Ramshorn snails.....

yes i wish! i have soo many i have been putting them in my dads tank because he has a banjo cat, and he eats them. But some are too big to be crushed... and i do crush my babys and do regular scrapings of the nests
 
Betta-Gurl said:
yes i wish! i have soo many i have been putting them in my dads tank because he has a banjo cat, and he eats them. But some are too big to be crushed... and i do crush my babys and do regular scrapings of the nests
how can a snail be "too big" to be crushed? Ever try a common ball-peen hammer or framing hammer? In high school (went to school in Germany) we had TONS of huge (palm sized) slugs crawling all around after a heavy rain. When we were waiting at the bus stop, we would grab several and place them in the probable tire tracks of cars that would pass by. There wasn't ever ONE that was "too big" to crush! Maybe I'm just not understanding your point?
 
Betta-Gurl said:
thats slugs though not snails!
So as I understand it - You REALLY ARE telling me that your snails are bullet-proof! What in the world is the difference in a snail or a slug shell? I don't care if it's a hermit crab shell, or a Conch shell for that matter! Give me a hammer and show me Mr. Indestructable! I'm betting he'll see things my way!
 
That may be a technical definition of a slug, but I guess we weren't aware of that when everyone called those huge "snails" "slugs" when I was in high school. Either way they had huge (literally palm sized or larger adult size) bodies with their shells. Either way, you are talking about snails, and I can smash those (whichever they really are) like eggs......literally, it's about that simple with a tool like a hammer!

When you tell me that you have got man-sized snails that you are having trouble smashing, then I will take things back to the drawing board, but until then, keep it simple!
 
With ramshorns, getting rid of them is much easier than pond snails, they need to be pretty good size to reproduce. start by removing all of them that are too big to crush :thud: . Put them in the deep freeze, and throw them out the back door the next morning. Then continue removing every visible snail until you have no more visible snails. Since it takes Ramshorn several weeks to reach breeding size it shouldn't be difficult to erradicate them once you remove everything big enough to lay eggs. I for one just wouldn't even think of having another tank without ramshorns unless there was just no way they could survive the fish I have.
Dave
 
well, snails for a start can breed with a single individual snail and chances were it had already mated when you got it.
also, why would you want to get rid of them? are they doing damage?
i find that they are exelent algae eaters and will strip a tank within hours.
to get rid of them in your situation removing them phisicaly, so youd probly need to use clown loaches or a snailcide.
while were on the topic, do malaysion trumpet snails damage plants?
 
MTS's, Pond snails and Common Ramshorns are all very plant friendly. MTS's are not as fast to clean up things as the others, and do not reproduce as rapidly, but will eventually reach decent populatins in most tanks, and are a really good critter to have IMO. I keep all three types mentioned in all of my tanks except the ones where the fish eat them. MTS's have the added bonus of being a substrate burrower, which will help some in plant tanks as well. just remember that they will only burrow as deep as Oxygen allows, so don't buy into the claims that they burrow all the way to the bottom glass.
Dave
 
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