The "ramshorn's" are OUT of the picture....

spankey · 11-28-2002, 12:15 AM

Well,

I finally got a hold of some maylasian trumpet snails thanks to a new friend today.. I got about a dozen. I think that will due for now. I hear they multiply like bunnies..

I went to petco and bought 3 large ramshorn snails before coming across the MTS. At first they seemed ok till tonight I turned the lights on to check on them and OMG

It looked like my sword plant went in front of a firing squad!!!! Holes everywhere...

Out they came... They are now in my sons tank... Let'm rip his tank up... LOL.. How mean right...

He has faster growing plants in there like anachris. That can take a beating more than the swords and crypts in my tank can...

Hoping the snails breed so I can sell some off to the LFS... I had to drive 20 miles just to get the ramshorns at a petco. My 5 lfs's only carried apple snails. No rams....

So I hope the MTS do not nibble as hard as the Rams do.... I hear they don't... SO my fingers are CROSSED....

I was going to reply to my earlier post about what snails were safe to go in a planted tank. But I see we got a face lift here.. Change is always good. Its just hard for everyone at first...

Once alot of posts start to show up this place will be the same as it was yesterday!!!!

lets go guys and gals, lets start posting.... No ones tanks are perfect. Someone has a question about something don't they? LOL....

Just playing as mine are FAR from perfect....

Have a great Thanksgiving....

Spankey...

Fishiebusiness · 11-28-2002, 12:23 AM

I wish i could get rid of my ramshorns, but they're here to stay i guess.
If you're MTS are like most, you'll start seing little tiny baby cones real soon!

RTR · 11-28-2002, 12:29 AM

Real ramshorns have never bothered any on my plants. You say "large ramshorns" - how large? Flat spirals with stripes around the circumference? Those are likely to be Colombian Ramshorns, which are flat-spiraled Apple snails.

spankey · 11-28-2002, 6:56 AM

RTR-

Yeah they are apple snails... The apples have that trait snorkle.. Well after I dropped them in my sons tank, I saw one of them shoot up thier snorkle.... I never seen it up in my tank...

They are large and a tight spiral and have the stripes going with the shell.... THey are about 2 inches round..

At first they seemed to go for the algae on the glass and on the plants. Then when the lights were out.. WHAMOO.... My plants started to take the hit.....

So out they came... I am in NO way going to subject the plants that I struggled to get where they are to be snail food...

I know its thier nature to eat the plants. SO its totally my fault to begin with...Bad Spankey Very bad.....

So now my MTS are here and seem very shy to light? It took them about 6 hours last night to even move in the tank? I thought I killed them? But they are burrowed now and one is on the glass squirming around...

Thanks for the replies....

Spank...

Ya know what, I wanted to ask another question.. My local water resivior has a ton of snails in it. I take my son up there on a hot day in the shallow end and just pull snails off the plants.. THey are only the size of a dime, maybee due to being young yet. But they are spiralled like the ramshorn? Could they be? I was just curious... As there is ONE of these in my tank and hes about the size of a dime yet. He cruises over the plants all day long and doesn't nibble a bite... He has the spiral looking shell, mostly all tight instead of the MTS forming out sideways? If you understand?

They might not be, but he seems to do a good job at cleaning the plants. Have to get a few more this spring...

Just a question. I may be wrong though?

Steve Ballee' · 11-28-2002, 9:51 AM

have frequently heard of these, and have even recieved a few on plants from petsmart, so far, havent had any issues with plant damage with them, and never had one get over dime sized if it's what I'm thinking of, not a tight spiral shell like a ramshorn, seems to let a little of the spiral project so it's pointed, but different than the mts. and My Mts are very light phobic, they tend to only come out and about when the lights are down, then they swarm.

RTR · 11-28-2002, 9:51 AM

Yes, MTS tend to be more nocturnal than diurnal. If you want to know how many you really have, go into the room in the middle of the dark cycle and use a flashlight. Burrowing shallowly in the substrate during the light is a good survival trait.

Colombian Ramshorns are attractive, breed with egg clusters at or above the water surface like the other Apples, but are especially good at plant-eating, more than many of their other Apple cousins.

The wild snail you describe sounds like a regular Ramshorn. They peak between 3/4 and 1 inch in diameter. They are harmless to plants IME. They lack the stripes and the size of the tropical Colombian Ramshorns.

http://www.applesnail.net/ is a great source of info on snails.

gnome · 11-30-2002, 1:59 AM

I wrote a really long reply *right* before the site change. I'll try to remember...

Here's a snail site that I love:
http://perso.infonie.be/pomacea/index01_uk.htm

If you click on the upper right-hand button that says "Planorbes," you'll see the ramshorns that are wonderful in a planted tank. Mine have *never* harmed healthy leaves, and have managed to scrape off BBA from Anubias leaves, polish away diatoms (thank God - I have NO luck with keeping otos alive), and they even put in a good, hard try at green spot, but I usually have to take a razor to it.

If you click on the upper left-hand button that says "Ampullariidae," and then click on where it says "Marisa cornuarietis" in small, blue letters, you'll see the ramshorns that I suspect you put in your tank. That's the Colombian ramshorn, and they are voracious plant-eaters.

The "good" ramshorns rarely reach a diameter exceeding 3/4". I can't seem to grow mine much past 1/4" before they die. I think my water is too hard. On the other hand, if the water is too soft and acidic, their shells will get etched away (making them look chalky-white) and they won't survive long under these conditions, either. MTS's will also fail to survive and populate if the water is too soft and acidic. I've only *heard* of this happening. I couldn't get rid of my MTS's unless I started with completely fresh substrate.

I find that ramshorns are more beneficial to a plant tank than MTS's. They eat a wider variety of algae. Also, MTS's are really despised by fish breeders because they are voracious egg-eaters, making it virtually impossible to breed egg-laying fish. Somehow, though, I've managed to keep the MTS's and ramshorns together in a tank without the ramshorns going totally extinct (ramshorns are egg-laying while MTS's are livebearers). I wouldn't mind seeing some more of the ramshorns in my tanks, though. They're really pretty, as well as hard-working.

Happy critter-hunting!