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Old 18-07-2003, 11:15 AM
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Default Snail in my tank, help with I.D.

I have pond snails in my 75, and I have seen them eat some of my plants. But
they also are on the glass eating algae a lot too. So I let them stay but I
control the numbers by crunching them. I've found that my Rainbows love them
if I crunch the shell first. And my Rosy Barbs have been seen catching a
snail on the gravel moving along, forcefully removing it from the shell for
a snack! That is kind of fun to watch... They didn't start doing that until
I started crunching the shell and dropping them back to the bottom. I guess
the Rosy's decided they didn't want to wait for me... Plus I also have a
dwarf puffer tank I throw them into a lot. The puffers don't let them stay
for long... :-)

Ron

"Eric Schreiber" wrote in message
...
"spider" wrote:

I have a snail in my tank that I would like to have an I.D.
for, please help.

Click link below to see photos.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze4xq4m/id5.html


That snail looks like what I've been referring to as a "pond snail".
No doubt there are dozens of possible species. The snail probably came
in on some plants that you bought.

I've read mixed opinions on this kind of snail - some people think
they're a serious problem in a planted tank. I've got dozens of these
guys in my heavily planted 20 gallon, and have never noticed any
particular problem with them. They certainly eat algae, but I've never
seen them cause damage to my plants.

They will lay a *lot* of eggs, in tiny gel masses, and certainly could
breed out of control. You can get rid of them several ways -
chemicals, which isn't really recommended, bait/trap, which won't get
rid of them all but can reduce the population, or by adding a fish
that eats them, like a loach. This last choice apparently works very
well, though loaches may not be a good choice in a particular tank.

Personally, I would advise to not worry about them unless they start
to become a serious problem. I occasionally collect a bunch of mine
and put them into a small tank with four dwarf puffers, who apparently
are fond of snails for lunch.


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