to snails benifit a planted aquarium in any way?

Question

i have some small snails in my aquarium, i think they were brought in in the plants i bought recently, i have removed some of them because i know they can multiply like crazy and the fewer the better but do i need to get rid of them completely? do they have any purpose?

Answer 1

I bought a couple snails to help keep the glass clean, and they do, but alas, they breed like crazy! 1 became 10, then 15, its getting crazier all the time. I just bought my husband a small red lobster (about 3-4") and he is helping immensely. There are other fish, the dwarf puffer fish being one, that will eat snails, so there are ways to control it. Generally, they cause no harm, except for the constant breeding. I like having snails because they eat algae and fish poo off the gravel and glass. You can also take a lettuce leaf and put it on the bottom overnight when the light is off and in the morning there will be some on the leaf and u can take them outside or throw them away. It wont trap all of them, but it helps control the numbers if you get too many. so if they dont bother you, some can be really pretty, and some are just basic black, I would leave them unless it becomes a problem. It is just what you want in the tank.

Answer 2

Just a comment to lambo5688... Never dump them in a pond or a stream. If you live in the U.S.A, it's probably illegal to start with...


To answer your question, yes and no. It depends on how many you have and what types you have. Since you're talking about the hitch-hiker ones, I'll mention the common ones of those.

The trumpet snails are pretty harmless for the most part. If you see one of these, that means you probably have a few hundred more hiding out somewhere in the gravel. They come out at night more often than during the day, so you won't notice them as much. They generally burrow in the gravel, stirring it and eating debris. These ones don't bother plants much, and don't do much for algae.

The other type (I can't remember the name right now, I just call them common snails) are the ones people have the issues with. They seem to appear out of nowhere, and multiply like crazy. They can be kill or severely injure your plants, and in my experience, they don't do much for algae control either. They do eat debris and other "junk" in the tank too, so they aren't all bad. Keep an eye on overfeeding, and keep stuff clean in the tank, and you probably won't have a problem with either of them.

If you want to get rid of them, that's up to you. Depending on what types of fish you have, they may enjoy you crushing the snails on the glass so they get a treat once in a while. There are chemicals that you can add that will control them too, but I would use that method as a last resort.

Answer 3

A lot depends on the type of snail. Some will eat your plants, others will eat algae.

My favorites for a planted tank are Malaysian trumpet snails. They're smaller (about 3/4 inch or 2 sm) and have a elongated spiral cone shape. They'll spend the day in the gravel where they eat organic matter that's built up, and the aerate and clean the areas around your plants' roots where you can't clean well for fear of damaging the roots. Won't hurt your plants though. And unless you overfeed your fish, they don't multiply that much. If you start seeing them on the glass during the day, cut back on the food. Otherwise, you don't really notice they're there.

Apples and nerites are popular because these don't breed like crazy. Nerites need saltwater for reproduction, so unless you have a brackish tank, these are the safest if you don't wnt a lot. Apples need to have a male and female to reproduce, but the females are like guppies - they store sperm, so can produce fertile eggs for a few months. They lay the eggs above the water line, so they're easy to remove if you don't want more snails.

The benefits you get will really depend on the type of snails you found. Try this website to identify yours: http://www.thesnailstore.com/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=2

Answer 4

snails help keep the algae growth off of you tank. they are useful and they multiply, but are pretty harmless otherwise. ask your local, reputable aquarium store/provider. good luck to you.

Answer 5

Yea. They do benefit..because they clean your tank by cleaning off the algae off the glass.

They are kinda like natural cleaners.

Yea they do multiply, but you can always take the little ones out and put them in a pond/stream.

Answer 6

They will clean your tank and go through your gravel and pick out food, but that's it. Other than that, they are just pests! Nosoop4u

Answer 7

They may look annoying, but usually they are nocturnal but they are a huge benefit for planted tanks as they turn the substrate and release toxic air pockets... cool eh.

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Answer 8

Snails help keep the tank clean. They eat that green slime stuff that accumulates on the tank if you don't clean it often.