Snail eggs?
Started by
Guest_lozgod_*
, Oct 31 2009 12:11 AM
13 replies to this topic
#4
Michael Wolfe
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- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 01 November 2009 - 09:56 AM
Re Snails-the bane of the aquarium, especially for those who favor live plants:
www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquarium/snails.php
Extraordinarily bad advice... snails are great... particularly in aquariums with live plants... they clean up, they provide eggs (which fish eat either as eggs or baby snails), and they mostly eat algae and decaying plant matter... not your live plants...
Aquariums should not be sterile environments... they should be models of the eco-system... or at least as close as we can do.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#5
Guest_schambers_*
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Posted 01 November 2009 - 12:44 PM
I agree with Michael, snails are great. My favorites are the malaysian trumpet snails. I always throw some in any new aquariums I set up. They come up out of the substrate at night and clean it up. Ramshorns and pond snails are free fish food. I don't have any problems with snails eating my plants. If the snail population gets too high, it's a sign I'm feeding too much.
#7
Guest_fenix_*
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Posted 01 November 2009 - 05:49 PM
Extraordinarily bad advice... snails are great... particularly in aquariums with live plants... they clean up, they provide eggs (which fish eat either as eggs or baby snails), and they mostly eat algae and decaying plant matter... not your live plants...
Aquariums should not be sterile environments... they should be models of the eco-system... or at least as close as we can do.
-And do you enjoy it when they eat your fish eggs?
Let me clarify: some snails are good scavengers, such as the mystery snail- but let your tank get infected by ramshorn, or pond, or some apple snail varieties, and kiss your eggs g'bye- also your plants.
Your Malaysian snails are unsightly on the glass because they overpopulate very quickly- I don't mind a few, but after a major cleanup, incl plants and gravel and glass 5 months ago, I find myself facing it again because I have a breeding pair in my 55- two layings have been eaten in the last week...
When the lights go on, they're so thick that the tank looks like I just filled it and the gas bubbles have become stuck to the glass- hundreds of them!!!
- I have nerites and apple snails in my livebearer tanks though--
#8
Guest_gzeiger_*
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Posted 01 November 2009 - 06:06 PM
I haven't seen any evidence of pond snails or ramshorns eating live plants. I've tried hard to establish both in all of my tanks. I have a few survivors in two tanks - all very large ramshorns that haven't managed to hatch a single egg. I've set up separate tubs to try to raise more snails for fish food, but they just don't last long.
#9
Guest_threegoldfish_*
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Posted 01 November 2009 - 06:10 PM
I have ramshorns and pond snails in all of my tanks and the only time I see any eating of plants is when the population gets out of control because of my overfeeding the tank dry food and then cutting back. And that's only by the pond snails. Tanks with just ramshorns never have eaten plants. Tanks that get a higher percentage of live and frozen also have smaller snail populations.
#10
Guest_schambers_*
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Posted 01 November 2009 - 08:19 PM
-And do you enjoy it when they eat your fish eggs?
I'm sure that is very frustrating. Snails are nearly impossible to eradicate.
Your Malaysian snails are unsightly on the glass because they overpopulate very quickly- I don't mind a few, but after a major cleanup, incl plants and gravel and glass 5 months ago, I find myself facing it again because I have a breeding pair in my 55- two layings have been eaten in the last week...
Malaysian trumpet snails are parthenogenic. They are all female.
When the lights go on, they're so thick that the tank looks like I just filled it and the gas bubbles have become stuck to the glass- hundreds of them!!!
Try feeding less. Speaking from personal experience, when I've had population explosions, feeding less usually fixes it. They are living on the leftover fish food.
- I have nerites and apple snails in my livebearer tanks though--
I love nerites! Have you bred them? I know they need brackish water to breed.
#11
Michael Wolfe
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- Board of Directors
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- North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage
Posted 02 November 2009 - 09:13 AM
-And do you enjoy it when they eat your fish eggs?
Good point... but I was responding to the concept of snails eating plants... which I think has mostly been overstated in the past, and which I have never experienced to any detrimental level... even though I have a lot of tanks, all planted and all with snails... except that I have a hard time keeping very many snails because the darters have a tendancy to eat them all.
But it is also true that I tend to keep community tanks (not breeding setups) so don't have a lot of eggs that survive anyway... so that may also be a difference in our perspectives.
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin
#12
Guest_Newt_*
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Posted 02 November 2009 - 09:41 AM
I have kept planorbids, ancylids, physids, lymnaeids, pleurocerids, etc. in planted tanks and have never seen signs of damage to the living plants. The snails do happily eat dead and dying vegetation, but that is a bonus in my view. I have heard that the apple snails called "canas" are hard on plants.
My biggest concern with snails is their propensity to serve as secondary hosts of various vertebrate parasites. I have not had any issues with transference to my fish or herps so far, but it is certainly a possibility.
My biggest concern with snails is their propensity to serve as secondary hosts of various vertebrate parasites. I have not had any issues with transference to my fish or herps so far, but it is certainly a possibility.
#14
Guest_gerald_*
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Posted 02 November 2009 - 05:22 PM
Keep in mind that "ramshorn" and "pond snail" are generic terms that refer to LOTS of different snail species, some quite unrelated. Some of the disgareement in this thread may be from talking about different snails. The large striped "Colombian Ramshorn" is actually in the apple snail family, very distantly related to the Planorbid family of "true" ramshorns (e.g. the small European red/brown ramshorns that breed profusely in aquariums).
Please note MTS (Melanoides tuberculata) can survive temperatures from freezing to 90+F, high salinities, and can take several months out of water before dying of dehydration. So be very careful not to release them into ponds, streams or marshes! They are banned in some states including NC because of their invasive potential.
If anyone knows of a study testing the propensity of various snails to eat live fish eggs, i've been wondering for years what are the "safest" small snails to use in fish breeding tanks (besides expensive nerites).
Please note MTS (Melanoides tuberculata) can survive temperatures from freezing to 90+F, high salinities, and can take several months out of water before dying of dehydration. So be very careful not to release them into ponds, streams or marshes! They are banned in some states including NC because of their invasive potential.
If anyone knows of a study testing the propensity of various snails to eat live fish eggs, i've been wondering for years what are the "safest" small snails to use in fish breeding tanks (besides expensive nerites).
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