whats an honest opinion on these guys? Good Bad indiffrent? do they make the tank messy? how do you control explosive breeding? what kind of snail do you reccomend?

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

I love my snails...The pomacea bridgesii (mystery snail) is a nice peaceful creature and wont mow down planted tanks...There are some incredibly beautiful colour variants out there now from ivory to pinks, purples, blues etc....They eat a fair bit of crud and produce "infusoria" via their digestive systems...Great for fry..They do poop, but it is easy to vaccuum up, much easier then scrubbing algae off of walls...

I also keep a pomacea canaliculata (true apple snail) They get big anywhere from tennis ball to basball and will mow down a planted tank in no time flat...However, they are also a fascinating species...Very active and curious...
If you dont have a planted tank, or nippy fish that may hurt the snails tentacles, I would suggest try a Cana...

The nice thing about both is they are not hermaphroditic, you need a male and a female to reproduce... If you have more then one snail, you may get a breeding pair, but eggs are laid in clutches above the water line and very easy to remove...

[Riso-chan]

Here's a list as far as my own knowledge goes.
~Angela

APPLE SNAILS
Any snails in the Apple snail family are absolute no no's with planted tanks(although certain mystery snails will only eat dead plant material), and can quickly foul the water quality, as well as breed rapidly.
POND SNAILS
These are okay as long as there aren't tons of them.
RAMSHORNS
Columbian ramshorns should be avoided from what I've read. Regular ramshorn snails, with reddish-pink bodies are good clean up crews and not too damaging to plants.
MALAYSIAN TRUMPET SNAILS
These are very good to have as clean up crews, they dig into the gravel/substrate to get at edible debris while aerating it too. They also will not harm plants and only eat decaying matter. All the snails are pathogenic females, so you only need one to start populating your tank from what I've experienced.
Well that's as much as I know. Also have a look at the guides/ articles section in the freshwater forum here, it helped me out. I think it has the method of controlling snail reproduction in there too. Good luck.~Angela

[daveedka]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50705

[beviking]

See Dave's article here... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50705
Excellent write up!

I'd delete this but it's worth looking at at least twice ;)
Nice reply "Quickfingers!"

[Ghost_knife]

hmm, all my pants are live, some are in need of maintinance, I just need some maintinance but somthing my knife and loaches wont Eat...

[wwildcats04]

snails are good.. I keep mine in my planted tank until I want to treat my loaches than in the 75 they go. snails for the most part will not harm your plants or anything and they do a really good job at cleaning up. they will only reproduce to the level of algae and nutrients and such in the water. so if you keep your water clean and what not than you'll be fine. there is no downfall to snails IMO

[Ghost_knife]

I may get one, probably a mystery (whats the mystery about them?)

[wwildcats04]

what species they actually are.... it is a type of apple snail but there are many of them that go by that name. dont put it in w/ your clown loaches they will kill it even if its big and they are small, their favorite food is escargot they have expensive taste

[Ghost_knife]

what would you put in with them? I am at a loss to figure one out then

[wwildcats04]

clown loaches? you can pretty much put anything with clown loaches just not snails. snails you can pretty much put with anything just not loaches.

[saray2004]

:hang: sorry to jack your thread but I am fishless cycling a 75G to transfer my 10G into which contains a couple mollies and a gold mystery snail who is about the size of a "golf ball and a half" for comparison. When everyone is settled into the 75 I was wanting to add a small group of clown loaches. Will the loaches still try to bother the snail even though he is this large? :help: Thanks!!

[TheMightyQueenPixie]

It is entirely possible the loaches will bother and or kill the snail...Check out www.applesnail.net for info about species and compatibility...

Just thought of somehthing...Why not give the Pom the 10 gal??? It is large enough for one specimin...Throw down a nice crushed coral base, a piece of driftwood and you are laughin :)

[mishi8]

hmm, all my pants are live, some are in need of maintinance, I just need some maintinance but somthing my knife and loaches wont Eat...

Zebra snails (Neritina Natalensis) are excellent algae eaters...they pretty much never stop eating, but don't touch plants. They also won't overpopulate your tank (I have heard they won't reproduce in freshwater.) And they are tough for loaches (and other fish) to eat since they attach firmly to the glass, and the shell covers the whole body.

[beviking]

The loaches will harass the bigger snails but the snail will be o.k.. He will never come fully out of his shell however. The loaches will eventually leave it alone, but may take a nibble at it if they can. Not a very snail friendly tank.

[PinkBloodParrot]

I had 5 snails in my tiger barb and tetra's tank. They dont seem to have any problem, they even clean the algae in my tank! So for me they are a good thing to have in tank.

[rrkss]

I have mostly pond snails in my tank. They breed explosively when there is an abundance of food. But that explosive breeding causes an explosive reduction in algae. They are good in my books.

[Ghost_knife]

I have little to no alge, Pleco's get most of it but leave the plants alone, I am at a loss other then changing some of my plants out...