Big Snails?

fish_freak

fish_freak

Retired Mod
Feb 15, 2002
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Great Barrington, MA
Is there a big snail that isnt asexual? I would like to just have one snail that will get nice and big in my 90 gal but I dont want a run of snails. Im thinking maybe an Apple Snail? I know ramshorn and mystery snails can be trouble.
I have no Live plants in the tank so thats not a problem. What is the biggest snail in the trade?
 
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Apples can store sperm, so there's no gaurantee either way, but apple snails lay their eggs above the water line and are easily removed--this includes mystery snails--and controlled.
 
Zebra snails (neritina natalensis) grow to about an inch. They don't reproduce in freshwater (if you have a male and female, they'll try, but the eggs don't hatch) and are excellent algae eaters. :)
 
Apple snails can be confused with snails from the Viviparidae family. The snails from this family look very similar in shape and colour, but they do lack a lung, a siphon (obvious) and labial tentacles (the small tentacles near the mouth). In contrast with the egg-laying Ampullariidae snails, the Viviparidae snails are live bearing (hence the name Viviparidae, which can be translated as live bearing). (from applesnail.net)

I thought Mystery Snails where from the family Viviparidae which are live bearers??

Well as I reasearch more I see I was given wrong info Mystery snails are from Ampullaria how big do they get? Im new to snails thing Ive always worried they will take over my tank but I really like the big ones you see. Plus could be a help with fish food waste from messy cichlids.
 
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There is alot of confusion when it comes to snails...I have seen many things labelled "mystery snail"...The real mystery is wether these people know what they are selling or not... When referring to snails it is very important to use their Latin name. "Apple snail" is another catch all name that could be referring to either Pomacea Bridgesii or Pomacea Cananiculata... Similar looking, but the Cana gets much bigger and will destroy a planted tank.

Canas can get as large as a baseball and are very active snails... If you have a tank that doesnt contain a bunch of agressive fish you may like to try one...Bear in mind posession of these snails is outlawed in many states and it is illegal to ship them state to state.
 
Ya know thats a good point where can you find info on outlawed spieces in your state? Those cana's I think would be the one I want. My chiclids arnt that agresive so I think they would be fine. I once had a Pacific Fat sleeper goby eat the only snail I ever owned. I couldnt belive it when I saw the shell in his pile of waste. I figured the snail got out lol.
 
i had ramshorn snails once (2) and I had plants, they never touched them, and they got huge. They were very ineresting to watch too. I loved em. Also they did mate occassionally, but they laid their eggs at the top of the water column, and all i had to do was take them out. I had them for years, with no problems.... hope this helps.
 
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