Regular Member devilduck Posted July 8, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted July 8, 2009 I recently bought some plants, and spent about 40 mins scraping snail eggs off them before they went in the tank, also on the plants were 2 snails which my sister decided she wanted to keep. This was about a month ago and since then she's had them in a one gallon tank with some plants and they've flourished and grown to about 5-6mm when they started at 2-3mm. All well and good so far. They're in a bare bottom tank and even within a few days I can't believe the mess they make!!! There's more poop from those 2 tiny snails in 4 days than my 5 minnows in 1 1/2 weeks! I hate to think how much waste a 1 inch snail contributes to a tank. I've no idea what the water/snail ratio is but I suspect most people would do the same as I would and just pop them in the tank not really thinking about it. I've no idea what type of snail they are, they're not golden apple snails as they have pointy shells but they can't be the only snails to be poop-machines! The whole bottom of the tank was covered. Just thought I'd share as I was so astounded at the mess! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Hidr Posted July 8, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted July 8, 2009 Odd mine barely make any mess. But I have apple snails. But I do have the trumpet ones that come in on my plants in my planted tank. I thin them out every so often but never noticed a lot of mess from there either. What kind do you have? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member devilduck Posted July 8, 2009 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 8, 2009 I really have no idea, other than pointy shells and dark brown colour with light brown/yellow spots, they're quite pretty but they're not big enough yet to identify easily, we're waiting til they get a bit bigger to try and work that out! Does your planted tank have substrate? I'd have blamed the goldfish or not noticed as much if it wasn't for the fact they're in a bare bottom tank on their own... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Hidr Posted July 8, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted July 8, 2009 Oh ya my planted tanks have lots of substrate it helps my plants grow. lol The snails bury themselves in it. And since my planted tanks are low tech, low light they need fish and snail poo for fertilizer. Hmm Sounds like yours might be trumpet snails. My goldfish eat those. Are your goldfish small? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member devilduck Posted July 8, 2009 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 8, 2009 I'd say the fish are small to medium....they're about 2 inches long + tails and just reaching the 'plumping' stage, they're both still pretty slim. There were originally 3 snails, I put one in my tank and it vanished shortly so I suspect the goldfish ate it, I have been keeping an eye out in the gravel when cleaning but there's been no sign for a while. The remaining 2 have never seen my fish (hence are still alive!) I was going to put them in the tank if they grow big enough, like an inch, I've no idea how big they get, but with the muck they make I've decided against that one, they can just stay in their little tank in my sisters room! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member AubreeMarie Posted July 8, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted July 8, 2009 Ooh ooh ooh, be careful with those trumpet snails! They reproduce a-sexually (hermaphrodites) and will get to a point and then just start laying eggs upon eggs upon eggs. My friend has a tank just for snails. she started with two mystery babies,a trapdoor baby, and an unknown (which we later found out was a trumpet snail) now she has hundreds of thousands of snails in that tank, and had to get coolie loaches (spellings off, but thats the pronounciation) to eat them as soon as they hatched. Unfortunatley for her by the time she got the loaches the first round of egg batch offspring were too big for them to eat, so now the first set of offspring are laying eggs all over now too. It's literally makes me gag every time I look in there due to the sheer numbers in every stage of development after so little time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member devilduck Posted July 9, 2009 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 9, 2009 (edited) oh dear....I was really hoping they weren't going to be asexual snails....I've already told my sister any babies must be flushed down the loo or something, I'll do an egg check today :'( edit1: I just looked at the loaches (spelt kuhli apparently!) and there is no way they're even an option, she's only got a 1 gallon tank and they grow to 4 inches long and like to be in groups, recommends 20 gallons minimum! I think we'll just have to do regular snail purges, I don't think she'd want to get rid of them completely. Another reason they won't be going in my tank, though I suspect the fish would eat them. edit2: I've just looked at trumpet snails, and they don't look like that, they're more short and pointy than really long and thin....I shall investigate It looks like this http://www.sacsplash.org/critters/snails.htm thus far though I can only find it labelled as 'aquatic snail', further investigation needed! Edited July 9, 2009 by devilduck 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member devilduck Posted July 9, 2009 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 9, 2009 It has been identified! Physa Acuta, the tadpole snail, I have seen them 'swimming' up and down the tank, I got a very confused phonecall from my sister the first time it happened. It looks like they might be hermaphrodites but still need another snail and they fertilise each other or something....unfortunately she has 2. http://www.magnesium.net/~heather/snails/pa.html 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Hidr Posted July 9, 2009 Regular Member Share Posted July 9, 2009 ya but trumpet snails are easy to keep in check. When I feel I am getting to many I just throw in a zuchini before bed and remove with snails on it in the morning. Do this a few nights in a row till I feel I have thinned them out enough. And my goldfish love them as a snack food. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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