Dangerous aquarium snails: how to get rid of them

As a fish breeder you obviously want your aquarium free predating snails. However, you not necessarily have to get rid of them all; you can always keep a few of them to give life and variety to the aquarium environment.

Two of the first things you must take away from your aquarium are dead snails. They are not beneficial at all, they pollute the environment. Likewise, poisoning products damage plants and the rest of aquatic creatures, so you better do not use whatsoever.

One of the best solutions to clean your aquarium is getting an animal that mainly eats sea invertebrates, as Clown loach, which only eats mollusk eggs and leaves the plants untouched.

Clown loach can live for over 22 years! So you can consider it a good long-time investment. But if you want something cheap –I mean really cheap- you can place on a lettuce leaf at night. In just 30 minutes you will be stunned by the loads of snails gathering around the lettuce.

In addition to this, you can prevent the massive snail reproduction by is removing the jelly layer covering the leaves were snail eggs lay on. It is a leg work, but it is easy and priceless.

Finally, keep in mind that although these and other techniques help eliminate dangerous snails from aquariums, the main reason of snail overpopulation is overfeeding. Therefore, if you regularly clean your aquarium (focusing on the rests of food on the bottom) you can save yourself a great deal of work and trouble.

How to choose aquarium snails

On a previous post I talked to you about the role of aquarium snails, now I am going to teach you how to choose good team mates for your fish aquarium that will help improve the water environment instead of wreaking havoc. 

Apple snail in aquarium 

These are good choices of snail species for your fish aquarium:

Apple snails (Ampullariidae family): Apple snail is the most sought-after variety of this family because of its beautiful and eye-catching orange color. Though beautiful and goof for your fish aquarium, you have to raise it in a separate environment from the other sea animals because if you let them reproduce in large quantities they will end up turning to plants to survive.  

Ramshorn snails (Tropidiscus planorbis): it has a dark red shell and measures just 5mm. It is a very peaceful snail and the great news: it eats detritus and wastes, no plants.

Ghost shrimp (Natantia gen sp): these handsome snails are the favorites of aquarium aficionados; it has very little possibilities of becoming a plague. Though, they can reproduce easily, so you better raise them in a separate place so their baby snails can be safe from the aquarium inhabitants. They love eating the rests that sit at the bottom of the aquarium. 

Mystery snails (Pomacea Bridgesii): I call it this the cleanser because it does the whole cleaning job, and he does it fast and thoroughly. This buddy only eats algae, no other vegetal unless it is covered by algae. Definitely a must-have.

What type of snails do you have in your aquariums? 

Aquarium snails, bad or good?

I recently went to a pet store and while checking on the fish aquariums I noticed some cutie little snails in them that naturally made me wonder, why are they in there?

I always thought aquarium snails presence was harmful since they are plant predators, and plants are necessary to keep nitrogen in the right level to maintain water in good condition and provide enough oxygen to fish. Moreover, aquarium plants ensure the precise dose of CO2 and right lightning.

From this, you can naturally deduce that snails must be taken away immediately. However, NOT ALL snail species are harmful for an aquarium; in fact, they can be beneficial to keep it in good condition. Therefore, we have to learn how to tell good snail from bad snails.

How to indentify good aquarium snails from bad snails

1. Snail classification: identify which type of snails you have in your aquarium.
   
2. Holes in leaves: check if your aquarium plants have any holes.
   
3. Snails number: you know you have too many snails when the aquarium is visibly destroyed. You should proceed to remove them before they form a plague.
   
4. Snail shell: look if they have these characteristics:

1. 
   
   a) Oval shell: it is called Lymnaea stagnalis and is one of the most dangerous nails. It spends most the day devouring plants. Be careful, they reproduce themselves quite quickly.
   

• b) Swirl shell: easily confused with a conch, it is known as Malaysian trumpet snail. When you have just a few of them they do not represent any major danger, since they help cleanse and refresh the fish aquarium. When they grow in large numbers, they will need more plants and they will be hard to detect, since they spent most of the day under soil.
  

The biggest snail on Earth

For you snail lovers, on a previous post we talked about snails as pets. That’s right, as home pets as fish, dogs and cats.

One special kind of snails are the Achatina Fullic or African Giant Snails. These are the biggest snails on Earth, when they are babies they only have 0.5 inches, but they can reach up to 12 inches and weight 2.2 pounds in their adulthood.


Original from Africa, these large beauties can be found almost anywhere since the times of World War II when they were used as canned food. Just imagine animals that eat almost anything and grow large in length and weight so fast.

But it is their big size what makes them a hard to raise as pets: all the food it has to eat, their massive reproduction (300 to 500 eggs!), their fast growth, their destructive potential (especially for agriculture), and that they can carry the parasite that causes meningitis. But still, very impressive animals, only for truly dedicated snail lovers.

Please note, African Giant Land Snails are illegal in the U.S. (but not in other countries).

Snails can be adorable pets (II)

Snails are not only nice decoration for the fishbowl; they can also be adorable pets that can live alone or with other animals.

There are two types of snails, that due to their differences, each kind has a particular care.

Water snails

• Also known as conches, water snails are small and have eye-catching colors (they present different shades of green and yellow).

• They can live alone or with other small sea animals in a fishbowl. You better leave 8 inches free of water, since they lay their eggs in the dry areas.

• For hygiene reasons, when changing the fishbowl water add chlorine tablets to prevent diseases.

• You can get them pet stores for $1 each.

Terrestrial snails

• Mostly known as escargot, these snails present a brown or coffee-like color and they can reach up to 10 inches (as the ones in Ecuador). Their feeding is mostly vegetal; they eat lettuce, papaya leaves, and any other edible leaf.
  

• The best place to have soil snails is a delimited place in your garden or a humid place with compost so they can comfortably lay their eggs on.

• You can get them pet stores for $2 each.

Source: El Universo