Snail are not pests. They actually contribute to the health of the aquarium, but if there is excessive food in your aquarium, the snail population will increase accordingly.
At GoldFishin' we have 4 types of snails.
- Mystery Snails (also called Apple Snails)
- Ramshorn Snails
- Malaysian Trumpet Snails
- Pond Snails
Malaysian Trumpet Snail
Pond Snail
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Malaysian Trumpet Snail
Pond Snail
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Crowd Control in the Aquarium
Snail populations can quickly increase in some species. If you are concerned about snails becoming a pest, then it would be best to choose snails that reproduce more slowly or only in controllable conditions.
Mystery / Apple Snails
Mystery snails require both a male and female snail to be able to reproduce. The two snails mate and later the female leaves the water to lay her eggs above the water line. When the eggs hatch after about 3 weeks, the tiny snails make their way into the water. If you have omnivorous fish like goldfish (or carnivorous fish) in the tank, most likely the young snails will not survive in the tank. Some goldfish learn how to eat snails while others won't touch Mystery snails. Sadly, even large, adult Mystery snails can become a main course for a large goldfish and only the empty yellow shells will be found decorating the aquarium floor.
We incubate the Mystery Snails eggs using a simple takeaway food container with some holes punched in the sides to allow water flow and in the lid for air flow. A piece of polystyrene floats on top of the water inside the container and the eggs are gently removed from the side of the aquarium and placed on the polystyrene float. Care needs to be taken as any eggs that submerge beneath the water will result in the death of the baby embryo snails. All the eggs tend to hatch on the same day and there is a mass exodus of tiny snails from the polystyrene into the water. Vegetable slices such as zucchini and sweet potato that is allowed to go soft in the water, will make a good meal for the baby snails, but algae is the most ideal food for baby snails.
We incubate the Mystery Snails eggs using a simple takeaway food container with some holes punched in the sides to allow water flow and in the lid for air flow. A piece of polystyrene floats on top of the water inside the container and the eggs are gently removed from the side of the aquarium and placed on the polystyrene float. Care needs to be taken as any eggs that submerge beneath the water will result in the death of the baby embryo snails. All the eggs tend to hatch on the same day and there is a mass exodus of tiny snails from the polystyrene into the water. Vegetable slices such as zucchini and sweet potato that is allowed to go soft in the water, will make a good meal for the baby snails, but algae is the most ideal food for baby snails.
Ramshorn Snails
Ramshorn Snails are hermaphrodites. They can reproduce without the need for a mate. A Ramshorn snail population can quickly over take a shrimp aquarium or any other tank that does not have fish that like to eat snails.
Ramshorn Snails are hermaphrodites. They can reproduce without the need for a mate. A Ramshorn snail population can quickly over take a shrimp aquarium or any other tank that does not have fish that like to eat snails.
Malaysian Trumpet Snails
These spiral shaped snails burrow into the substrate and help to aerate it. They can reproduce by mating or by a cloning process that only produces females. They do not lay eggs but instead produce live offspring - about 70 at a time.
These spiral shaped snails burrow into the substrate and help to aerate it. They can reproduce by mating or by a cloning process that only produces females. They do not lay eggs but instead produce live offspring - about 70 at a time.
Pond Snails
As with the trumpet snails, pond snails can reproduce asexually or through mating. They lay a jelly substance that has lots of eggs in it and the female attached the jelly pad to anything in the aquarium such as plants, the glass walls, ornaments, on the filter intake hose.
As with the trumpet snails, pond snails can reproduce asexually or through mating. They lay a jelly substance that has lots of eggs in it and the female attached the jelly pad to anything in the aquarium such as plants, the glass walls, ornaments, on the filter intake hose.
With our goldfish on duty in our tanks, we do not have any issues with snail population explosions but in our shrimp tanks that is a different story. We actually use our shrimp tanks to breed our Ramshorn snails too, at times if we don't have enough snails. We don't breed pond snails (intentionally) but acquired some from plants that were introduced to our tanks. It appears that all the pond snails have been removed from our tanks now though.