snails in fish tank?

Question

i want to get a snail in my aquarium are they hot water and do they clean the tank and if i get one in a 5 gallon tank with 3 guppies will it be fine and do they need to be feeden or do they eat the algae.

I HAVE A PLANT AND I DONT WANT THE SNAIL TO TOUCH IT (EAT IT) IS THERE A SNAIL THAT DOES THIS .

IF I HAVE ONLY ONE SNAIL WILL IT GET LONLEY AND IT CANT HAVE ANY EGGS OR DONT SNAILS NEED A PARTNER TO REPRODUCE

Answer 1

avoid apple snails, they'll get too big. try a blue mystery snail, mystery and apple snails are basically the same thing, just mystery snails especially the blue, don't get so big. one will do nicely in a five gallon with 3 guppies. it will eat the algae and extra fish food that the fish miss, but you should also feed it veggies once a week or so. a slice of cucumber, zuchinni, or carrot works great.

you also may want to buy some liquid calcium. it's made for coral in salt water tanks, but works great for snails in freshwater too. follow the directions on the bottle for your size tank, each brand varries so I cna't give exact instructions. however do it aobut 1/3 as often as the bottle says.

Answer 2

I had a couple and they were OK.I then bought some aquatic plants for the tank and they must have had some snail eggs in. These hatched, they were only little tiny snails,but before I knew it there were hundreds of them. I kept removing them with a net and with my fingers , upsetting the fish a bit, but in the end I had to give up. I bought a snail killing chemical from the aquatic shop, you can't have anything too strong because of the fish,but although a few of the snails looked a bit groggy the rest still survived. In the end I transferred the fish to a small tank temporarily and emptied the large one and put all the weeds /plants gravel and snails on my garden.I washed and scrubbed the tank and lid and also the ornaments I wanted to keep,then refilled the tank added the purifying chemicals and ornaments and left it for a week for the underwater filter etc. to mature. Then I put the fish back. Have not had trouble since but would not have snails again. For algae control I used a couple of bronze corredas ,a cat fish type that bottom feeds and eats algae.

Answer 3

A snail can be a good additionto most tanks. They will eat uneaten fish food as well as aglae. They don't clean the tank exactly, but they do keep these things under control a bit. A snail will do just fine with your guppies and will do well at the same temperature. No need to go out of your way to feed a snail usually. Most of the time they will do just fine on uneaten food from feeding the fish and on aglae. If your tank is very clean you would need to feed the snail something like a little bit of lettuce weighted down to the bottom of the tank.

MM

Answer 4

apple snails would be a good option for you. they do eat algae, but may also be partial to any live plants you have and will need to be supplemented with food, sinking plec wafers and blanched cucumber are favourites.

these guys make a lot of poopy, so no slacking on your water changes! also, check the pH on your tank, anything less than 7 will cause the shells of the snail to corrode and the snail will eventually die.

there are several different types of apple snails, you want the smaller type of one, i have a spixi apple snail (zebra apple snail) they grow to 1" in diameter. some apple snail types can get up to 4" in diameter, this would be too large for your tank.

watch out if you have an exposed heater though. i had a spixi stick himself to it, it turned on, he was too slow to get his butt off of it and died :(

apple snails are male and female snails, not hermaphrodites, so if you only get one, you won't get plagued with them!

edit:
with most snails you run the risk of them eating live plants. i have been told my spixi will stop eating my plants when he's full grown. well he is now pretty much full grown and still going for the plants, despite the tank have plenty of algae for him to eat. i had ramshorns that didn't eat plants HOWEVER, i started with one, and within 2 months, had had over 500 of the little b**gers!

and to the person who recommended bronze corys, these guys prefer meaty foods and i've never had any cory touch algae. bronzes grow too large for a 5 gallon anyway.

Answer 5

Snails can eat algae. Make sure you get a few of those big ones you can buy in the pet store. If you get live plants there will probably be some of those little snails on them, but they will quickly take over your tank. I think I kill about 20 of them every week, and it still seems like my tank is full of snails.

Answer 6

Snails are great. I especially like how frighteningly big they get very quickly. You'll find that you haven't paid much attention to them for a while suddenly you've got a couple of huge snails going around your tank. They are great for keeping it clean though and seem to be fine with any type of fish in any type of tank.

Answer 7

we had snails in a tropical tank which is warm and the snails eat the algae and waste on the pebbles etc.

Answer 8

I think a snail would do well with guppies.They will eat uneaten food that the fish leave. Be sure you like snails because if you get one, soon your tank will be over run with them.

Answer 9

Try an apple snail. They do a good job cleaning algae plus they're great fun to hand feed. They are tropical.

Answer 10

A good idea. Yes, they do clean the tank and feed off the algae. However, you can't use the common or garden variety.
Just joking!