Snail

[T.c.T]

Is fresh water snail good or bad ? Why ?

Thanks

[poel_19]

depends on the snails you want..... which one you interested in??

[Haiven]

In my opinion, all snails are a pain. Their only saving grace is that they're food for loaches and puffers.

That is, of course, except for the thrice-damned Malaysian Trumpet snails which appear to be invulnerable and multiply like rabbits!

[biggin]

If you have a tank with a sandy bottom the MTS is not that bad it does a nice job keeping it tilled up.

Other snails are good for food. And some people just like snails. I think it mostly a preference thing.

[xtc]

Malaysian Trumpet Snails are the work of the devil. Unsightly bastards reproduce by masterbation- one you have them- they'll find a way to move to all your tanks.

[biggin]

roflmao

Malaysian Trumpet Snails are the work of the devil. Unsightly bastards reproduce by masterbation- one you have them- they'll find a way to move to all your tanks.

[dcacjc]

Kind of like the duck weed you spread around. :hehe:

[eklikewhoa]

Nerites are about the best snails you could have in a tank.

[bgk245]

I've had an apple snail that my kids loved and it kept the algae in the tank well controlled. Tried to replace it when it died, and accidentally got a gold mystery snail instead, which had to be immediately moved to the 10g with the plastic plants, lest it should devour my plants down in one night. You just have to be very careful to know which one you get so you don't put a mowing machine in a planted tank (applesnail.net has a good description of the difference).

If you can get one, and only one, tiny ramshorn snail before it's reached breeding maturity, they are good algae eaters for small tanks (have one in my 5g betta tank). But the problem is that if they are bigger than a rice krispie, and have been anywhere near another snail, they are probably laying eggs and will overrun the tank. I've heard people swear that they only reproduce up to some mythical point where the food runs out, and if you just don't overfeed you won't have a problem, but the last time I tested that theory, I ended up with about 50 of them in a 3g before I called a halt to the experiment and tossed them into my backyard half-barrel water garden (a few survived last winter and were still around 2 weeks ago when I cleaned it out). On the other hand, a tiny one allowed to grow alone so it won't breed will not be able to clean more than a small desktop tank, so as far as I'm concerned, they are only useful in container water gardens (not ponds where there's any risk they'll get loose into nearby creeks or watershed area) and betta tanks.

[bra8ndy8]

Ummmmm aren't snails....male and female?? And reproduce on their own?? So if you have one,you have many?

[tsunderl]

http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Snails/snail.html#sex

Male or female ?
The snail is both male and female. Therefore, it can produce sperms and eggs at the same time ! Isn't that incredible ? However, to fertilize the eggs, the snails need to exchange sperms with each other. An animal which is both a male and a female is called a hermaphrodite. The brown garden snail lays about 80 spherical shaped white or yellowish colored eggs at a time into the topsoil of the ground. It can lay eggs up to six times a year. Snails take about 2 years to become adults. <A name=life>

[jjriotgrrl]

they are so elegant when they move, it's like watching ballet in slow motion....then they get to the top and hang out breathing for awhile and then PLOP! they let themselve fall to the bottom to start over again. ocasionally they will groom fish. very gentle. they get as big as the bottom of a coke can!:eek:

[xtc]

I like to hear peanut CRUNCH their shells. :exactly:

[supersmirky]

:npics:

I want to see this crunching of their shells!!

[xtc]

crawfish are better- I'll try to get a video up- but it looks a lot like this:

YouTube - Fahaka Puffer Fish Vs. Crayfish :D

Except Peanut won't give em time to hit the substrate.

Snails sound like:
YouTube - Fahaka puffer eating escargot

[tsunderl]

The crayfish video is no longer available. :(

They must have some hellacious jaws to crunch snail shells like that!

[greeneyed]

Go to it using the title bar on the window. It works.

[tsunderl]

Go to it using the title bar on the window. It works.

Silly me! :brandy:

Poor crawdad never saw it coming!

[eklikewhoa]

One healthy and beautiful looking Fahaka!

[bgk245]

When I went over to haiven's a couple of weeks ago to buy some of her sale stuff, she gave me 4 or 5 of her red snails. I tossed them into my current q-tank while I looked them up on the internet, plus put the smallest (grain of sand sized) into my daughter's 5g betta tank. As soon as I realized a red snail is just a prettier ramshorn, they went into the backyard water garden. If they can survive the cold this week, they are welcome to reproduce to their hearts' content and munch on crud and algae, but I spent 8 months last year trying to rid my 25g of ramshorn snails after they hitchiked in on a plant. I ended up having to mow my java ferns down almost to bare roots, because the underside of most of the leaves was polka-dotted with tiny snails. If only half of them had survived, I'd have had 50 or 60 ready to lay eggs in a few weeks.

They probably spent 3 hours in the q-tank. So far, I've removed/squashed/cursed at about 10 tiny hatchlings in that tank, and they're still coming. I thought the teeniest one was safe to put in the betta tank, but noooo, a week later, we found a blob of eggs (we sponged out the eggs, and sent the snail to the barrel pond on my back yard, where it can chill out with its cousins).

My fault entirely, not haiven's. I should have looked before dumping the bag in the q-tank, or just not taken them. I hate ramshorn snails. I really, really hate ramshorn snails!

[biggin]

They are easier to get rid of then MTS.... nothing eats MTS....

When I went over to haiven's a couple of weeks ago to buy some of her sale stuff, she gave me 4 or 5 of her red snails. I tossed them into my current q-tank while I looked them up on the internet, plus put the smallest (grain of sand sized) into my daughter's 5g betta tank. As soon as I realized a red snail is just a prettier ramshorn, they went into the backyard water garden. If they can survive the cold this week, they are welcome to reproduce to their hearts' content and munch on crud and algae, but I spent 8 months last year trying to rid my 25g of ramshorn snails after they hitchiked in on a plant. I ended up having to mow my java ferns down almost to bare roots, because the underside of most of the leaves was polka-dotted with tiny snails. If only half of them had survived, I'd have had 50 or 60 ready to lay eggs in a few weeks.

They probably spent 3 hours in the q-tank. So far, I've removed/squashed/cursed at about 10 tiny hatchlings in that tank, and they're still coming. I thought the teeniest one was safe to put in the betta tank, but noooo, a week later, we found a blob of eggs (we sponged out the eggs, and sent the snail to the barrel pond on my back yard, where it can chill out with its cousins).

My fault entirely, not haiven's. I should have looked before dumping the bag in the q-tank, or just not taken them. I hate ramshorn snails. I really, really hate ramshorn snails!

[tsunderl]

They are easier to get rid of then MTS.... nothing eats MTS....

Spouses do.... :hehe: