surprise snails in my tank

klfvilla

klfvilla

AC Members
Mar 15, 2007
196
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0
Southern Ontario, Canada
Yesterday, I noticed a bunch of tiny brown snails in my tank. They must have come in with my hornwort plant. My tank is only 5 gallons. What should I do about the snails? Will they eat up my plants? Will my betta and my dwarf platy eat them first? Help Please!
 
Sounds like the common pond snail to me. IMO, they are beneficial, eating leftover food (if there is any) and algae, as well as doing an excellent job of trimming the rot off of plants.. they will not eat live plants, you may see what appears to be a snail eating your plants, however. do not worry, it is merely stripping any algae or slime off the leaf.

the betta may find these guys tasty, but as long as you clean your tank well, and dont overfeed, the population will stay down and you will be alright.
 
A couple of things I've seen to avoid chemical solutions: certain types of loaches, including clown loaches will eat snails; you can bait them with a piece of a vegetable overnight--cucumber, lettuce--then remove the vegetable when the snails have all attached themselves to it.
 
One of the snails is especially big so I can see it better. The shell is gold - not yellow, but literally shiny gold with some brown, and its antennas are really long. Does that fit the description of a pond snail?
 
amhodge said:
A couple of things I've seen to avoid chemical solutions: certain types of loaches, including clown loaches will eat snails; you can bait them with a piece of a vegetable overnight--cucumber, lettuce--then remove the vegetable when the snails have all attached themselves to it.
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Don't put a clown loach in a five gallon tank please!:duh:
 
That sounds like pond snails, they are fun! Don't overfeed and pick the extras out manually and they shouldn't become a problem for you. I actually started a colony in my 10 gallon q tank, because my keyholes were eating all of mine... and I missed them. :)
 
yeah, i have a 20g tank that is my snail tank.. i have hundreds of snails and i love them. :)
 
Look like a lot of different opinions. Some people love em, some people hate em. I've been thinking about getting some of the larger snails for my 29-gallon. Any suggestions on nice colorful ones?
 
enrique4jc said:
Look like a lot of different opinions. Some people love em, some people hate em. I've been thinking about getting some of the larger snails for my 29-gallon. Any suggestions on nice colorful ones?
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I like my Blue Mystery snail and its pretty big.
 
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