Im considering on adding apple snails into my large comunity of discus, sorubim limas and plecs,goldie and peppermint, with one wild severum and a platydoras costatus. i know what they say about apple snails and plague proportion but if i keep an eye out for the eggs that are layed above the water line and i complete regular catchings of them i think i can keep the numbers o.k. I think there pretty cool in there own right and do a great job at cleaning algea and also come from the amazon. the thing im worried most is the lima swollowing them and chocking although i have seen my limas pick up pebbles and spit them out. will any of the fish i keep prey on the snails and offer some live food. or has anyone else had any experiance of mixing with snails.
Imo the combination of your population and apple snails will be perfectly okay. Also the apple snails will not become a plague, simply because they are visible enough to be picked out once you have too many of them - contrary to the Malaysian "digger" snail for example.
One thing to note: keep a close watch on them. Dead apple snails will strongly pollute the water in no time.
You will never have a problem of overpopulation when keeping apple snails even in a general community tank of average peaceful fish.
I raise the albinos just often enough to keep them going although I also get $0.50 each for them at my LFS.
They have to be set up in their own containers and fed a lot and it is messy business.
Although the water is a good source of infusoria when I'm raising fry that require them.
I mostly raise them in the summer outdoors because the containers are smelly even with aeration. I keep a heater in the container for cool periods and a cover to retain humidity for the eggs, The cover also keeps the adults from climbing out.
They are very useful to have around in their smaller sizes in your fry tanks.
