Japanese trapdoor Snails for darters and sunfish?

I have a greenside darter and a redear sunfish (separate aquariums) and was thinking about getting some Japanese trapdoor snails for their aquariums. I I know both are snail eaters and was wondering if they could eat the juvenile snails while possibly leaving the adults alone? Worst case I can try breeding some of the snails in a separate tank for them if needed, but would they be able to eat the snails or are they not easy for them to eat due to shell thickness or the trap door?

Depends on how big the fish and snails are respectively. Ramshorn snails might be a good alternative since they're often found for free from local hobbyists

The redear is about 4-5” and the greenside darter is 3”. Might get the trapdoor snails and then use the ramshorn snails I currently have as food until the trapdoors breed.

I had an adult trapdoor snail in my tank a couple years ago with rainbow, Johnny, banded and fantail darters and they left it alone. However, they ( the darters) DID snack on a few of my smaller river snails. I would keep smaller snails in their to distract the darters away from the trapdoor snails.

My rainbow darters eat my trapdoors and ramshorns, but they reproduce at such a rapid rate that the population never suffers. Though I would suggest getting a few large trapdoors to start off with just to deter the darters from eating smaller ones. I brought home a big trapdoor from a local lake (without knowing it was an invasive) and it turned out she was pregnant and had like 25 babies, and that's the population that continues on (sadly she died a couple months ago)

Edited by chicagofisher, 19 February 2022 - 01:29 AM.