We're planning on lightly planting our 60 gallon tank which currently houses mystery and apple snails, are there any plants that the snails will leave alone?
Snails and plants??
- Thread starter wbaker01
- Start date
tanker
Josh Holloway--Be mine!!!
There are folks who claim if you keep apple snails fed well they will leave your plants alone, that being said:
Most apple snails will eat anything green. the mysteries will not if they are true mystery snails though. I had a couple of apple snails, and they ate plants that are generally consider resistant to herbivores. They even ate MY Java fern and Java Moss, as well as annubias, and bolbitus. You may want to try a few different plants, but I'd bet on the apple snails eating anything green. If you can keep them feds well enough and keep some tough plants you may do O.K.
Dave
Most apple snails will eat anything green. the mysteries will not if they are true mystery snails though. I had a couple of apple snails, and they ate plants that are generally consider resistant to herbivores. They even ate MY Java fern and Java Moss, as well as annubias, and bolbitus. You may want to try a few different plants, but I'd bet on the apple snails eating anything green. If you can keep them feds well enough and keep some tough plants you may do O.K.
Dave
Well, we definitely have an apple snail, he's almost the size of a tennis ball and we also have 6 more smaller snails that at least a few appear to be small apple snails. We've yet to plant the tank yet but the large apple snail eats quite a bit right now. That's kind of discouraging news because we'd like to have snails and plants. I guess we will see what happens.
There are more than one species of apple snails, i don't rememebr the scientif names but you want the ones that lay eggs above the water in a cluster.
I have about 40 of them in my tank right now and the only plants they eat are dead decaying leaves. They will suck the algae off the leaves and are EXCELENT at cleaning the tank and removing algae from plants.
You large Apple Snail WILL eat plants though.
The ones I have get to be about the size of a ping pong ball and come in white, yellow blue and black. (blue is white shell with black body)
If you in the Long beach area I will give you some for free!
it sounds like you just have the wrong species of snail for what you are trying to do.
I have no idea if my snails are fed well or not, but they swam aroudn the spot blackworms land when I put them in and will devour blanched zuchini.
They are GREAT for my plants though I would not imagine having my tank so clean without them. i think they eat more algae than my 3 otos. course there is like 40 of them in there right now untill I can get rid of them at the LFS...
I have about 40 of them in my tank right now and the only plants they eat are dead decaying leaves. They will suck the algae off the leaves and are EXCELENT at cleaning the tank and removing algae from plants.
You large Apple Snail WILL eat plants though.
The ones I have get to be about the size of a ping pong ball and come in white, yellow blue and black. (blue is white shell with black body)
If you in the Long beach area I will give you some for free!
it sounds like you just have the wrong species of snail for what you are trying to do.
I have no idea if my snails are fed well or not, but they swam aroudn the spot blackworms land when I put them in and will devour blanched zuchini.
They are GREAT for my plants though I would not imagine having my tank so clean without them. i think they eat more algae than my 3 otos. course there is like 40 of them in there right now untill I can get rid of them at the LFS...
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