Snails - which ones leave plants alone?

Question

I would like to do a small tank with just some plants, and maybe a snail and a shrimp....(its an itty bitty tank)


Which snails leave plants alone?
Do they multiply like bunnies if I have only one?
Also - do they realy crawl out of the tanks?
I've never had one - and I would like to avoid mistakes if possible
Obviously

Answer 1

Many snails are hermaphrodites (have both male and female organs) so one would be all you need to have them reproduce. Some that don't overrun your tank that you might try are mystery snails and nerites.

Mystery snails (apple snails) have seperate sexes, but females can store sperm from a male and continue to lay fertile eggs for several months. These lay their eggs above the water line, so if you don't want babies, just remove the egg mass. They'll generally leave plants alone as long as they have other food sources. Lots of colors to choose from, too: http://www.applesnail.net/

A more recent variety is the nerite (nerita) snail. These can live in freshwater, but need brackish or saltwater to reproduce - so you could keep a few of these without any worries. Just be sure to get the species meant for freshwater tanks, and there are marine species in this group as well: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1076 , http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwbrnerites.htm

Answer 2

Hi if you want a snail that eats algae and not plants try the trapdoor snail happy in cold or warm tanks and it only has live baby snails at about 5 twice a year so no probs and can eat loads of algae i have some in my shrimp tank and get on fine .

Answer 3

Just to add to the fantastic answer you got above this site really help me : http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/charlieleleupi.htm

Answer 4

I dont think snails can multiply if theres no one for it to mate with.