snails in a fishtank,,,,,,,why.?

Question

i am new to looking after fish and wondered why people put snails in the tank.my fish cant even drive the tank so what are the snails supposed to do.(he he) only joking but what is the benefit and what kind of snails??

Answer 1

It all depends on the snails. Many snails are just pests, like the snails that come in on plants. They are unsightly and they aren't particularly benificial. Eventually they will overgrow the tank, so they need to be culled (I squish them against the glass). They are hermaphrodidic, so they reproduce rapidly.

Some snails, like apple snails and mystery snails, look nice. They are not hermaphrodites, so having just one in the tank can look nice, and your tank won't turn into a snail nursery. They eat some excess fish food and algae, but they won't keep your tank much cleaner than it would have been without the snail. In fact, snails process a lot of waste.

Snails like ramshorn snails can be a real nuissance, as some may eat your plants.

Malaysian Trumpet Snails are probably the most benificial snails out there. They reproduce easily but they spend the day burrowed in the substrate/gravel ,so you don;'t see them. They eat detritous in the gravel and keep it clean and oxygenated, preventing the accumulating of toxic gasses (particularly in sand).

Answer 2

Most people don't put snails in a tank they simply end up in the tank. Snail eggs often get caught in the net when you are getting new fish and when you put the new fish and water into the tank you get the snail eggs.

Most tanks have ramshorn snails (or a variety of them) that hitched a ride with plants or fish in the tank. While these are often considered a nuisance they do provide a function in the tank.

They will help keep algae down by eating it, but more importantly they burrow through the gravel eating anything they find in there. This helps keep down "dead spots" in the gravel where you get anaerobic bacteria which can create toxic compounds in the tank.

If you don't want to have these snails you should be careful when adding new fish or plants to the tank. Do not add the water with the new fish, simply acclimate him to the tank by floating the bag in the tank for 30 minutes. Then scoop out the new fish and add just the fish to the tank.

If you already have them there are many types of fish that will eat ramshorn snails including most of the loach family.

Answer 3

snails do clean the green algae off the tank but if they lay eggs they can be a pain in the butt to get rid of they eat some types of plants and the only way to get rid of them is to empty the tank and clean out the gravel with boiling water. Even at that the eggs may still be on plants and weeds. My advice is not to have them in the tank at all they are too much of a pest

Answer 4

Sea snails, freshwater snails, any other kind of sea snail, they are used to clean the tank's glass and walls, but unless you want thousands of snails, i suggest just getting one of those magnetic blocks as they don't breed, well they're not even alive. Snails are prolific breeders and if you only get 1, it might have been fertilized whilst it was in the shop tank with the others. Eggs stay in the mother/father (they're hermaphrodites (both sex) for up to a year.

Answer 5

Snails can be beneficial in the tank by keeping down algae levels and eating leftover food. However, they use up oxygen that the fish needs and most of them can asexually reproduce so you can start with one and end up with loads. These snails usually arrive on plants and bogwood put in the tank. The snails sold in shops (apple, ramshorn, etc.) get quite large, so are easier to control. Being invertebrates, however, they are very sensitive to copper in the water, so if the fish get ill and the treatment is copper based, you can end up killing your snails along with the parasite in your fish, as a mate of mine did. Hope this was helpful.

Answer 6

Snails will get rid of algae which is a good thing, a bad thing however is the snails they will eventually take over, I know I Had the same problem myself, My advice if they are tropical fish is to get clown loach they eat snails and keep them in check. If is a fancy cold water aquarium then I would suggest get rid of them completely and invest in a Plec.
Good luck hope this helps.

Answer 7

There are no major benefits of having snails in a fish tank, in fact most of them are a nightmare and really hard to get rid of. I don't know how they get into the tank in the first place but mine was overrun with snails at one point. You can't avoid them but if they become a problem, put a slice of cucumber in an open jar in there overnight and take it out first thing in the morning before the lights come on, the snails will be all over the cucumber - so just throw it out. I would strongly recommend AGAINST putting snails in your tank, one will become one hundred before you know it.

Answer 8

Most snails to me are a pest because all they do is reproduce so fast and when they die you have a ton of dead empty shells on the bottom of the aquarium.

I like Apple Snails. They get the size of golf balls and unlike most other snails it takes a male and female to reproduce.

Algae eaters stay mostly on the glass on an aquarium and bottom feeders like Cory catfish stay on the bottom. Snails go all over the place and they eat any algae missed by the bottom feeder and algae eater.

Plus apple snails are just cool!

Answer 9

snails eat teh stuff off the tank that only some fish will eat! make sure to get 1 apple snail or 1 mystery snail, most other snails reporduce asexualy, they are hermaphidites and breed like bunnies! and will over run your tank!

Answer 10

The snails help to keep the glass clean, not sure what type they are, but a fish keeping site or shop would be able to tell you.