snails in breeding tank

redtail · Post by **redtail** » 17 Aug 2004, 18:10

i was wondering having snails in my bushynose & clown pleco breeding tanks a good thing or a bad thing?

koltrast · Post by **koltrast** » 17 Aug 2004, 20:10

I would say it's a bad thing because the snails eat the same thing as the catfish. It may also be difficult to get rid of the snails, depending upon which snail species you get.

- Erik

Mike_Noren · Post by **Mike_Noren** » 18 Aug 2004, 13:16

Depending on what species of snail, it may also eat fish eggs. Malaysian Tower Snails definitely and Apple Snails probably will eat fish eggs; especially the nocturnal MTS is a serious threat to cave-spawning fish.

redtail · Post by **redtail** » 18 Aug 2004, 18:32

how about pond snail & ramshorns. anyone has a picture of what a MTS looks like?

Boots n all · Post by **Boots n all** » 19 Aug 2004, 04:55

Our peckoltias eat the common snail eggs as they are laid, fresh food!

Mike_Noren · Post by **Mike_Noren** » 20 Aug 2004, 14:10

redtail wrote:how about pond snail & ramshorns. anyone has a picture of what a MTS looks like?

Pond snails are a diverse lot. Some wont touch anything but decaying vegetable matter, some are said tol eat pretty much anything, including fish eggs and aquarium plants. This is the only one I've had, and it seemed totally harmless, a 2cm long Peregrine pondsnail, Lymnaea peregra:
http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/specimens/ ... CN5612.jpg

The eggsnails aka bladdersnails, smallish snails mainly of the genus Physa, are perhaps the most common aquarium snails, and seem to be completely harmless. They typically grow to 8 - 10 mm in size. Here's a pic of a Physa: http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/specimens/ ... CN4592.jpg

"Ramshorn" isn't so much a species of snail as it's a shape. There's tons of "ramshorns" out there. Common are minute Planorbid snails like the one perched on the Peregrine Pondsnail in this picture:
http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/specimens/ ... CN5484.jpg
As far as I can tell these very small snails only eat rotting vegetation and algae.
However, the colombian or giant ramshorn ( http://www.applesnail.net/content/speci ... rietis.htm ) is a flat species of applesnail, and will munch down on pretty much anything not fast enough to get away, including other snails.

Finally, here's a pic of a common species of MTS:
http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/specimens/ ... CN8220.jpg
As suggested by the picture they do in fact eat algae, but will happily also eat snail- and fish-eggs, and leftover fish food. Useful cleaners, but not good for breeding tanks.

All of these have the capacity for population explosion in aquaria where there's ample food.

snails in breeding tank

snails in breeding tank

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