Guess what, now I have some questions about snails. =D?
Okay, well the other day, yesterday or the day before, I posted a question asking how I can get the left over fish food out of my fry tank so that I won’t have to vacuum it out multiple times a day since they don’t eat a lot.
Someone mentioned snails, so I am going to try that, so I have a few questions.
Can snails harm/eat my little fry? They like to stay at the bottom of the tank, will the snail eat them?
Can snails be housed with Platies? (Will the Platies hurt the snails when they grow up?)
Do snails need a hood/light, or a special type of lighting?
How do they reproduce? Can they do it by themselves or will they need another snail to reproduce? Depending on the price in pet smart I am probably only going to get one.
If they do reproduce by themselves, how many can I house in a 10 gallon tank with 5 Platy fry?
If they reproduce like crazy what can I do with the other snails… Can they survive on land if I put them outside?
Will they climb up the tank and out of it if it doesn’t have a hood on it?
Do snails produce a lot of waste/ammonia, the tank isn’t cycled, which is the main reason I want to get the left over food out so that it doesn’t produce ammonia and overdo my poor little bacteria. The fry are small, they are only 9 days old, so they shouldn’t produce a lot of ammonia so the bacteria should be fine right now. Would 1 snail and the 5 fry be too much for the bacteria?
And lastly, can snails be housed with a male Betta? I plan on getting a Betta in another one of my 10 gallon tanks, and if the snails reproduce by themselves I might put one in there to help clean out that tank, and maybe one in my other tank. So will the Betta eat/kill the snail if I put one in there?
Sorry for all of the questions. I just want to cover all the basis before I go and waste what little money I do have on something that might not even eat the left over fry food.
If there is anything else you think I should know about snails then PLEASE post it here.
I forgot! Should I feed the snail anything besides left over fry food? Do they eat algae or other stuff inside the aquariums? I don’t have any live plants, so they can’t eat the dead plants. Is there anything specific that I should buy for the snail?
10 points to best answer (to the person who answers ALL 10 of my questions and who gives good information)!!!!!!!!!
Snails cannot harm your fry because they will eat the leftovers the fish leave.
Yes, and probably not.
No.
They are both male and female (which means they have male and female parts) , but do need another snail to reproduce.
No, because the snails in fish tanks are aquatic.
Yes.
I don’t know, but their mucus might be a problem.
Yes, because male betta fish attack anything that poses them a threat. Anything else that’s colorful and frilly and moves is considered a target to a beta. The snail will *hopefully* blend in with the gravel or other substrate you use.
HAHA you answered my question about my Platy’s/Molly’s! Thanks! Well anyways,
!!!
1. They wont harm fry
2. They wont interact w/ Platies or other fish…so yes!
3.No special type of lighting!
4. I don’t know about there repro.habits, but I think they lay eggs……like a egg laying fish.(yes, they are pricey!)
5.Yes, you can have a community tank.
6. Keep at least a couple of baby snails to help with tank cleaning!!! And, I think you can put them in a pond or lake.
7.Yes, they are able to climb out(been there, done that).
8. Just have water conditioner/ a reaaalllyy strong/good filter!
9. Yes, like I said before, you can have a snail in a community tank. They won’t kill eachother!
10. Snails are fine feeding off of the bottom, but if you want put some extra food in the tank. That way the snail can have more!
**PLZZZ 10 POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!**
1. No, they won’t harm your fry. Snails are too slow and lack the physical strength to catch and kill a fish.
2. They’ll be fine together.
3. No.
4. Depends entirely on the species – different snails reproduce in different ways. Because you’re getting them from Petsmart, I’ll assume you’ll be getting Mystery Snails (Pomacea diffusa), which have separate sexes (male and female) and require both in order to breed.
5. Again, if we’re talking Mystery Snails, three for a 10g should be good.
6. Mystery Snails don’t reproduce all that fast, and you can always sell/trade/give away any extras you don’t want. They will not survive on land, nor should you be releasing them into the wild since it’s illegal.
7. Mystery Snails climb out of the water in order to lay their eggs. They can unfortunately lose their grip and fall to the floor, which often results in death. Unless there’s quite a gap between the surface of the water and the top of your tank, you’re better off with a hood.
8. Mystery Snails are fairly heavy waste producers. I would not put them in an uncycled tank. 5 Platy fry will be perfectly fine in a 10g even if it is uncycled, because the fry have a very low bioload, and the water volume is very large compared to them. What you should keep in check however is the uneaten food, as that can cause more ammonia than the fry. You also shouldn’t use Mystery Snails as cleaners, since they aren’t much good for that purpose, and have a high bioload themselves.
9. Depends entirely on the individual Betta’s personality. I’ve had one that completely ignored snails, and another that would pester them non-stop.
10. While Mystery Snails can eat leftover food and algae, they cannot survive on that alone, and need the addition of foods like algae wafers and pellets.
Snails are harmless towards fry (unless the fry are sick/dying/dead in which case they’ll “clear” that up too!) BUT they can be HIGH waste producers. I don’t recommend them in a tank without a properly matured filtered, they pretty much constantly poop.
If you have a lot of waste in your fry tank you’d be better off using a turkey baster to manually remove it as soon as it hits the bottom of the tank – and make sure the tank has a bare bottom to make this task easier!
In a mature tank a snail would be fine, such as in your Betta tank. There are an assortment of species available. Common Apple Snails get pretty large, instead you could look at freshwater Nerites (they only breed in brackish water) or my personal favourite (if you can find them for sale) Spixi Apple Snail, i’ve had mine for about 3 years now, maybe longer, lost count! But he’s still rocking around and been in a few of my tanks heh (with Bettas too). They get 1″ long max.
Spixi:
http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Asolene_spixi
Tracked Nerite:
http://www.planetinverts.com/tracked_nerite_snail.html
Zebra Nerite:
http://www.planetinverts.com/zebra_nerite_snail.html
Horned Nerite:
http://www.planetinverts.com/horned_nerite_snail.html
They do best in a tank with a lid, while they’re unlikely to climb out (except for Apple Snails, they will!) if there’s a problem with water quality they’ll make their escape. All of the above are not hermaphrodites either, so if you keep ONE you won’t get any little accidents! As I said, Nerites only breed in brackish water anyway. I supplement mine with blanched vegetables occasionally, he loves a bit of lettuce.
you can get mystery snails at petsmart and they will be too big for any fish you listed to bother. they will eat leftover food and algae and plants. you can buy algae tablets too. If there isn’t a enough left over food or algae then you will need to use sinking algae tablets. snails do produce ammonia just like any other aquatic pet. some snails are asexual and some are male or female. mystery snails are male or female. I would keep a hood on the aquarium. Ghost shrimp would probably be better for what your tryin to achieve with your aquarium. they are 33cents and petsmart. snails can not live outside water, they will dry up.