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Native snails as substrate cleaners

Started by Guest_Newt_* , Feb 01 2008 12:21 PM

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12 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 01 February 2008 - 12:21 PM

I've seen recommendations to use various tropical snails as aquarium substrate cleaners, and to help prevent rotting detritus from building up in the crevices. Is there any reason native snails wouldn't work? Various physids, planorbids, and pleurocerids are abundantly available near me, and I'd much rather have natives than exotics in the tank.

I know snails are hosts for many fish parasites, but wouldn't snails from fish-free waters most likely be clean?

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#2 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 01 February 2008 - 12:33 PM

A lot of the native snails can be big plant eaters, so people sometimes avoid them. The generic pond snail doesn't do too much damage in my tank, but they do leave a lot of egg masses on the walls. People like the Malaysian trumpet snails because they don't eat plants and are livebearing (no unsightly eggs). Plus, they really come out more at night, so are less conspicuous.

Some people have spoken very highly of native olive nerites. I'd love to try some myself but don't have a good (read: cheap) source.

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#3 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 01 February 2008 - 12:34 PM

Thanks, Nativeplanter. I'll have to look into those Nerites.

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#4 Guest_wegl2001_*

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Posted 01 February 2008 - 12:53 PM

I use the nerites in several of my tanks. I don't know if they do a good job sifting the gravel but they do a fantastic job on algae. The only drawback, as far as i'm concerned, is the huge number of little white eggs they scatter all over the tank. Kind of unsightly but easy to remove from the glass. I've heard differing opinions on whether or not the eggs will hatch in freshwater but I have yet to spot a baby snail in any of my tanks. I have spotted egg cases that look like they had hatched but this could be the result of the eggs dissolving. I read somewhere that they have a pelagic stage and thus were eaten by fish. Anybody else have any info?

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#5 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 01 February 2008 - 03:12 PM

Thanks, Wegl2001. Upon a little research, I learned that Olive Nerites, while native to North America, are not found anywhere near me. I would like to have all local species in this tank, so I guess it's back to collecting some wild snails.

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#6 Guest_arnoldi_*

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Posted 01 February 2008 - 03:59 PM

My darters and sunfish love snails, hence the only problem I've had with them is keeping them alive.

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#7 Guest_dafrimpster_*

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Posted 01 February 2008 - 11:25 PM

I have tons of Malaysian Trumpet snails if you decide you want some. I will send you some for shipping cost.

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#8 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 02 February 2008 - 12:33 PM

I have tons of Malaysian Trumpet snails if you decide you want some. I will send you some for shipping cost.

Thanks, I may take you up on that. It'll be a few weeks before I set the tank up; I'll pm you then.

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#9 Guest_machineman_*

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Posted 02 February 2008 - 01:15 PM

I put some common pond snails in my tank to eat the algae. They seem to do that but not that well, I think that you would need alot to take care of algae problems. They dont seem to eat my plants, but they do leave eggs on the walls. I dont know how good they are at cleaning the substrate and my Green sunfish eat all the smaller ones.

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#10 Guest_mette_*

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Posted 02 February 2008 - 11:55 PM

A lot of the native snails can be big plant eaters, so people sometimes avoid them. The generic pond snail doesn't do too much damage in my tank, but they do leave a lot of egg masses on the walls. People like the Malaysian trumpet snails because they don't eat plants and are livebearing (no unsightly eggs). Plus, they really come out more at night, so are less conspicuous.

I have some native snails in my tanks. The dime-sized planorbids are excellent detritivores and sunfish fodder, but the big, conispiral lymnaeid pond snails are occasional plant eaters and lay enormous egg masses all over the tank. They aren't that bad, though.

I'm also up to my eyeballs in Malaysian Trumpets. They are indeed livebearing, nocturnal, more or less inoffensive and useful aquarium subjects. They are also parthenogenetic and have an operculated shell that allows for excellent resistance to dessication. They are phenomenal invasives, and are doing a number on endemic snails in places like the Bonneville Basin. They can be schistosome vectors, too.

When I broke down my 55 gallon I let the substrate air dry, then dumped it into a sealed 5 gallon pail and left it on the porch for a full year. Frozen in the winter, 95* F in the summer, and bone dry. So I set a new tank up, and as soon as I got that stuff wet the MTS were out having a look around.

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#11 Guest_mette_*

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Posted 03 February 2008 - 05:47 PM

The introduction of an invasive snail (Melanoides tuberculata) to spring ecosystems of the Bonneville Basin, Utah.
Rader, R. B., Belk, M. C., Keleher, M. J., Journal of Freshwater Ecology, 2003 (Vol. 18) (No. 4) 647-657

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#12 Guest_bpkeck_*

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Posted 04 February 2008 - 10:32 AM

I used to put Malaysian TS in with my darters just to watch them eat them. Big greensides quickly manipulate the shell to get their mouth perfectly at the shell aperture, give a couple good sucks, and discard the emptied shell. Rainbows tend to suck enough to expose the snail enough to bite it and then shake it out. Redlines are pathetic at it, can't get a good vacuum and don't seem to know how to manipulate the shell.

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#13 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 04 February 2008 - 11:38 AM

Thanks, everyone. I think I'll try a mix of Physa, Physella, Helisoma, and maybe some pleurocerids. If those all get eaten, I'll try some bigger lymnaeids or viviparids. I might also add some Corbicula- they can at least help filter the water, and if they get eaten, good riddance.