I had some "ram" snails and they worked really good to get all the algae off the tanks, however, they reproduce by themselves and i hate having a million baby snails. Are there are any inexpensive freshwater snails that do not reproduce by themselves and eat algae??
I like apple snails, but they get HUGE so you would need a very large tank. I bought a tennis ball sized one for 10 bucks. Other than that, mystery snails are pretty neat and I have never had one reproduce in my tanks, but that is just my experience. It doesnt mean they wont.
Nerite snails are fantastic algae eaters, don't eat healthy plants and are very difficult to breed in freshwater (I won't say they never breed in freshwater since I know people that can do it but it is not at all like MTS or rams horn snails). I love mine, have had them for almost a year, they are hard workers and have not bred.
I bought mine for $1 per snail, I think, and had them shipped by mail, got here in 2 days so the cost was minimal. You could try local area fish groups and see or try to have your LFS order some as they are getting more and more popular.
i just got a couple ruby red nerite snails, sold as 'onion snails' at the lfs. the same store who sell chinese algae eaters as sae's, anyways, i dunno if it's an official name, but thought it might help you find them.
don't let everybody know about this or they will be beating down my door but,
i've got some very rare Malysian Trumpet snails i'll sell you. Looks just like a horn and they say late at night when all's quite and the moon's out you can here them playing the blues, but who really knows?
